silence

“Real Housewives of Potomac” personality Karen Huger says she has turned over a new leaf nearly two years after crashing her Maserati in a drunk-driving accident.

The reality TV star, 62, on Thursday opened up about her 2024 DUI arrest and the six-month county jail sentence that followed in a conversation with Sherri Shepherd. Huger, dubbed the Grand Dame by fans, told the “Sherri” host that she is “so happy and so at peace right now to be on the other side.”

In March 2024, Maryland police arrested Huger for driving under the influence after she crashed her car into a street divider and a tree in Potomac. In addition to the DUI, Huger was also found guilty on negligent driving charges and sentenced in February 2025 to one year in jail. After serving six months in Maryland’s Montgomery County Detention Center, she was released in September.

For her sit-down with Shepherd, Huger was styled in a formfitting burnt orange dress, metallic cuffs and a chic bob. While the daytime host complimented her look, Huger said her exterior is “not a reflection of what God has done for me.”

“I healed myself, so thank you,” she continued, “but the inside is what matters.”

Huger spoke candidly about how the 2024 accident pushed her to confront her struggles with alcohol addiction. At the time of the crash, Huger attributed her drinking to the grief of losing her mother and urged drivers to “understand your emotional state” before driving a car. She said Thursday that the drunk-driving incident was her running away from the reality of grief and addiction and her choice to not listen to God.

Huger told Shepherd that, prior to the accident, she was a “functional addict” who would drink off-screen during her time on “RHOP” — a habit she said she’s now ashamed of.

“I was dead wrong,” she said Thursday of her accident. “I’m so grateful no one was killed, no other person was hurt. I’m so grateful to be alive. I could’ve died.”

The reality TV star said six months in county jail — without cameras and her creature comforts — proved to be a period of self-improvement and empowerment. Huger said she began treatment to address her alcohol addiction and carried that on in prison. She said she led Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while behind bars.

“I have a responsibility to tell my truth and share it with the world if they’re willing to listen,” she told Shepherd.

Huger previously spoke about the scandal with Andy Cohen, telling the Bravo host earlier this month that she had been in denial about her grief and addiction. She also told Cohen that she was taking her sobriety one day at a time, a sentiment she echoed on “Sherri.” Her two adult children are also major motivators to stay sober, she said.

The “RHOP” star, eager to put her DUI behind her, recalled seeing her two adult children “through a glass window” in jail and recognizing “the pain that put them through.”

“I didn’t think about how they would feel,” she said, underscoring she intends for that to be a onetime experience.

Huger said Thursday that it remains to be seen whether she will return to “RHOP” for future seasons. Huger was absent from the season amid her sentence but appeared in the Season 10 finale. The “RHOP” cast, including Huger, reunited for the series’ three-part reunion, which begins airing on Sunday.

In the fallout of the scandal, Huger told Shepherd she feels like the same “Karen Huger, just clean.” She also isn’t resisting fans’ “Grand Dame” nickname, despite her scandal.

“If they want me to be their Grand Dame, no one else could do it anyway.”

The scene is entirely black, white, grey and silver. It is cold, unusually dark and a film of ice is forming on the lake. I’m sitting in an unlit wooden sauna, alone, in immense silence. The only noise is the soft ticking of the stove as the heat rises. Across the water are ghostly silver birches and dark pines. Above them, Orion’s Belt shines bright. This vivid experience feels like midwinter in Canada, Finland or anywhere else about 60 degrees north. So it’s bizarre to know I’m a few miles south-west of Great Yarmouth.

Fritton Lake is an anomaly. Like the Broads to the north, this deceptively big, sinuous lake was largely created by medieval peat-digging, but it’s nothing like its Norfolk cousins. Set in a sandy, hilly landscape of heaths and pines, the northernmost outpost of the wildlife-rich strip of sandy heathlands running up the Suffolk coast, the lake is deep and two miles long but so hidden by trees that many people don’t know of its existence.

