The 'Real Housewives' Hall Of Shame — 18 Bravolebrities Who Said Cheese For Their Mug Shots!
Feb. 2 2021, Updated 9:26 p.m. ET
Cast members of the Real Housewives franchises don’t just stir up drama for Bravo’s cameras. They also have a tendency to appear before jail cameras as well! Here’s RadarOnline.com’s guide to the most shocking mug shots of the Housewives and their friends and family.
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1. NeNe Leakes: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
NeNe Leakes: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
As RadarOnline.com recently reported, Leakes, 46, has admitted to a troubled past — but failed to disclose her full history of mug shots! According to Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Superior Court documents obtained by Star, Leakes was arrested and charged in 1992 with three felony and one misdemeanor counts of “theft of services” from the phone company. Leakes was then 25 and known by her birth name of Linnethia Johnson. In a plea agreement, she pled guilty to all four counts and was put on two years’ probation and ordered to repay $2,650.
2. NeNe Leakes: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
NeNe Leakes: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
During the two years after her 1992 plea agreement, future reality TV star Leakes was arrested three more times for probation violations. In her 2009 autobiography, Never Make the Same Mistake Twice, Leakes, 46, admitted to an arrest in her early 20s, when her friend shoplifted from a mall and police pulled them over together.
3. Marlo Hampton: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Marlo Hampton: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
According to court records obtained by RadarOnline.com, NeNe Leakes’ frenemy Hampton, 37, has been arrested at least seven times! In the most serious incident, which took place in 1999 when Hampton was 23, she was arrested for “Aggravated Battery/Great Bodily Harm,” which is a first-degree felony. Leakes blogged that Hampton “slashed a friends face with a knife and disfigured her over a man.” But Hampton called the controversy “recent distortions of events and false accusations disseminated over an altercation I was involved in over a dozen years ago.” Still, she can’t explain away SEVEN very different looking mug shots!
4. Joe Giudice: The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Joe Giudice: The Real Housewives of New Jersey
In 2011, Teresa Giudice’s husband was arrested and charged with illegally obtaining a state driver’s license by using his brother’s name -- after his own driver’s license had been suspended following a DUI arrest. That wasn’t the end of his legal troubles: Teresa and Joe recently pled guilty to several fraud and tax evasion charges, for which they are awaiting sentencing, and the Real Housewives of New Jersey husband’s driver’s license case -- for which he could face 10 years in jail -- is still pending.
5. Marysol Patton: The Real Housewives of Miami
Marysol Patton: The Real Housewives of Miami
Before her Bravo show debuted, the Miami publicist, 46, had been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Jan. 2010. But in a plea deal, Patton pled no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving to avoid jail time. She was fined $1,000 plus $581 in court costs.
6. Elsa Patton: The Real Housewives of Miami
Elsa Patton: The Real Housewives of Miami
Months after Marysol Patton was arrested for a DUI, so was her mom! Police cameras caught Mama Elsa, known for her plastic surgery and now 77, in a very unflattering mug shot in October 2010. But the elder Patton’s case ended up being dismissed in Dec. 2010 when her arresting officer failed to show up to court to testify.
7. Brooks Ayers: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Brooks Ayers: The Real Housewives of Orange County
RadarOnline.com obtained the mug shots of Vicki Gunvalson’s boyfriend Ayers, who was allegedly a “deadbeat dad” who owed thousands of dollars in child support to TWO separate women. Ayers’ mug shot was taken on August 29, 2010 at the Lee County Jail in Florida where he was incarcerated for failure to pay child support. But that wasn’t all! RadarOnline.com discovered Ayers, 45, was also arrested for a DUI in Florida in 2009.
8. Peter Rosello: The Real Housewives of Miami
Peter Rosello: The Real Housewives of Miami
Alexia Echevarria’s son Peter Rosello got into hot water in Oct. 2012 when he posted a YouTube video of himself punching a homeless man in the crotch and then running away. As RadarOnline.com reported, Rosello, 20, who has appeared often on his mom’s Bravo show, posted the clip under the title “Hobo Gets Nutcracked.” After the outcry about the bizarre prank, Rosello turned himself in to the police and faced felony battery charges. But he reportedly reached a plea deal that kept him out of jail by completing a pre-trial diversion program for first-time offenders.
9. Peter Thomas: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Peter Thomas: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Cynthia Bailey’s club owner husband, 53, appeared in two Atlanta mug shots that have surfaced on the web. In 2008, Thomas was allegedly arrested for simple battery. A year later, Thomas was reportedly busted on two different charges – simple battery and battery with visible harm. Both times, Thomas was released the same day after posting bond. Thomas told the Sister2Sister blog in 2011 that he was found not guilty, apparently for the 2009 incident.
