Photo: YouTube
She's 20 years younger than Shannon.
By Rebecca Jane Stokes — Written on Feb 08, 2021
If you're a fan of the Real Housewives of Orange County, then you already know just how hard Shannon Beador fought to save her marriage to her husband of 17 years, David Beador.
Beador's fans have come to know and love her dearly. She's a loyal friend, a goofy character, and an amazing mom. But Beador's life is far from perfect, as folks who watch the show know.
During her time in front of the camera, her tumultuous marriage to her now ex-husband, David, was often in the forefront.
After the couple split in Sept. 2017, David had moved on to a woman 20 years younger than Shannon. Now, Beador and his wife, Lesley Cook, are celebrating the birth of their first child together.
Who is David Beador's wife, Lesley Cook?
Read on for all the details about the David and Lesley's relationship, including the adorable announcement of their daughter's birth.
The Beador family joined RHOC in the ninth season.
When Shannon and David Beador were introduced on season 9 of RHOC, their initial storyline was all about Shannon's obsession with all natural living and Eastern medicine.
Shannon would solemnly intone the importance of having the right amount of lemons in the bowl on her kitchen island and made regular trips for acupuncture, continually bleaching her hair while at the same time on a quest to rid her body of toxins.
But pretty soon Shannon's kooky lifestyle choices were overshadowed by the problems in her marriage to David.
They had a lot of marriage problems.
The couple was only married a brief time before they welcomed the first of their three daughters. Between David's long working hours and Shannon's night owl habits, it was difficult for the two of them to find time to spend together.
Shannon fretted about the state of their marriage and when she learned that David was having an affair, it brought all of their problems to the forefront.
After the affair, they renewed their vows.
However, Shannon and David appeared to rally, putting the affair behind them.
While they saw the renewal of their marital vows (televised on RHOC) in 2016 as a hopeful gesture of good faith, any long time watcher of the Housewives franchises knew that a vow renewal only means one thing in reality-land: divorce is imminent.
Sadly, for every step forward, the couple seemed to take another massive step back.
Shannon felt unappreciated when, after David's grand gesture of a vow renewal, she felt they felt they fell back into old patterns.
She filed for divorce in 2017.
Shannon revealed that the couple was, in fact, divorcing on the RHOC Season 12 reunion in 2017. While it wasn't a shock, the sad news did seem to help Beador mend bridges with fellow cast member, Vicki Gunvalson.
This was quite the about-face, since all throughout Season 12, Beador blamed her weight gain, in part, on Gunvalson, who was responsible for spreading rumors about David's alleged assault of Shannon during an argument that followed the revelation of his affair.
David moved on.
On the Season 13 premiere of RHOC, Shannon finally took off her wedding ring after learning from friend Tamra Judge that David and his current girlfriend were still communicating while the couple was trying to make their marriage work.
Beador took the bad news in stride, but it was the much-needed push she needed to remove the ring that represented her married life with David. While she fully expected her husband to move on, she didn't anticipate that he would be in a serious relationship just two months after they split.
"It hurt when I first found out, just the way that I found out because they were doing this public, Instagram, childish nonsense,” Shannon said in 2018. “I knew I was going to be replaced and that’s fine … It could be any girl, it’s just the timeframe, that’s all."
David's new girlfriend denied that she was the other woman.
But the drama continued off the air. Beador's now-wife, Lesley Cook, posted a rebuttal to the claims that she was ever the other woman in their marriage, roundly decrying the allegations.
Shannon herself coped the best she could. In the Season 13 premiere of RHOC, she said, "David and I communicate through text and email and they aren’t pleasant. I found out two days after it was all over social media that David has a new girlfriend that is almost 20 years younger than him."
Cook striked back.
David met his girlfriend Lesley Cook totally by chance at a party. While Tamra Judge claims that the two were interacting on social media in October of 2017, Cook herself clapped back, saying that the couple didn't even meet until December of 2017.
Speculating about why Judge might want to start this kind of false rumor, Cook had said, "Tamra needs to put food on the table somehow, I assume."
They finalized their divorce in April 2019.
The former couple reached a divorce settlement in April 2019. Shannon won joint legal and physical custody of their daughters and in both spousal and child support, was awarded $22,500 a month.
She was reportedly "relieved" to have finally settled everything.
Beador and Cook got engaged last year.
They got engaged in January 2020. On Instagram, Cook wrote, “Today I Said YES to the man of my dreams. You complete me!”
The couple also revealed that they're expecting a baby. On an Instagram story, Cook wrote, “You’re just a small bump,” alongside an emoji of a pregnant woman.
The pair wed in Oct.2020, and Cook penned an emotional tribute to her new husband on Instagram at the time, writing, "You are the most supportive, kind, adventurous, loving and patient man. Grateful to have found you. Proud to be your wife.”
Lesley Cook and David Beador welcomed their first child together in Feb. 2021.
In an Instagram post on Feb. 8, Cook shared a picture of her and David's adorable new baby girl.
"Our first sunset with our sweet little Anna (Pronounced Ah-na)," she captioned the cute pic.
Congrats to the happy couple!
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margo. She hosts the love and dating advice show, Becca After Dark, every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:15 pm Eastern. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on July 2018 and was updated with the latest information.