Real Housewives of Orange County star Shannon Beador feels like her “hands are tied” amid a lawsuit from her ex, John Janssen.

Beador appeared on SiriusXM’s Jeff Lewis Live on Monday, and opened up to Lewis and co-host Doug Budin about facing a five-figure lawsuit from her ex over an alleged loan he says that he gave her to pay for a facelift.

“It was about a month ago. I got a letter saying, ‘You need to come up with a payment plan to pay this money back,'” Beador recounted. “I offered to pay John the exact amount that he wanted, but he turned the deal down because he didn’t want to sign a mutual non-disparagement agreement and that’s standard in most settlements and that’s where you say you’re not gonna talk badly about someone.”

Last month, Janssen filed a lawsuit against his ex in Orange County Superior Court for breach of oral contract and promissory fraud, People exclusively reported at the time. In his lawsuit, Janssen is seeking $75,000, which he claims he lent to Beador and was never repaid.

Beador claimed during her interview that Janssen wouldn’t agree to the non-disparagement agreement, leading her to feel like her “hands are tied” in the matter — as her attorney fees will “surpass the amount of money he was seeking.”

“What am I supposed to do? Say, ‘Here’s all this money that you claim that I owe you and go ahead. Say whatever you want about me.’ No,” she added. “My attorney said I can’t let you do that, so I have to now go to trial and, you know, that’s a lot.”

Beador admitted that there were two times during their relationship that Janssen lent her money, but that there was never an official agreement, and that she never asked for $75,000 for a facelift. She also said that during the beginning of their relationship, there were multiple times that she paid for things like his hotels and airfare, claiming that “equates to me giving him money.”

“Sometimes he’d say, ‘Oh, can your stylist pull some stuff for me and then I’ll pay you back?’ and then, yeah, he wouldn’t,” she recalled.

“At the very beginning of the relationship, he said, ‘You’re my future. You’re my person. You’re my future.’ That’s what he said and I thought, ‘Yeah,'” she noted, explaining why she felt comfortable covering some of his expenses. “I felt this comfort with him right away and I thought we were going to be together forever.”

At BravoCon back in November 2023, however, Beador opened up to ET about her decision to end things with Janssen, saying at the time that she hadn’t spoken to him in over a month and didn’t “have any intention [to].”

She also agreed that she felt “lighter” as she cut out toxic relationships and quit drinking following her DUI arrest in September 2023: “Absolutely, I do.”

“I’ve spent the last month focusing on myself,” the reality star said at the time. “I went to a program for 28 days and I am — I have started and I’m continuing to eliminate toxic and unhealthy things in my life.”

On the podcast this week, Beador admitted that the second time Janssen gave her money was, in fact, for a facelift. She did not specify an exact amount but noted that it was over $30,000.

“I’ll just be truthful, because I just do, I tell the truth, but the show, we were on a different payment… We didn’t air the show right away after we wrapped filming, so they stretched our pay out, and so I wasn’t getting paid as often,” she recalled. “I was getting the kids ready for school, I had paid for the college counselors and stuff, so it added up and I was really stressed out.”

After admitting to Janssen that she was stressed about finances, Beador claimed that he offered to “give it” to her, and she thanked him — but again, she said no formal agreement was made.

She also said that she found it suspicious that Janssen didn’t ask for the money when they broke up in November 2022 — but didn’t fully take the bait when Lewis asked if she thought the lawsuit might be motivated by Janssen’s new relationship with her RHOC co-star, Alexis Bellino.

“I don’t know what he does for work anymore… I don’t know anything and that’s fine,” she shared.

However, she did say, “I’ve had two lawsuits. They both have Bellino around it. Interesting, isn’t it? A little bit.”

“I’m just saying, no. I’m just saying it is, I mean, very coincidental,” she added. “I don’t know if she had anything to do with it or not. I really don’t know.”

ET learned in January that Bellino is set to return for RHOC‘s upcoming 18th season as a friend, meaning that fans will likely get to see some of her drama with Beador and Janssen play out on the Bravo screen.

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