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Getting real.\u00a0Real\u00a0Housewives of Salt Lake City<\/i><\/a> star Heather Gay<\/strong><\/a> was \u201cshocked\u201d about the reaction to her black eye storyline<\/a> during the show\u2019s third season, she exclusively\u00a0tells\u00a0Life & Style<\/i>.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know what would really eventually even be edited because there was so much going on behind the scenes. You know, you wake up on a cast trip surrounded by cameras with a black eye,\u201d the reality star, 40, explains while promoting her Bad Mormon<\/em> memoir, which is set to be released on Tuesday, February 7. \u201cThere are gonna be a lot of questions, but I just wasn\u2019t really able to \u2014 I can\u2019t really speak much about it until the reunion and everything plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n During the first part of the RHOSLC<\/em> season 3 reunion<\/a>, Heather explained to host Andy Cohen<\/strong><\/a> that she had \u201cblacked out\u201d during the cast\u2019s trip to San Diego\u00a0and \u201cwoke up with a black eye.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Overall, the first-time author explains to\u00a0Life & Style<\/em> that she was surprised by how fans became obsessed with the story.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of reality television, the one thing you don\u2019t wanna talk about, everybody\u2019s gonna talk about it,\u201d Heather adds. \u201cI try to stay offline because I try to just focus on the good and it can be pretty crippling and when the tide doesn\u2019t go your way. It\u2019s just better to ignore it and focus on the ones that still support you.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to support in her personal life, Heather is feeling the love from her daughters \u2014\u00a0Ashley, 19, Georgia, 17, and Annabelle, 15 \u2014 as she gears up to tell her story in an \u201cauthentic\u201d way when\u00a0Bad Mormon<\/em> is released.<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote this book for my girls. \u2026\u00a0This book is for them, it is to break them free of the expectations I was raised under and to allow them to be their own authentic selves without losing the love of their family,\u201d the Bravo star explains, calling her girls \u201cgood kids,\u201d noting that they \u201cchampioned\u201d her to write the book, which tells the story about Heather\u2019s upbringing in the Mormon church and how she made the decision to leave the religion in adulthood.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were able to see and understand who I was when I was their age. It forced us to grow really close, but it also gave me a lot more compassion for them as a mom. I got to be the mom I always wanted to be because I was no longer being a Mormon mom,\u201d Heather shares. \u201cI was just being a mom to my specific individual kids. And I think it\u2019s grown made us grow a lot closer and I think they have \u2014 it\u2019s given them permission to just be who they wanna be and talk to me about things that I lied to my parents about for decades because it wasn\u2019t allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n