Karen Huger Breaks Silence on DUI Arrest Bodycam Footage in Exclusive RHOP Clip: ‘I Didn’t Recognize That Woman’

The Real Housewives of Potomac season 9 reunion ended on Sunday, March 2 with a surprise.

In the final moments of the three-part season climax, reunion host Andy Cohen introduced never-before-seen video of Karen Huger, filmed on Dec. 27, 2024 — the day before the mother of two checked herself into a private recovery program in Florida to address her usage of alcohol and antidepressants.

Karen, 61, is in prison now for her fourth DUI conviction. She was taken into custody on Wednesday, Feb. 26, moments after she was sentenced to two years in prison (with one year suspended). She’ll have to serve five years probation.

All pends from her May 2024 single vehicle car crash and subsequent drunk driving arrest. Bodycam footage later released from the scene showed a visibly intoxicated Karen stumbling and slurring her words, while admitting to police she’d had “a couple of beers” and describing herself as “Thomas Jefferson’s concubine.”

Karen Huger on season 9 of ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac’. 

Shannon Finney/Bravo

Though Bravo fans picked every frame of the footage apart, Karen herself never commented on it. And as viewers learned on Sunday’s reunion, that’s because she never watched it until she was forced to in the courtroom.

The experience, Karen told husband Ray Huger in the filmed conversation Andy debuted, was eye-opening.

“Dots are being connected for me,” Karen said. “I keep saying, ‘Surely they made a mistake, right? Because everything’s not connecting to me.’ And I watched and I’m telling you… I didn’t recognize that woman. I didn’t know her. … But it helped me to hear that because I blacked out before the impact.”

Ray Huger and Karen Huger in June 2023. 

Brian Stukes/Getty

She went on to explain what she recalled from the accident, going back to the fact that she started taking antidepressants after the death of her parents seven years ago. “It was fine, it would help, but then I need more and more as life kept life-ing,” she told Ray. “And so instead of going back to the doctor, I adjusted my medication. I self-medicated.”

“That night, what I do remember is going to a friend’s house. I opened a Stella, didn’t like the beer. I said, ‘No, I’m just going to do a champagne.’ So I started drinking champagne,” she said. “But I had forgot I had taken the medication and not only just taken it, I had upped the dose.”

“It was like a snowball,” she said.

Andy Cohen and Karen Huger on ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen’. 

 Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

Speaking with Ray in the sit-down, Karen noted that the two had “an agreement” after a previous DUI, where she would use a driver. But the man, nicknamed by Karen’s costars as “Blue Eyes,” only led to rumors that the two were having an affair.

“It’s my fault,” Karen said. “What happened to me was self-inflicted. I drove. I had that accident. I put people in danger.”

Going to rehab, Karen added, was a chance to work on herself. “I’m going away not court-ordered. I’m doing this for me,” she said. “What happened to me, I don’t want that to ever happen to me again.”

Ray Huger and Karen Huger in April 2018. Brian Stukes/Getty

Ray, for his part, stood by his wife. “That’s beautiful,” he told her. “Sorry you’re going through this.”

In the final moments of their conversation, Karen revealed that she was looking forward to returning back to the world as herself and not the Grand Dame, the moniker pal Gizelle Bryant famously gave her.

“I’m going to retire the Grand Dame and give the world a dose of Karen Huger. Because I think she’s enough; in fact, I know she is,” the Bravo star said.

The ‘Real Housewives of Potomac’ season 9 cast: Stacey Rusch, Karen Huger, Gizelle Bryant, Mia Thornton, Wendy Osefo, Ashley Darby and Keiarna Stewart. 

Phylicia J. L. Munn/Bravo

While it appeared Karen was taking responsibility, her fellow Potomac Housewives — including Ashley Darby, Wendy Osefo, Keiarna Stewart, Stacey Rusch and Bryant herself — questioned Karen’s motivations.

“They certainly covered all the bases there,” Ashley joked, as Gizelle pointed out, “They were trying to cover all the points that they think we’re going to question.”

“That wasn’t accountability, not to me. I don’t know what that was,” Gizelle continued. “How about what you were drinking!?! … That wasn’t accountability.”

Karen Huger in a photoshoot for season 9 of ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac’. 

Phylicia Munn/Bravo

Still, the group agreed that they were happy Karen was doing the work on herself. “I just feel like, no matter how she gets there, at least she’s getting help,” said Stacey.

And they all prayed for her best, should she wind up behind bars. “Karen is 60-something years old. To be going to jail at 60-something years old is a problem,” said Gizelle. “I don’t see it going well at all.”