Shannon Beador has been ‘blindsided’ by her estranged husband David’s new relationship.
David has gone public on Instagram with new girlfriend Lesley, who he reportedly started dating in December, just two months after Shannon announced their separation after 17 years of marriage.
A source close to the 53-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County star told People that Shannon is handling the situation by ‘taking the high road’ and ‘focusing on her new life with their girls’.
New romance: Shannon Beador’s ex David has found love with Lesley
‘Not discreet anymore’: Lesley, who is reportedly 20 years David’s junior, shared a Valentine’s post on Wednesday and gushed about him in the comments
‘Happy Valentine’s Day!! And away we go …. #notdiscreetanymore #happyvalentinesday,’ David wrote on Lesley’s Instagram picture of some red balloons on Wednesday.
He also added emojis of a plane, a tropical island, a sun and two glasses of wine.
The pretty blonde had captioned the photo with a simple heart emoji but replied to David in the comments, writing: ‘@david_beador Happy Valentine’s Day to the most kind, funny, motivated, loving & man! The sky is more blue & my coffee taste better with you in my life’
Lesley, who is reportedly 20 years his junior, has two young children of her own.
A source told People Shannon was ‘blindsided by the relationship’.
Moving on: Lesley is a Newport Beach local who has two children of her own
‘Taking the high road’: RHOC’s Shannon Beador has been blindsided that ex David has a new girlfriend and is taking it publicly so soon after their split
‘It’s disgusting and cruel that David would be putting this out so publicly as their divorce is not yet finalized and they share three daughters together,’ they added.
‘He’s always been selfish and is clearly not thinking about how this will affect his children.’
It first emerged last month that David was no longer hiding his new love as he referred to himself as ‘the lucky one’ in the comments of Instagram photo Lesley shared of the two of them.
‘David wasted no time and has already started dating again and has moved on entirely,’ an insider told E! News at the time.
‘It’s disgusting and cruel that David would be putting this out so publicly as their divorce is not yet finalized’ a source told People
Falling apart: Shannon, 53, shared this inspirational quote to Instagram last week
‘He’s been seeing this woman for at least a few weeks now and the word has spread around Newport Beach.’
Shannon meanwhile returned to filming Season 13 of the Real Housewives on February 9.
Last week the mother-of-three shared an inspirational quote to Instagram which read: ‘Sometimes when things are falling apart they may actually be falling into place.’
According to Page Six Shannon is requesting spousal support and attorneys’ fees to be paid by David.
The star is also asking for sole physical custody of their three children, 16-year-old Sophie and 13-year-old twins Stella and Adeline and joint legal custody.
Shannon has requested David be granted child visitation.
She cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.
The Bravo star filed documents in Orange County Superior Court in December after announcing her separation in October.
She and David will be in divorce court on March 12.
The split came two years after the couple worked to repair their relationship after David admitted to having an affair.
Single: The split came two years after Shannon and David worked to repair their relationship after David admitted to having an affair
The crumbling of their marriage was documented on Real Housewives with David admitting that he’d been unfaithful to her during season 10; on season 11 they renewed their vows. But still there were problems.
During the season 12 reunion show of RHOC she broke down in tears when she said it was David, not her, who wanted the marriage to end.
‘It’s not what I wanted and it’s been really, really hard,’ she said.
‘We went on a trip to Hawaii, which I kind of hoped would bring everything together, but he left the trip early. And when I came home, he said, “We’re done,”‘ she told the reunion host Andy Cohen.
The star is asking for sole physical custody of her their three children, 16-year-old Sophie and 13-year-old twins Stella and Adeline and joint legal custody
‘I said to David, when he told me it was over, “What happened? We had a couple of amazing years.” And he goes, “We had a couple good months.” It was just a knife in the heart.’
Shannon also revealed David became distant from her when she gained 40lbs.
She has been very frank with her fans about her struggle to lose weight and how the stress from her bad marriage made her eat more.
She told People last year: ‘It’s heartbreaking for me and my daughters that this is the road that had to be taken but it’s the only way.
‘I felt alone in my marriage. You can do what you can to keep your family together, but you have to have willing parties.
‘You need two people to make a marriage work, and that just wasn’t happening in our relationship.’
Their family: The reality TV stars were married for 17 years and have three children together