Over the past five years, Fritton Lake has been transformed by a rewilding programme. Landowner Hugh Somerleyton is the co-founder of WildEast, a now-national movement encouraging people to pledge to “wild” at least 20% of their garden, park, playground or farm. Fritton and its surrounds represent Somerleyton’s 25% rewilding contribution, while he farms the rest of his 2,020-hectare (5,000-acre) estate regeneratively.

I’ve brought my family for a winter weekend seeking wildness in far-eastern England. Arriving after nightfall, my first impression is simply darkness. Anything as suburban as a lit walkway or illuminated sign is not found here. But we locate our self-catering cottage, one of a range of accommodation options that includes chic wooden cabins (some with hot tubs) and B&B rooms in the cosy pub turned clubhouse that is now is both a holiday destination and a high-end members’ club.

The highlight of our first night is a (very) quiet private 30-minute session in the lake’s magical floating sauna. Between pub and sauna are courts and pitches for tennis, basketball, football, cricket, croquet, pétanque and pickleball. Down by the lake are canoes, kayaks, rowing boats and paddleboards. Passing the heated outdoor 22-metre swimming pool with fire pits at either end is like stepping through a set for a film about a 1960s Cliveden pool party featuring Christine Keeler, except there is a solitary swimmer doing laps as the pool steams alluringly in the chill night air.

The next morning, I wake up to another silence so deep it might swallow me. Huge flocks of jackdaws and rooks fly overhead as we stroll through rewilded grassland to the pub for a hearty breakfast. Afterwards, my son Ted and I set out on a Fritton “safari”. Our guide, Matthew, is a fast-talking, east London-raised botanist-horticulturist-entomologist-mycologist. We jump in an old-fashioned, cream-coloured motorboat and putter slowly across the lake, which is superb for swimming and also enjoyed by pike, eels and, in winter, teals, shelducks and egrets. In summer, an osprey occasionally hunts for fish here, while “all the owls” – little, short-eared, long-eared, tawny and barn – are seen nearby alongside six endangered amphibian species.

On the far side of the lake, the wildlife area is only open to those on guided tours (and Scout groups). We climb into an open-sided 1976 Austrian Pinzgauer 4WD and Matthew bumps us through the woods. Amid last year’s bracken, we spy an enormous shiny black shape slumped under a pine. A hippo? Creeping closer, we find that the shape is a pair of huge black pigs that Somerleyton has “retired” to the woods. They flick floppy ears out of their eyes to examine us. Their rootling mimics wild boar lost to this landscape, disturbing the ground and assisting wildflower germination; former arable fields are filled with oxeye daisies in summer. We admire the long-horned Highland cattle roaming free, while a buzzard cries in the sky above.

Ted spots a muntjac and a fallow deer, and then Matthew screeches to a halt with excitement. “King Conan’s sons!” he whispers. There, crossing our paths are two magnificent red deer stags, although apparently not quite as magnificent as King Conan himself. “They are the princes,” whispers Matthew. They observe us, seemingly unafraid, from 15 metres away.

On our return across the lake after an otherworldly three-hour experience, two kingfishers pirouette around our boat, shining iridescent orange and turquoise against the dark water.

My kids are mortified when I arrive at the pub for dinner wearing my Dryrobe, but if it is socially acceptable anywhere, it must be here. I need it for another sauna session that follows an amazing steak from a menu emphasising local/seasonal food, with good veggie options too. An owl calls on the walk back to the cottage.

On Sunday morning, I rise before dawn to explore Carlton Marshes, a Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve that’s a 20-minute drive away. The sunrise fills the vast sky with pink, and I have the seemingly endless marshes of the Waveney to myself, silent reeds silvered by frost. A Chinese water deer watches me, its teddy bear ears twitching, as I circle round the reserve, which is a haven for rare dragonflies and the spectacular fen raft spider in spring and summer. Although this coast is dominated by the surprisingly large conurbation of Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and surrounding villages, Gorleston-on-Sea’s sandy beach offers another great stroll with seabirds and salty air.

