Trigger Warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault. 

Demi Engemann is (partially) blaming her feud with cast member Jessi Ngatikaura on Jessi’s decision to betray her trust– a move Demi claims was motivated by Jessi wanting to be famous. 

On a recent episode of The Viall Files podcast, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star and her husband, Bret Engemann, opened up about the off-camera fallout with Jessi, which allegedly escalated after Jessi divulged a secret of Demi’s to ‘Vanderpump Rules’ star Scheana Shay. 

“ … I had opened up to all the girls after [appearing on Season 2 of] Vanderpump Villa that I had been groped, sexually assaulted, and I asked them not to tell anyone,” Demi explained on the podcast. 

While Demi didn’t go into detail about the alleged assault she experienced, she noted that “a couple” of her ‘SLOMW’ cast mates had encouraged her to report the incident to police. Instead, Demi said she asked her cast mates to allow her to handle the situation “the way that I want to handle it” and respect the fact that she didn’t want to report it or for it to “become a thing.”

Demi claimed that she even had her cast mates promise that they wouldn’t talk about the incident with anyone, including their own husbands.

According to Demi, instead of keeping that promise, Jessi ended up divulging her secret to Scheana within just minutes of meeting the Bravo star. 

“I think all but two weeks later, Jessi … went out to do Scheana’s [Scheananigans] podcast and told Scheana,” Demi said. “I was like…’You don’t even know Scheana. Why would you, in the first five minutes of knowing this person, tell her something that I’ve asked you not to tell her?’”  

Demi called Jessi’s actions “really hurtful,” and claimed that she addressed the incident with her “right away.” However, according to Demi and Bret, Jessi will do anything– including betray a close friend– in order to obtain a certain level of fame. 

“[Jessi] will do anything to be famous,” Bret said. “Period, the end, full stop.” 

“Correct,” Demi added, to which Bret continued, “That is her only priority in life. ‘How famous can I become?’” 

Demi also revealed on the podcast that she was scheduled to appear with Jessi on Scheana’s podcast, but ended up backing out because she and Jessi were already at odds with one another over their contracts for Season 2 of ‘SLOMW,’ according to Us Weekly. 

“I was actually supposed to go out with her to do this podcast and her and I were in a fight over negotiating contracts for Season 2,” she said. “So, I ended up not going out and she was upset with me. 

“To her credit, I ghosted her on the Scheana podcast and didn’t let her know that I wasn’t going to go,” she continued. 

This is not the first time Demi has mentioned the alleged groping/sexual assault. Last month, she posted about it to her Instagram Stories, defending herself against people who didn’t believe her that an assault had occurred.

“It seems pretty clear but I guess some people are still confused– unwanted physical touch= assault,” she wrote in April. “PERIOD. The End. To the people that were made aware of these events and watched me cry and attempt to navigate the best way to move forward due to this individual’s actions, and then proceeded to use their platforms to victim shame, publicly call me a liar, and judge the way I handled it, from the bottom of my heart, shame on every last one of you!”

Demi went on to say that situations like this often make victims scared to come forward. She also made it known that she hadn’t wanted to go public with the incident.

“For the record, it was never my intention to make this public knowledge,” Demi wrote. “However, given the fact that this was brought to light by the very person who is to blame, I have been given no choice but to set the record straight. For legal reasons, this is all I feel comfortable sharing on the matter at this time.” 

As for the possibility of her and Jessi making amends for the sake of MomTok, Demi didn’t provide a straight answer in her interview on The Viall Files, though she did seem to acknowledge that both she and Jessi have wronged each other. 

“If you had a friend, where you’ve hurt each other and then that person decides to completely remove themselves from your life and block you on everything, do you feel like it’s your place to go knocking down their door?” Demi said. “It’s almost, kind of, if the conversation were to naturally happen, sure, [and] now I know how to take full accountability. 

“I don’t think I’d go knocking down her door necessarily to be like, ‘Wait, hold on,’” she added. 

On Friday, Jessi responded in an interview with Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea,” that she will “never be friends with” Demi again, due to Demi’s alleged “unforgivable” behavior. 

“[Our friendship is] done for good,” Jessi said. “And I’m a pretty forgiving person. It’s a lot for me to say that.”

Watch a clip of Demi and Brett’s interview on The Viall Files podcast below. 

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Season 2 of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ is now streaming on Hulu. 

RELATED STORY: ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Returns in May With New MomTok Drama, a New Cast Member & More: Watch the Season 2 Trailer

(Photos: Hulu; Instagram)