There are reality TV stars who fade quietly after their moment passes. And then there is Meredith Marks, who has responded to six seasons of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drama by picking up a set of decks and soundtracking dancefloors across America.
She's speaking to me from behind a pair of oversized sunglasses — a scratched retina, she explains — ahead of her biggest UK moment yet: DJing at London’s Mighty Hoopla this weekend.
The DJ chapter started as something of a left turn. But watch the clips — Meredith behind the decks, serving caviar bumps, dropping bangers to a room full of screaming Hayu fans — and it's hard to argue it isn't working. The role has taken her into some unexpected circles, including a meeting with Charli XCX at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
Meredith Marks meeting Charli XCX at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this yearInstagram"I mean, she's amazing, and meeting her, seeing how excited she was, was like shocking to me, because obviously I thought much more excited to meet her than she would have been to meet me," she tells The Standard. She was wrong. They bonded. Adding: “It was wild, and it was, she's, she's amazing, I mean, so fun, I, you know, playing her music in my set since the very beginning, we love to do caviar bumps to it, so it works.”
Her one regret? “I didn't have caviar to do a bump with her. So next time.... I would love to hang out with her. Charlie, let me know, if you're down.”
London might offer more than just a festival slot. The Real Housewives of London features her long-time friend Amanda Cronin, and Marks isn't closing the door on a possible cameo. “I would love to do that and have a little fun in London," she says. "You never know what could happen.”
As for jumping ship to another Hayu show entirely, she's thought about it, but isn't convinced. "I always think, like, what if I want to be on this one or that one," she admits. "But it's like the devil you know versus the one you don't. I'm good with where I am for now. We're a great group, we make a great show together — no need to rock the boat when it's working."
Back home, season seven of RHOSLC awaits and Marks is keeping her cards close after speculation circulated that she wouldn’t be returning. “You're gonna have to watch season seven to see where that all unfolds,” she says. But she's happy to pick up where season six left off.
Marks pictured with her RHOSLC co-stars Lisa Barlow (L) and Mary Crosby (R) during the season six reunionJocelyn Prescod/HayuAnd where it left off was messy. Season six ended with Marks at war with Whitney Rose, Heather Gay and Britani Bateman over allegations surrounding an infamous flight home from Barbados — a sequence of events viewers never actually saw play out on screen, but which dominated the back half of the season.
Marks is clear on where she stands, “That group of women were making up anything and everything they could to frame me, slander me and it was a lot. I didn't like it. I was not at peace with it. I was not okay with it.”
Rose's subsequent comments at a drag brunch in February only hardened the lines. “She hates me,” the reality TV star states. “She made that very clear. She wants nothing to do with me.”
Could they ever find their way back? Marks pauses. “I'm at peace with that. Not everyone has to like me. I don't really care.”
She's more measured, though, when it comes to the question of reconciliation in general. “We are all human, we all screw up, we all make mistakes — me included. The question is, what do you do with those mistakes? Are you accountable? Are you apologetic? And do your actions moving forward show that's actually true?”
She's tired, she says, of the narrative that she holds grudges. “I actually let go pretty quickly. But if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, your apology is invalidated. That's really what it boils down to.”
Away from the drama, family remains her north star. Son Brooks Marks is returning for a second season of Next Gen NYC and she never had a moment's doubt. "I knew he'd be an absolute pro," she says. "He's actually better at being authentic than I am."
So does that mean a family spin-off could be on the cards? Her daughter, Chloe, has just launched her music career. “I mean, I hope so,” she says instantly. “There's nothing I love more than spending time with my family, that's like everything, and probably a little too obsessed with my kids, you know, but yeah, that would be fun. I would love it.”
But right now, there's a festival crowd to play to and, somewhere out there, a caviar bump with Charli XCX that hasn't happened yet. Everything outside of that can wait.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City seasons 1-6 are streaming now on Hayu