Later that day, while my wife, Lisa, does a yoga class, I head for a farewell sauna and find the open session is packed with a friendly crowd of regulars who say they wish Somerleyton would build another sauna or two. I pop outside and duck into the lake, cracking ice as I gasp with the delicious cold shock.

We head home much less frantically than we arrived – a sign of the nourishment provided by a weekend of painterly light, stripped-back landscapes, cold water, warm hospitality and the gorgeous avian soundtrack of this wild, wintery east.

The trip was provided by Fritton Lake. Clubhouse rooms from £130; two-bed cabins from £275.

MOLLY-MAE Hague has opened up about her second pregnancy as she revealed the “irritating” symptoms she’s experiencing.

The influencer, 26, announced that she and Tommy Fury are expecting their second child together – and she is already six months pregnant.

Molly returned to her YouTube vlogs to share an update for the first time since the big reveal, but admitted that it was the “worst kept secret”.

She said: “I don’t really know how we got here, but I’m pregnant, legitimately the worst kept secret.

“But that’s honestly my own fault because towards the end, I got really lazy trying to hide it. We weren’t even trying to hide it. We were at a spa over the weekend and I was openly saying to people that ‘I’m pregnant’, to the staff.

“I wasn’t even trying to hide it.”

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Before filming her sweet black and white pregnancy announcement clip with Tommy and daughter Bambi, Molly said she was tempted to just put out a simple statement to confirm the pregnancy news.

She continued: “We still in this current moment, we don’t have anything filmed, I felt like posting a black statement on my Instagram saying ‘Yes, I am pregnant’, we don’t even have anything to post.

“But I am pregnant, but plot twist I’m five and a half months.

“I haven’t really been documenting anything, it’s been so different this time, it’s just feels really chilled and I feel really at peace weirdly.

“I feel very content, I don’t feel like I’m trying to capture stuff for content.

“I just feel like this is happening and it’s really special and nice.”

Molly-Mae then reveled her pregnancy symptoms – including irritated skin, snoring and and shortness of breathe.

She said: “One of my symptoms is my skin, my eczema, my skin is so so irritated and flared.

“It was the same in my last pregnancy, I’m just struggling with little things to hide it.

“I’m constantly out of breathe as you guys have noticed in my videos. I’ve got quite a full on bump which you guys have seen in my last video in all the reflections.

“What I will say, I absolutely love you sticking up for me saying ‘stop talking about her body’, luckily for me I don’t get affected by stuff like that.

“I am pregnant and yeah my body is changing and there are differences visibly emotionally, mentally, physically.

“There are so many changes in me, you guys know me so well and you know that something has not been clicking.”

Molly continued: “It sounds like I’ve got a rotten cold and one of my symptoms has been congestion.

“I woke up this morning to an empty bed and Tommy wasn’t there and I came into the spare room and said I was snoring so loudly.”

Molly added: “I’m so lucky to say that I’ve had a really amazing pregnancy, I’m so beyond blessed that I’ve had a very smooth experience.

“I don’t get sick, I’ve not had symptoms that are debilitating, I can kind of pretty much crack on as usual, which is amazing for me because I’m not one of those women, you amazing women out there that have horrendous morning sickness and still get up and get your things done.

“Best believe if I felt like that, I’d be done for, the whole world would hear about it.”

BABY REVEAL

Molly-Mae confirmed last week that she’s actually six months pregnant already.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, she shared a snap from her L’Oreal catwalk in late September and wrote above it: “Little baby with me in this moment…and I didn’t even know.”

She also reshared her pregnancy announcement video and wrote below it: Nearly 6 months on and it still hasn’t sunk in.”

Molly-Mae then shared a video from last weekend showing her growing bump in a black top and jogger bottoms as partner Tommy bent down to kiss her stomach.

The Influencer, who also has three-year-old daughter Bambi with Tommy, had filmed her pregnancy reveal video on January 23, and captioned it: “Soon to be four.”

