Lara Sophia 
Real Housewives of Orange County star Emily Simpson hopes that Shannon Beador’s recent DUI arrest is an “Aha moment” for the mom of three.
Emily Simpson is opening up to Entertainment Tonight about Shannon Beador‘s arrest on Saturday, September 16, for DUI and hit-and-run.
The 47-year-old admits she hopes the arrest will be a wake-up call for Shannon Beador, who she claims has been “spiraling” for a while now.
“Honestly, I had to look at it multiple times because… I thought maybe it was something that someone made up, you know? Lots of people make up memes and things,” Emily said when she saw the news of Shannon’s arrest. “When I realized that it was a real thing, I was in shock. I was blown away.”
According to Emily, she’s been in touch briefly via text with Shannon since her arrest last weekend.
“I just asked her how she was, and I said, ‘I hope you’re doing OK, and if you need anything, please, you can reach out,’ and that was basically it,” she said.
She adds that she hasn’t reached out to Shannon since her initial text.
“I think she needs space. And then, at some point, I’m gonna text and call and see how she is,” she said. “But I think, for right now, she probably needs, you know, space.”
Emily then reveals that the entire Real Housewives of Orange County cast knew that Shannon was “spiraling” in the months leading up to arrest for DUI.
“I feel like as a cast… I feel like we’ve seen her spiraling,” Emily admitted. “We’ve had conversations, just as a cast, about her, worrying about her. I genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, hope that, like, sometimes people actually hit rock bottom [and] take accountability and to have an ‘Aha!’ moment, where they say, ‘Yeah, maybe I do need some help,’ and I hope that this is her ‘Aha’ rock-bottom moment.”
Emily said she hopes Shannon “takes accountability and recognizes what happened and the severity of it and [that she] really wants to embrace that and change for the better.”
As AllAboutTRH previously reported, Shannon was arrested for DUI and a hit-and-run on Saturday night in Newport Beach, California, after she drove her car into a residential property and “clipped the house.”
After hitting the house, Shannon proceeded to turn her back onto the road and kept driving before parking her car in the middle of the street and getting out with her dog, Archie.
“Shannon got home from a night out and realized she left her phone at the place she was at. She wasn’t able to call an Uber without her phone and decided to drive back to the place, resulting in the accident,” a source told ET about the incident. “Shannon is devastated and knows she made a big mistake. She has always been against drinking and driving and never does. She’s telling friends this lapse in judgment won’t happen again.”
In recent days, Shannon has been spotted out and about attempting to hide her face from paparazzi. On Tuesday, Shannon was caught entering an apartment with her ex-boyfriend, John Janssen.
Then, on Wednesday, Shannon and John were seen arriving at Z Dermatology in Huntington Beach, CA.
It’s highly likely that Shannon was visiting the dermatologist to have her face checked out. According to Kelly Dodd, Shannon’s face is “all screwed up” after she hit the steering wheel during the accident that led to her arrest for DUI.
“She might have to go to a plastic surgeon,” Kelly said on her Patreon channel, adding that Shannon also reportedly broke her arm during the accident.
The Daily Mail reports that Shannon plans to “enter rehab” after her “wake-up call” arrest.
“Shannon plans to enter rehab after her DUI arrest was a huge wake-up call for her,” an inside source revealed. “Shannon has spent the past several years running from her problems, and she does not realize who she has turned into. Her cast mates and her friends have told her that she needs to get help, and this was before the DUI.”
The source added that Shannon has “not fully decided on if she will do in-patient treatment or out-patient, as she has a family to care for, a dog who needs her, and her work projects.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo.
