Shannon Beador Awarded $138,000 from RHOC Alum Alexis Bellino’s Ex-Husband Jim
Real Housewives of Orange County star Shannon Beador has been awarded nearly $138,000 from Alexis Bellino’s ex-husband, Jim Bellino.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the award will cover Shannon’s legal bills associated with Jim’s unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against her.
Last year, Jim sued RHOC stars Beador, 55, and Tamra Judge, 51, for defamation after the ladies spoke negatively of him on comedian Heather McDonald’s podcast, “Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald,” according to the documents.
Both Beador and Judge fired back. They denied defaming him and asked the Orange County judge to order Jim Bellino to reimburse their legal fees.
Ultimately, the judge dismissed Jim’s entire suit against Beador and awarded her $137,340.25 of the $220,000 she sought for legal bills, according to the documents.
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Jim’s original suit for defamation against the two ladies sought $1 million, according to The Blast.
In a March 1 blog post on his website, Jim addressed the suit: “After filing for divorce from Alexis on June 21, 2018, which was already the most painful and difficult experience of my life, I learned that there were vicious statements spreading about me, statements made by Tamra Judge and Shannon Beador during a podcast taping of Heather MacDonald’s ‘Juicy Scoop’ podcast. In watching the video footage of the show, recorded in front of a studio audience of over 300 people, it is obvious that this segment was a premeditated setup and attack orchestrated by Heather McDonald and Tamra Judge. Tamra even admits on the video that she and Heather McDonald exchanged numerous text messages discussing me and my family before deciding to make all of that fodder for Heather’s show.”
He continued: “With a large movie screen image of me and my ex-wife with a tear between us on display behind them, Tamra Judge says to the audience, and this is a direct quote: Jim Bellino, ‘He’s going to go to jail. Yeah, he’s a shady mother—–!’ [Obviously, these statements made by Tamra Judge, Shannon Beador, and Heather MacDonald were lies, which is why I sued them.].”
Currently, Bellino is still fighting Judge in court over her “jail” comment, according to The Blast.
Alexis, who was on the Bravo series from seasons 5-8, confirmed her divorce from Jim in June 2018.
“It is with heavy hearts that we inform the public of our mutual decision to end our marriage — but it’s important to us that you know we made this choice together, with love, and as the best decision for our children’s future,” the former couple said in a joint statement. “We hold one another in the highest regards as spouses, and especially as parents. We have agreed on 50/50 custody of the children, and we ask that you respect our privacy by not theorizing about the reasons for our divorce.”
The couple shares three children: son James, 12, and 11-year-old twin daughters Melania and Mackenna.
After 13 years of marriage, their divorce was finalized in August.
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The recent order in favor of Shannon comes after her own $1.4 million divorce settlement with her ex-husband David Beador in April, which came nearly a year-and-half after she filed for divorce in December 2017.
After the settlement, the mother of three jetted off for the season 14 RHOC cast trip alongside Vicki Gunvalson and Judge, who snapped photos in the airport, celebrating Shannon’s divorce and Gunvalson’s recent engagement.
Shannon and David, who are parents to three daughters — Sophie, 17, and 14-year-old twins Stella and Adeline — have agreed to joint legal and physical custody of their daughters. Additionally, as a part of their agreement, David will pay the RHOC star a total of $10,000 monthly in support.
