Shannon Beador could hardly hold back tears while discussing her sudden split from John Janssen.
“I don’t want to start to cry, but yesterday was a really hard day for me and I couldn’t stop crying,” the “Real Housewives of Orange County” star said Thursday on “Jeff Lewis Live,” choking up as she reflected on her recent breakup announcement.
“And so I want to thank you, one of my closest, dearest friends, for having me come out and forcing me to go out last night,” she continued, addressing host Jeff Lewis directly.
“Because I really had a good time … And I don’t know how I would’ve handled things had I just been sitting at home.”
The Bravolebrity, 58, told People Wednesday that Janssen dumped her in late November, just one week after production wrapped on “RHOC” Season 17.
“We were in a great place,” she said. “But seven days later, when the cameras were down, it was a completely different story. He told me he was done with the relationship. And to hear what he said to me then was absolutely devastating.”
Beador told Lewis, 52, that she was “blindsided” by Janssen, who gave her hope that their relationship would last — and even be taken to “the next level” — as cameras rolled during the final days of filming.
“My relationship, of course, is always a topic of what’s going on,” she said. “So at the end of the season, we did film a dinner to summarize, let’s just put a button on where [we stood] in your relationship.”
Beador elaborated, “It was great. John and I filmed together and it was great. I got teary-eyed with the words that he was saying and I thought, ‘God, we are gonna get there.’”
But just one week later, Janssen called it quits with Beador after nearly four years of dating.
“I just thought whatever the next step is, we’re gonna take it. I remember tearing up and I remember saying very kind things to him,” she recalled, her voice trembling with emotion.I hate this.”
While Lewis expressed hope that Beador and Janssen might rekindle their relationship, the Real for Real CEO shut that idea down.
“It’s over, Jeff,” she asserted. “I will say that the last time I spoke to John was beginning of December. So I’ve never gone for this amount of time not speaking to him. It’s a big deal.”
The mom of three — who shares daughter Sophie, 20, and 18-year-old twins Stella and Adeline with ex-husband David Beador — said that she wants to “keep busy” to distract herself from any leftover heartbreak.
Still, Shannon clarified that she is “not going to go hang out at the bars” in search of Mr. Right.
“I’m not going to go to a bar with a group of single girls and be that person and think I’m going to me