However, some fans had guessed she was pregnant the week before, when they spotted her reflection in the window of one of her videos.

Molly dropped various clues about her pregnancy before announcing the news, which is said to have strengthened her relationship with Tommy after they got back together early last year.

A source told The Sun: “Finding out Molly is pregnant has really helped bring them close together again.

“Tommy is determined to do things right this time he has cancelled all of his summer trips with his friends, as he wants to stand by Molly every step of the way.

“Their new home is in a better place for both of them and has more than enough space for two children.”

The couple quietly broke the news to family and close pals months ago, but shared the surprise video with their fans last week.

Molly posted a sweet black and white clip on Instagram filmed on January 23, captioning it: “Soon to be four.”

It included their three-year-old daughter Bambi together, who they welcomed in 2023, excitedly wearing a “big sister” jumper.

Molly-Mae spoke candidly about hopes to expand her family with boxer Tommy during the first instalment of her Amazon Prime documentary, Molly-Mae: Behind It All, which aired to viewers last year.

Opening up about the future, she revealed: “All I want in this life is to be with him, and to have another baby with him, and to grow old as a family. And to live in a nice house together and have a nice life together. That’s all I want.”

KATIE PRICE’S new mother in law has broken her silence on the star’s secret marriage to her son.

The former glamour model announced her engagement to Lee Andrews on Friday before the pair tied the knot in a shock ceremony in Dubai.

Now Lee’s mum Trisha has spoken out for the first time and revealed she knew the two were going to be getting hitched.

The clairvoyant from Nottingham told the Mirror: “As long as they are happy I am happy.

“There’s a lot of lies going around about Lee and that’s made me really upset. He’s not been married twice. I just want to defend my son, but I can’t say much more until I know everything.

“He did tell me that the wedding was happening. He spoke to me and if he is happy, I am happy – he’s my son, and that’s all that matters.”

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Speaking about her new famous daughter-in-law, Trisha continued: “Of course, I know who Katie is.

“I’ve always been very neutral about her. Everyone deserves a chance, you should never judge anyone in life.”

She joked: “You can ask what it’s like to have a famous daughter-in-law, but she’s got a famous mother-in-law!”

On Friday, the reality star took to her Instagram stories to share a series of engagement pictures, sending fans into a frenzy.

In one photo, the mum-of-five was seen standing beside rose petals that were arranged to read ‘will you marry me’ before she showcased her huge diamond engagement ring.

However, just 48 hours later, she announced the pair had tied the knot in a quickie ceremony in Dubai, a move which has reportedly left her closest family and friends shocked.

In the pictures, the 47-year-old was seen beaming from ear to ear and locking lips with her new husband shortly after the ceremony.

Katie was seen in a cut-out, white bodycon dress while Lee wore white linen trousers and a taupe shirt.

The leggy dress displayed the reality TV legend’s toned abs and tattoos as she showed off her huge diamond ring.

The Sun understands Katie’s family were not aware of the wedding taking place and were not given prior warning it was happening.

An onlooker said: “Katie and Lee had no one with them when they got married. It was just the two of them.

“Katie couldn’t stop smiling, she seemed so taken with Lee. They said their vows and then kissed, it was sweet to watch.”

An officiator was seen in front of the pair reading from a script as they stood together in the sunshine saying their vows.

A family friend added: “Kate’s family are dumbstruck. To see she had got engaged after flying to Dubai – literally just after she had arrived was crazy.

“The fact she has now married him the following day is even more shocking.”

“No one knows who Lee is, they know nothing about him. Kate’s mum, her children, no one knew about the wedding.

“She has a lot of questions to answer when she comes home.”

The Sun understands Katie and Lee met just over a week ago.

They were introduced on social media and spent time talking before Lee invited Katie to fly out to Dubai to meet him.

He put on an extravagant proposal, with Katie branding him her “Richard Gere”.