The Big Picture
- The Real Housewives of Orange County has a pattern of promoting substance abuse, as evidenced by the drinking habits of the cast members.
- Shannon Beador's history with alcohol on the show is a long-standing issue, with her frequently encouraging excessive drinking among her co-stars.
- Despite her recent enrollment in a behavioral wellness program, it remains to be seen if Beador's actions will truly change, as she continues to tour with other housewives.
The Real Housewives of Orange County has always promoted as being a franchise seeped in a "fun time." Lots of partying, day drinking, and wine consumption is displayed. Some of its stars, like Gina Kirschenheiter, have turned to a life of sober living. But despite such, it can feel like the show itself and the housewives on it are designed to fall into this pattern of substance abuse. The most recent to be in the news for her use of alcohol is Shannon Beador. After a DUI and hit-and-run charge in September, Beador has enrolled herself in an outpatient behavioral wellness program that includes an alcohol component treatment option.
Beador is currently on tour with fellow housewives Tamra Judge and Vicki Gunvalson called the "Tres Amigas." The tour has seemingly changed its focus considering what's happening with the Bravo star. Still, RHOC has highlighted a problem with Beador's history with her alcohol use. She has always been tied to drinking on the show, doing tequila shots with Gunvalson and Judge heavily throughout Season 17. Beador even defended her drinking on the show prior to her arrest. “Let’s look at other people on the show this season who’ve been drinking a lot,” Beador told US Weekly before the bust.
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Prior to the DUI, Gunvalson was seemingly blaming the show while defending Beador, saying “The show, I hate to say it, does promote having fun and some alcohol. And we can control what we put in our body. … It’s just when you film seven hours in a day and one [hour] of it or a half hour of it is whooping it up on a high level, that’s what they’re going to show because that’s fun.” All of this though falls into a problematic pattern of behavior that has existed for Beador throughout the show and is now a problem with her in the outpatient problem.
Beador's Substance Abuse History Has Been Documented
This is far from the first time that Beador has been accused of having a drinking problem. Back when Braunwyn Windham-Burke was on the show, she accused Beador of being an alcoholic to which Beador claimed she enjoyed having fun and drinking libations, but that it didn't constitute her as an addict. Windham-Burke's question made it so that at the reunion, Andy Cohen asked each of the wives if they thought that Beador had a drinking problem. They all denied it.
Throughout Season 17, Beador was more than happy to remind everyone that Kirschenheiter had a DUI and even told lies about Child Protective Services and Kirschenheiter's children to deflect from her own trouble. Beador was so bad at times that even Judge would comment on Beador's drinking.
