‘RHOSLC’ Alum Monica Garcia Announces Pregnancy

Former Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Monica Garcia is pregnant with her fifth child. Garcia, 41, is best known for her time on season 4 of the popular reality series. The news comes less than a year after she announced a pregnancy last April that tragically ended in a miscarriage.

Garcia is already a mom to four daughters with her ex-husband Mike Fowler—Bri (19 years old), Jaidyn (14), West (8), and Kendall (7). This will be the first baby for her and new boyfriend Braxton Knight.

Garcia told PEOPLE that when she found out, she planned a Disneyland trip to reveal the big news to Knight. “My best friend, Koa, helped me pull it all off,” she said. “Koa had picked out the infant ears hat at the Mad Hatter and had ‘Aries Baby’ embroidered on them while I distracted Braxton with churros and getting my cotton candy. I told him while we were on Peter Pan, flying over NeverLand.”

Garcia later added that she’s been “so sick” throughout the pregnancy so far and has been throwing up often. She doesn’t know the sex of the baby yet, and plans to wait until delivery to find out. The couple hasn’t picked a name, and is asking for suggestions from fans.

She told PEOPLE that the last year has been “a complete mind shift” after her personal struggles on and off the screen.

“It was difficult coming off such a tumultuous whirlwind with RHOSLC… Old friends turned on me, I was iced out by the cast, I lost my job, my relationship with my mother has never recovered, my world was crumbling. Then I had an unexpected pregnancy and miscarriage at 40,” she said. “Accusations of me lying about a pregnancy and miscarriage that I received daily while dealing with such an unexpected loss was a pain that I will never forget.”

Because of that and because of her experiences on RHOSLC, she’s opted to keep this pregnancy mostly private to “protect her peace” and keep herself and the baby safe.

Garcia joined RHOSLC last year and was out one season later after the cast discovered she was behind an Instagram account that trolled her co-stars and subsequently refused to shoot any more scenes with her.