Whitney Rose appeared on Tamra Judge and Teddi Mellencamp‘s podcast on Wednesday, where she offered an update on her relationship with her father, Steve Lesh, who has struggled with addiction in recent years.
In addition to opening up about her childhood trauma, the most challenging moment of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season three, and her experience on Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip, sharing who was most dramatic and who she hit it off with the most, Whitney confirmed where she stands with her dad today.
“I haven’t spoke to my father for two years,” Whitney shared on the September 21 episode of Two Ts in a Pod. “I had kicked him out of my house because he wasn’t holding up his side of the deal and I had to learn to hold a boundary with him for his benefit and to protect my children, too, and myself.”
According to Whitney, Steve moved in with a former plastic surgeon who she suspects may have been giving him pills. And while the doctor has since died due to COVID, Whitney has heard Steve is still living at the home and doing well.
“I hear from people around town, they’re like, ‘Your dad looks so good. He looks healthy. He looks happy,’” she revealed.
But she still doesn’t believe they’ll ever reunite.
“I’m at the point where I think I’m accepting the fact that I probably won’t [reunite with him] and that’s okay,” she explained. “It’s like you’re mourning someone that’s still alive… His heart is gold but his mind is dark.”
During the upcoming third season of RHOSLC, Whitney will be seen opening up about the trauma she experienced as a child.
“Some of it was plopped right in my face, and I was forced to remember because of some of the other people involved. And I started getting these weird memories or feelings, or like, it was just like this crazy process that started happening,” Whitney explained. “And I would talk to my family members, and they’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, that it true… We didn’t know if you were ever gonna talk about it.’”
Though Whitney confirmed that “what was going on in her personal life,” in “processing trauma in real time and trying to be strong for my family, for my business, [and] for the show,” was the hardest part of the new season, she said she now feels that the ordeal is “done.”
“It’s in the past. I’ve already moved on. I’ve grown so much and done so much therapy and healing work that I don’t need to go back there and relive it because that’s already done,” she declared. “I’m more focused on accepting it and looking to the future.”
Looking back on season two, Whitney confessed she still gets “so much hate” for her sexy scene with her husband, Justin Rose.
“And a couple of my kids’ friends’ parents have stopped responding when I text, like for playdates and things like that. And I’m assuming it has to do with that and our Zion trip, I was like, hammered every night. I’ve recovered personally and emotionally, but it still… It’s still a thing,” she teased, saying fans will see more of the “ramifications” she faced in season three.
“It was one of those moments where I thought they were gonna just tease it,” Whitney continued of the controversial moment. “I knew to stop, but when I’m in the moment, I can’t. And Justin, the poor man’s like, ‘Am I the guy that tells my wife, No, I don’t wanna have sex with you?'”
In addition to filming RHOSLC season three earlier this year, Whitney also joined the season three cast of RHUGT in Thailand.
“It was so much fun. I loved it. It was like Housewives Olympics,” Whitney said of her time on the island. “It was so different. It was like harder in a sense of we filmed a lot more, longer days, but… It was easier than filming in your own city. The disagreements or the drama was easier because you didn’t have that investment.”
“It was a really unique experience, and I loved every second of it. There were some hard moments, but there were some amazing [moments],” she added.
Although a premiere date for the new season of RHUGT has not yet been set, Whitney spoke of the series’ drama, saying that Leah McSweeney was the “most dramatic” of all the cast while Gizelle Bryant brought the most controversy.
“The most dramatic was Leah. Who brought the most drama is Gizelle,” she explained. “I love Gizelle by the way, we still text and that was another friendship I didn’t expect to make, but I love Gizelle, but she brings it, she is shady.”
As for who she got the closest to, that honor went to Candiace Dillard-Bassett — and surprisingly so.
“It completely shocked me. I thought she and I were gonna have beef because I went on record and said she was my least favorite housewife of all time,” Whitney admitted. “[But] she is actually so sweet and so kind. And she is a lot of fun… She and I were the ones that were up every night.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season three premieres Wednesday, September 28, at 9/8c on Bravo.