Jen Shah opened up about her fraud crimes and her 6.5-year prison term in an interview carried out simply earlier than she surrendered to prison final Friday.

Hours earlier than the beginning of her sentence, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City solid member admitted to feeling a way of aid as she launched into her time away from her household, together with husband Sharrieff “Coach” Shah and sons Sharrieff Shah Jr. and Omar Shah. She additionally appeared again on the second she realized she had achieved improper and teased her potential return to leisure.

“What I concern that almost all is that transition of not having the ability to hug and kiss my husband and my boys day-after-day, and my mother,” Jen revealed throughout her February 17 interview with White Collar Advice. “However on the identical time … I additionally really feel hopeful and motivated to do a very good job and take advantage of my time away.”

In line with Jen, she skilled “a lot ambiguity” all through the investigation towards her. So, now that she lastly is aware of what’s “occurring tomorrow,” she feels “a way of aid.”

“I’m going to have the ability to put the previous behind me and at last begin actually therapeutic and forging a brand new path,” she defined.

Recalling her March 2021 arrest, Jen stated her speedy response was, “They should have the improper individual. They should have this all improper. I didn’t do something.”

“I used to be in full denial at the moment and for a very long time all through the method as a result of I really believed and was telling myself that I’m not responsible of these items that they’re accusing me of,” she admitted. “It was like I used to be on this tunnel and I used to be solely seeing what I needed to see.”

“I used to be mendacity to myself as a result of I didn’t need to settle for that I had achieved these items or that I had damage anyone,” Jen continued. “I used to be mendacity to myself and telling myself what I needed to listen to … That wasn’t presupposed to be my actuality and that considering fostered extra dangerous choices for me all through the authorized course of.”

Whereas Jen spent over a 12 months in denial, she finally fessed as much as her errors with a guilty plea in July 2022, simply earlier than she was set to go to trial.

“The largest factor for me was seeing an precise checklist of sufferer names,” she shared. “It turned a actuality for me at that time that there have been truly individuals damage from this … And that’s once I needed to make the toughest resolution of my life … I needed to sit there and say, ‘I’ve to do the correct factor now.’”

Wanting again, Jen stated pleading responsible “was the toughest resolution,” explaining that it took her so lengthy to take action as a result of her expertise was “actually a journey and a course of.”

“Due to the lie I used to be telling myself, and till I may come out from underneath that lie and see it, I couldn’t change the rest and I used to be by no means going to carry myself accountable or admit guilt,” she famous.

As she ready to begin her sentence, Jen stated she was bringing simply two issues together with her to examine in: the Koran and an 18-page launch plan that may assist her “keep on observe.”

“I’m going to be documenting and updating, [and] journaling my course of. I need individuals to carry me accountable. I plan on publishing components of the discharge plan [and] sharing it with everybody on the web site,” she revealed. “I plan on spending the early morning time writing, studying … doing e book studies … I’m attempting to learn to achieve worth and apply it, exercising, engaged on the discharge plan.”

Along with wanting to present again and assist different ladies, Jen stated {that a} huge a part of her launch plan is repaying the victims.

“It’s voluntary. However for me, I needed to make it obligatory,” she acknowledged. “I put an quantity in that I’m going to be paying and I put it in there as a result of as soon as it’s in my plan, that’s going to carry me accountable.”

Jen additionally hopes to proceed working with the Nationwide Tongan American Society and return to entertainment.

“[I’m hoping to get] again to the place I’m again within the leisure business and doing it in a approach the place I’m affecting constructive change and aligning with the targets that I’ve laid out,” she defined.

In closing, Jen stated, “I’m sorry for letting the victims down and I need to, from this level ahead, show worthy. I need to make every sufferer complete. I need to show worthy of the assist that Sharrieff and Omar and Sharrieff Jr. and my mother, my brothers and sisters, have proven me all through this journey.”

“It’s not simply speak. I’m going to point out you thru my actions and thru laborious work,” she added.

The Actual Housewives of Salt Lake Metropolis season four reportedly started filming earlier this month.