The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s Whitney Rose is sharing all-new details about her and her husband’s failed business and the “devastating” six-figure loss they faced.
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On the Oct. 14 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the Housewife and mother of two — with husband Justin Rose sitting in the live audience — elaborated more about the business venture in which the married couple went “all in” and left with “nothing.” When asked by Andy Cohen about how much they lost, Whitney said, “a lot,” confirming losses north of half a million dollars.
Still, not all hope was lost. Continued Whitney, “But, do you know what’s beautiful? I have multiple streams of income,” including her jewelry brand, PRISM, plus, “I have a lot of other things, so we’re fine.”
The failed joint venture came when deciding to merge the Housewife’s direct-to-consumer skincare brand, Wild Rose Beauty, “into another entity.” As she said in an interview with Us Weekly published on Oct. 15, “We had massive success in the beginning, and some things transpired that I can’t talk about legally, but I decided to resign as CEO in November of 2024 after launching in June of 2024. It was really hard, because I merged my beauty brand into it, so I had to close the doors on that and fight for my brand back.”
Related: Whitney Rose Sheds New Light on Justin Losing His Job: “Hit Me at Such a Deep Level”
Whitney’s decision to step down as CEO less than half a year after the launch helped to mitigate further loss of income, she continued to Us Weekly. As she recalled, “Luckily, I was able to see the writing on the wall quick enough and pump the brakes and stop the bleeding.”
She continued, “What was the true loss was that we had massive success, and I thought I finally did it. I finally hit the jackpot of why I’ve built this brand and built this business. For it to not be that and to lose six figures is devastating.”
Once business started plummeting, they had to fire 30 employees, and Whitney was left with the emotional fallout, which she emotionally discussed in the RHOSLC Season 6 premiere.
Where Whitney Rose’s business Wild Rose Beauty stands today
Whitney has since regained control of Wild Rose Beauty, though it was “a very expensive fight,” she exclusively revealed during a recent visit with Bravo HQ.
“We’re back selling. It’s been amazing to see that people are stepping up and still supporting me,” she continued. “Right now, I have my skincare line back and I’m working on some new stuff right now; just getting back into the rhythm of getting sales going and getting my customers aware that we’re back.”
Related: Whitney Rose Makes a Damning Statement About Her Husband: “I love Justin, But…”
“As hard as it was, I’m starting to see that it’s gonna be fine,” Whitney concluded. “I built it once, I can build it again.”
The positive update about Wild Rose Beauty initially came on Sept. 17, one day after audiences saw Whitney confess to the failed business on the RHOSLC Season 6 premiere. “This relaunch is deeply personal to me,” Whitney said at the time. “It’s about reconnecting with what I originally set out to create: a beauty brand that empowers, uplifts, and celebrates authenticity.”
The September news marked the line’s second rebrand since Wild Rose Beauty changed during Season 2 from Iris + Beau, the former predating RHOSLC’s 2020 series premiere.
How Whitney Rose feels about her business failure now
On the same day Whitney announced the relaunch, she took to Instagram to share what she learned along the way. For her, it was “liberating to speak [her] truth.”
“The truth that I couldn’t see at that point in time is that I didn’t fail,” she wrote. “I was actually just being protected by the universe and redirected back to my life path.”
Don’t miss what Andy Cohen and RHOSLC castmate Angie Katsanevas thought about Whitney’s ill-fated business.
— Reporting by Erik McIntyre