10. Apollo Nida: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Apollo Nida: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Fans were stunned to find out powerhouse entertainment attorney Phaedra Parks’ husband Apollo Nida was an ex-con! From 2004-2009, Apollo served nearly five years of an 18-year sentence for racketeering. After getting out of prison, he married Parks and they’ve had two young sons. However, as RadarOnline.com readers know, in 2014, the 35-year-old reality TV husband was in trouble again, charged with bank fraud and identity theft.
11. Slade Smiley: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Slade Smiley: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Gretchen Rossi’s fiancé and housewives original cast member Smiley, 40, wasn’t smiling in 2009 in this mug shot. Smiley was arrested and held on $10,000 bail for failure to pay child support to his baby mama Michelle Aroyo for their son, Grayson, who has a brain tumor that involves many medical expenses. In 2012, Smiley’s attorney claimed he’s NOT a deadbeat dad and that he’s been making timely child support payments.
12. Danielle Staub: The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Danielle Staub: The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Staub’s then-co-star Teresa Guidice famously flipped over a table and branded her a “prostitution whore” over the book Cop Without a Badge, which concerned the adventures of Staub’s former husband, FBI informer Kevin Maher. The book claimed that Staub, then known as Beverly Merrill, was arrested in 1986 on charges that she was involved in the kidnapping of a man who owed her drug dealer friend money. According to Maher’s memoir, he used his police connections to help get Staub a deal: She pleaded guilty only to the charge of extortion and was sentenced to five years probation. However, Staub, now 51, has denied the claims that her past involved kidnapping and prostitution.
13. Josh Waring: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Josh Waring: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Original Real Housewives of Orange County cast member Lauri Waring often moaned to Bravo cameras about her son Josh’s troubles with the law — and he’s been busted at least five times! He served a year in prison on drug charges; and in 2013, he was charged with felony grand theft for allegedly stealing a Cadillac.
14. Lindsey Knickerbocker: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Lindsey Knickerbocker: The Real Housewives of Orange County
The daughter of Tammy Knickerbocker was arrested for DUI in Dec. 2012 in the O.C. According to reports, Lindsey’s blood alcohol content was allegedly four times the legal limit in California. Cops claimed she smashed her vehicle into two parked cars and fled the scene. But it got worse when as the reality show daughter allegedly slugged the arresting officer in the stomach. Lindsey, 24, reportedly made a deal in which she pled no contest to 3 charges -- DUI, hit-and-run, and battery on an officer -- and a 4th for driving with a BAC of .08% or higher was been dropped. According to internet reports, Lindsey was sentenced to 3 years probation, 129 hours of community service and a 9-month first offender alcohol program.
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15. Simon Barney: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Simon Barney: The Real Housewives of Orange County
While Tamra Barney, 46,went through a nasty divorce from husband Simon in 2010, he was arrested on a domestic violence charge. As RadarOnline.com reported, Simon was taken into custody in the O.C. on suspicion of throwing a dog leash at his wife’s head. According to sources, the argument leading to the altercation involved a custody battle over their dog and and issues surrounding their kids. The Orange County District Attorney later dropped charges against Simon.
16. Bryson Bryant: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Bryson Bryant: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
The oldest of NeNe Leakes’ two sons, Bryant has had numerous scrapes with the law. Bryant was arrested twice in 2010: once for possession of a controlled substance and possession of a weapon, and a second time that same year for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. In 2011, he was arrested for allegedly shoplifting two razors from Walmart. In 2012, as web sites reported, Bryant was nabbed on a probation violation and posed for his fourth mug shot! Leakes, who has talked about practicing “tough love” with her son, announced in 2012 that Bryant and his girlfriend had had a baby daughter.
17. Matt Keough: The Real Housewives of Orange County
Matt Keough: The Real Housewives of Orange County
The former baseball pitcher and husband to Jenna Keough was seen during the first few seasons of the Orange County reality show with their three kids. He’s been arrested multiple times for DUI. In December 2007, as this mug shot shows, Keough was arrested for violating his probation when he was found drinking at a bar. He was later sentenced to 180 days in the Orange County Jail in 2008. Keough’s most recent arrest was for DUI in August 2009, when he was found to have a blood alcohol content of three times the legal limit; the now 58-year-old ex-athlete was sentenced to a year in jail in 2010. Real estate agent Jenna, 58, separated from him during filming of Real Housewives of Orange County.
18. Pedro Rosello: The Real Housewives of Miami
Pedro Rosello: The Real Housewives of Miami
Fans were shocked when the National ENQUIRER revealed the past legal drama of Cuban Barbie Alexia Echevarria’s ex-husband! Rosello was convicted of cocaine smuggling in 1992 and served four and a half years in prison. Rosello, father of Echevarria’s two sons who appear on the show, was arrested again in 2007 for sexual battery on a minor and was sentenced to 12 years probation. As this mug shot shows, in 2012, he was arrested again—for violating his probation.
