Lisa Barlow kicked off The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 7 with the surprising revelation that she and husband John Barlow almost split while navigating marital issues in late 2025.
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As seen in RHOSLC‘s supersized Sept. 16 premiere episode, Lisa specifically referenced a tense Season 6 lunch during which John had expressed his frustrations over her supposedly not listening to him. Lisa said that, afterward, she began to question John’s feelings and commitment to their future together.
“I didn’t really think it was a big deal when we had that lunch,” she explained in a confessional. “When I watched it back, I cried, because my feelings always mattered and, like, they didn’t matter to him. And I called John up and I was like, ‘I think we’re done.’ And he’s like, ‘I can’t live without you. I love you.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t f–king feel like you do, and I hurt so bad.’ And he wasn’t getting it.”
However, Lisa and John sat down for a tearful conversation in Season 7, Episode 1, and he apologized for and unpacked the reasons for his behavior (more on that below). That’s when she said she realized that he was finally “getting it.”
Read on for more details on the recent ups and downs in Lisa and John’s relationship, as well as exclusive updates on where their marriage stands today.
Lisa Barlow and John Barlow quick facts
Are Lisa Barlow and John Barlow still together?
Yes, Lisa and John are still together today and shared a joint Instagram post as recently as September 11, 2026. In an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider, Lisa also opened up about their marriage and how she and John overcome their relationship issues.
“I am lucky I’m married to my best friend,” Lisa said. “I think it’s really important with this platform that you really are in touch with your spouse and that you absolutely talk through feelings and everything.”
She added, “I remember in the ’90s, it was like, the working woman can have it all. You really can have it all, but everything’s give and take. So, I think with your marriage, you have to really work on making sure you’re both giving and understand where the take comes in and what the risk-reward is for that.”
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John Barlow’s apology to Lisa Barlow on RHOSLC Season 7
John began his tearful conversation with Lisa during RHOSLC‘s Season 7 premiere by admitting that he had not been a “safe space” for her last year, particularly during their aforementioned lunch. “I was in kind of a dark place, I guess,” he explained to her. “And I didn’t want to burden you with what I was going through. I’ve never been, you know… I’m not one to expound.”
In a confessional, John elaborated, “Lisa’s very good at communicating. … And I’m not so much. But during that lunch, I felt that she wasn’t listening to me, which really was the wrong thing to say, because it wasn’t so much that she wasn’t listening to me. But I think I probably wasn’t expressing to her what was really going on in my head.”
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Back in their home, John continued his apology, adding, “I wasn’t doing well, and I took it out on you. … You do everything and more for our family, and I was struggling. … I just can’t say sorry enough.”
Afterward, Lisa told a producer, “John doesn’t apologize a lot, but when he does, he really, really means it. Him being vulnerable makes me feel way closer to him. And there’s only one person’s opinion of me I care about, and it’s his.”
Why was John Barlow in a “dark place” during RHOSLC Season 6?
Explaining why John was in a “dark place” last year, Lisa cited the “pressure” that is put on members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be “perfect” providers, husbands, and fathers.
“Over the last two years, John put very lofty goals on himself,” she added. “From a business perspective, he had two deals that he was working on. One was taking so long. I think it just, like, was making him spiral internally.”
As John put it to his wife, “Everything was going wrong for me, it felt like. And it didn’t seem like anything was working out. And you had everything going for you; I was jealous.”
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What happened between Lisa and John Barlow during RHOSLC Season 6?
Lisa said on RHOSLC Season 7 that she felt John “underappreciated” and “undervalued” the work she put into their family. That’s why their previous Season 6 conversations about her not listening or taking his opinions into consideration had “hurt” her feelings so much.
During the RHOSLC Season 6 reunion, Lisa echoed those comments, sharing with host Andy Cohen that she “cried for two days” after watching her and John’s “really long, hard-hitting conversation” play out on screen.
“I think that the bottom line is, like, he knows damn well that I really work hard on listening to him,” Lisa added. “And I think, for me, it felt really jabby for him to say that, when he knows I work really hard to listen to him. He took that opportunity to jab, and it hurt. And I said to him, too — I’m just gonna be really transparent — I said to him, ‘I would die before I’d make you look bad. You just made me look horrible on things that you know hurt me.'”
Clarifying that she was specifically referring to their lunch sit-down, Lisa concluded, “He broke my heart.”
As the couple continues moving forward in their marriage, don’t miss details on what’s ahead for Lisa and her castmates on RHOSLC Season 7.
—Reporting by Scarlet Perez
