Heather Gay Is ‘Protective’ of RHOSLC Stars After Monica Garcia Drama (Exclusive) ArticlePure

Heather Gay is still dealing with the aftermath of Monica Garcia’s RealityVonTease betrayal last season.

In an exclusive sit down with PEOPLE, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star, 50, admitted that the events of last season made it hard to trust new Housewives who enter the group. When it comes to newcomer Bronwyn Newport, Heather acknowledged that the two “got off on the wrong foot.”

On season 5, episode 2, Bronwyn rubbed Heather the wrong way when she chimed in on costars Whitney Rose and Angie Katsanevas’ latest drama. After stopping at Wendy’s for frosties and chicken nuggets, Heather raised a side eye when Bronwyn began mocking Whitney’s emotional stance on matters.

“This is the type of energy that’s burned me in the past,” Heather told cameras of Bronwyn’s behavior. “And I feel very wary of someone who has such strong, harsh opinions about people that they’re just meeting for the first time.”

While speaking to PEOPLE, the Bad Mormon author claimed that she loved “making friends” despite the frosty exchanges she’s had with Bronwyn so far this season.

“I don’t think I’m a guarded person at all,” she explained. “I think that I came in with a bulldog mentality about protecting my friendships, and protecting the sanctity of the bond we had. That’s why Bronwyn and I got off on the wrong foot.”

Heather confessed it’s been hard not to get protective of the seven women she considers some of her “dearest friends” since Monica revealed herself to be the mastermind behind RealityVonTease — an Instagram troll account that’s had a history of posting negative things about the RHOSLC stars.

Though she acknowledged that online haters come with the territory of being a public figure, “have they been invited to sit at your dinner table, and then you have to pretend to be their friend?”

“There was no way that any of us could pretend to be her friend after she had deceived us so intimately for so long,” Heather said of Monica. “She sat at our table, she cried with us, she laughed with us. We bought her gifts, we met her children. We had her into our homes and into our lives and we welcomed her. I had zero drama until Bermuda and there was no way forward.”

“Now I just breadcrumb,” she added. “I’m just breadcrumbing my love.”

Monica owned up to posting on the account when Heather exposed her during the dramatic season 4 finale in Bermuda but claimed that she was only one of multiple people who ran the Finsta. One of the others, according to Monica, was Heather’s hairdresser Tenesha — an allegation Tenesha has appeared to confirm online by posting multiple screengrabs from private messages sent from the account.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer??, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Additionally, Monica has also insisted she only participated in RealityVonTease to expose former friend and RHOSLC alum Jen Shah, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for her role in a long-running telemarketing scheme.

Shortly after the third and final part of the season 4 reunion aired in January, PEOPLE confirmed that Monica would not be returning for season 5.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.