The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Meredith Marks reveals where she got the phrase “I’m disengaging,” which ended up becoming her trademark on the show.
Meredith sat down with Gibson Johns for an episode on his podcast titled We Should Talk during which she discussed all things Housewives.
Gibson congratulated Meredith for receiving her own catchphrase so early on in her Housewives career.
“‘I’m disengaging’ just became…the couple more times that it happened, it made it this thing that people just started to pick up on and love and start repeating,” Gibson observed. “You know, that must’ve been kind of fun because not everyone gets sort of like a catchphrase in their first season. You really have this iconic phrase that people are using all the time now.”
Meredith then explained the origins of the phrase.
“And I think it’s healthy and positive. And honestly, it all stemmed from the therapy that I was going through,” Meredith explained. “I kept being taught in a situation where it’s too heated and you know the outcome is not gonna be what you want, time out, disengage.”
That tactic has proven useful for her Housewives career as she had to “disengage” from numerous conflicts that definitely were at risk of being “too heated.”
In fact, she continues to “not engage” with Jen even after filming wrapped.
Meredith has embraced her new catchphrase
Meredith has embraced her phrase and has even used it has a marketing tactic.
In December, less than a month after the show premiered, Meredith uploaded an Instagram post dedicated to the iconic phrase.
She posed in one of her signature pantsuits and showed off some of her Meredith Marks bling.
“I’m disengaging,” she captioned the post. “I am engaging with my @shopmeredithmarks ICE!”
How Meredith introduced the catchphrase to RHOSLC
Meredith has found that the best way to handle conflicts with the short-fused Jen Shah is to disengage.
Meredith disengaged from Jen the first opportunity she had during their first fight on the show.
Jen was mad at Meredith for canceling their sleepover and then attending Mary Cosby’s church, whom Jen had been feuding with.
Jen confronted Meredith at Whitney’s 1920’s party in Episode 4 titled Roaring Emotions. Jen yelled at Meredith for spending time with Mary and told her that she needed to pick a side.
Meredith didn’t agree with Jen’s insistence on picking sides, but instead of engaging in further conflict and provoking Jen, she decided to make her exit.
“I’m done engaging in this conversation,” Meredith said as she stood up.
As Jen continued to berate her, Meredith said, “Thank you, I’m disengaging.”
From that moment on, Meredith became the queen of disengaging.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.