Maryland police arrested “Real Housewives of Potomac” star Karen Huger and cited her for driving under the influence after she allegedly crashed her Maserati late Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Police Department confirmed to The Times that officers reported to the site of a single-vehicle collision in Potomac at approximately 11:50 p.m. local time. The driver, whom police identified as Huger, 60, had crossed a median and hit street signs, officers said.
Police said Huger was “arrested and cited for driving under the influence and other traffic violations.” She was later released from police custody.
Representatives for Huger, who has been part of the “Potomac” cast since 2016, did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. Bravo also did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Times.
Huger broke her silence Wednesday, attributing the accident to grief over her mother’s 2017 death.
“With the passing of my Beloved Mother, Grief comes and goes in waves, and with Mothers Day approaching it has felt more like a tsunami,” Huger said in a statement shared with TMZ.
Huger told the website, which broke the news of the incident, that she and a friend had discussed “very emotionally sensitive topics” during a dinner before the crash. She said she was crying on the way home from the dinner, saw another vehicle “heading right for me” and swerved to avoid a collision. Huger’s statement added that she “hit the driver and then a tree.” The person in the other car drove away, she alleged in her statement.
The star confirmed that she’d received citations but said that one of them “was unrelated to the incident”; she did not share additional details. She urged drivers to “understand your emotional state” before getting behind the wheel and to remember to fasten their seat belts.
She continued: “My Mother may be my Guardian Angel but the seatbelt saved my life.”
Huger’s mother, Georgia Raines Wooden, died of kidney failure in November 2017. She was 71. Less than a year later, in July 2018, Huger lost her father, Benjamin B. Wooden Jr. to natural causes at age 74.
Huger often mentioned her relationship with her parents on the show. In an episode that ran in 2016, the grand dame recalled her mother’s support.
“If it weren’t for my mama waking me up every morning asking me what did I want to be today and telling me that I could be anything,” Huger said, “I wouldn’t be living this life.”
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