Jen Shah’s Former Employee Claims She’s “Worse” Offscreen

According to Jen Shah’s former clothing designer Koa Johnson, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star’s antics onscreen are only the tip of the iceberg. “Every scene, she’s, like, screaming, and in real life, there are moments where she’s always screaming. She’s actually worse off screen,” he alleges in the new ABC documentary The Housewife & The Shah Shocker, also claiming that his former boss’ fur coats, jewelry, and Porsche are all either borrowed or loaned. “She did say in a couple of her interviews that she’s the Wizard of Oz. The woman behind the curtain. I don’t think she’s the wizard, I think she’s the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Johnson worked for Shah for 10 months in 2020, during which time he says he designed around 12 looks for her. In a March interview with Page Six, he said the experience was “traumatizing,” explaining that he worked through the stress because he felt a deep connection to Shah. “A lot of the reason why I continued working with her [despite] those circumstances [was] because I truly cared for her,” he said, noting their shared Polynesian heritage and brother-sister-type relationship. “How we prove it to our siblings or to our sisters, our people that we look up to is that we do things because we show our love.”

Johnson also claimed that Shah stopped paying him in September 2020, though he continued working for her until January. When she declined to mention that he’d designed her gown for the RHOSLC Season 1 reunion, Johnson promptly quit his job. “I have to speak my truth and hope that if there’s anybody else that is working in a hostile work environment, that they will come out and speak out about it,” he told Page Six, adding that he hopes Shah will “take responsibility for her actions and behaviors.”

Johnson became a topic of conversation during RHOSLC Season 2 after audio was leaked of Shah allegedly berating him. Though his name was censored on the show, star Lisa Barlow described him as a former employee who Shah thought of “like family,” but who allegedly didn’t follow through with making her a dress for a “very important event.” Whitney Rose claimed that Shah was actually responsible for the delay — something that Johnson has since reiterated.

“There was a delay on the fabric, which was on her part,” he claimed to Page Six. “I was waiting for her to get all the money transferred over to the credit card for it to be purchased. That process even delayed it more.”

While discussing the leaked audio on RHOSLC, Heather Gay noted that “everyone in Utah” had heard it, and Barlow admitted it was “not flattering” for Shah. Johnson has insisted that he did not leak the audio and doesn’t know who did, but told Page Six he’s happy that someone recorded it. Shah, in turn, said onscreen that Johnson’s characterization of their working relationship is inaccurate. “He took my kindness and repaid me by making it look like I mistreated him, which was not the case at all,” Shah said.

Since then, Shah has been arrested on charges of fraud and money laundering in connection to her alleged role in a long-running telemarketing scheme. (Shah has maintained her innocence).

Johnson, meanwhile, seems to be enjoying a break from the drama. He reveals in The Housewife & the Shah Shocker, which is currently streaming on Hulu, that he’s moved back to his home state of Hawaii. He hasn’t posted on his Instagram grid since August. But in the hours following the documentary’s release, he seemed to throw more shade at Shah in his Instagram Stories, sharing a picture of a wicked witch alongside a gif of Wednesday Addams holding a lit match. “Hope everyone had a great weekend,” he wrote, adding a smiling face with horns emoji.