Fashion Designer Koa Johnson Opens Up About The Alleged Abuse He Suffered While Working With Jen Shah Amid Leaked Audio Drama!

Fashion Designer Koa Johnson is speaking out about his alleged abusive working relationship with Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah amid recent leaked audio drama. 

The fashion designer began to recall how he ended up working with Shah. “A friend of mine, he was working for Jen during filming and he reached out to me. He was like, ‘Hey, I’m working for this Real Housewife. Could you come out and help… for like a month?’ So I was like, ‘Sure,'” Koa said during a recent appearance on the Behind the Velvet Rope With David Yontef podcast on March 13, according to a report by Reality Blurb.

Johnson claims that he traveled from his home in Hawaii to Utah on March 18, 2020, and he began working with Jen. Then, just three weeks later, he learned that his friend would no longer be working with Shah.

“Things were not working out. So she reached out to me and said, ‘I love your aesthetic. I love your style. I think we would work really well with each other. And I would love for you to make clothes for me.’ So I said, ‘Let’s do that,'” Koa said.

Johnson worked with Shah while filming the first season of RHOSLC as he designed outfits for her and also the show completed filming. He also designed clothing for Jen's RHOSLC confessionals, her intro, promotional photos, and the reunion. However, he reveals that after being faced with “unrealistic deadlines” and other pressures, his work and his mental wellbeing began to suffer.

Koa said that while he didn’t realize it at the time, he was being “conditioned” by Jen.

“You’re in a position where you are conditioned or groomed to [think] how you’re being treated is okay, and the only times you realize that is when other people around you notice it as well,” he said.

Johnson reveals he experienced Stockholm syndrome with Shah amid her verbal abuse, a number of recordings were taken of the RHOSLC cast member without her knowledge, one of which, the fashion designer revealed, was taped on November 6, just days before the season one premiere, according to Reality Blurb.

“I’m glad that it got released. It’s unfortunate [but] now I’m able to speak my truth. When she was calling me a liar or saying, ‘Who raised you? How old are you?’ That was during the premiere. The other video that is circulating on the internet that was during a different time,” Koa explained.

 He added, “My relationship with her was definitely different than anyone else’s. I got to know her family, her aunts, her mom, her siblings, and… I do have moments where I do feel sad and do feel hurt because my relationship with her was very intimate. I’m glad that it’s out there, but also I’m human and I empathize with her,” he shared.

Photo Credit: Courtesy via Koa Johnson/Instagram; Bravo Media/NBCUniversal