Real Housewives of Miami star Stephanie Shojaee has shared new details about a break-in at her luxury rental villa in the South of France, calling the incident "absolutely disgusting" and warning other travelers about safety in the region.
Shojaee said thieves broke into her rental and stole belongings from her closet while she was out celebrating a friend's birthday. "Cannes and Saint-Tropez are great … until it's your turn to get robbed," she wrote on social media over the weekend.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, Shojaee said she was at Caroline Stanbury's birthday celebration on July 14 with fellow Real Housewives of Miami star Larsa Pippen when she returned to their spacious, multi-level villa and discovered her belongings were missing. "We walked into my room and everything was gone," she recalled.
"I'm hysterical and Larsa's freaking out," Shojaee said. She believes Pippen's belongings were left untouched because the alleged thieves were unaware she was also staying at the villa, having only just arrived.
Shojaee posted screenshots of security footage showing masked men she says robbed her vacation rental.
Villa was occupied during the break-in
Most alarming, Shojaee said, was that the villa was occupied at the time of the break-in. Her parents, security guards and dogs were all on the first floor while the theft took place on the top floor.
"My parents are fine and safe, and my dogs are safe," she said. Shojaee increased security at the villa afterward, and she claims two more intruders tried and failed to break in several days later.
Shojaee is now warning other travelers about the region. "It's just not safe," she said. "At this point it's about bringing awareness."
Shojaee suspects an inside job
Shojaee said she remains suspicious about how the break-in unfolded, pointing to the fact that the intruders knew exactly where her bags and safe were located. "We believe it was an inside job," she said.
She described the incident as leaving her "super sad" for several days, though she said she remains grateful her parents were unharmed.
The incident was reported to authorities, and Shojaee provided The Daily Mail with a copy of the police report. The Daily Mail has contacted French police and Pippen for comment but had not heard back.
Shojaee first revealed the theft to fans over the weekend, posting a photo of the "useless" safe she had used to store her belongings along with security footage of a masked person allegedly outside her villa. "Come to south of France they said," she wrote. "Rent a villa they said. It's a great idea they said..."
She also pointed to her inside-job theory in a separate post showing the safe sitting in her closet. "This crappy little safe? Useless! They open it with the same override cables they use at hotels when you forget your code!! Especially if someone tells them what safe it is... from the inside."
Shojaee's run on Real Housewives of Miami
Shojaee, president of real estate company Shoma Group, joined The Real Housewives of Miami for season seven last year. Her time on the series was comparatively short-lived, as the show was put on pause that same year.
"I never tried to be anyone other than myself. When you join a group with years of history, the worst thing you can do is force relationships or manufacture a version of yourself," she told OK! Magazine. "I came in exactly as I am, which is extremely opinionated, ambitious and unapologetically honest. Some people loved it, some people didn't, but it was real. I think authenticity is what ultimately earned me my place."
The Real Housewives of Miami was originally commissioned by Bravo in 2010 as the Miami Social Club, a reconstruction of the 2009 reality series Miami Social, which followed seven friends in South Beach. It was later retitled The Real Housewives of Miami and became the seventh installment in the broader Real Housewives franchise, first airing in 2011 with an original cast that included Lea Black, Adriana de Moura, Alexia Echevarria, Marysol Patton, Larsa Pippen and Cristy Rice.
After an eight-year hiatus following season three, the show returned in late 2021 with a rebooted cast including Guerdy Abraira, Lisa Hochstein, Julia Lemigova, Nicole Martin, Alexia Nepola (formerly Echevarria) and Larsa Pippen. News that Bravo had reportedly paused the show broke in March. The series originally ran from 2011 to 2013, went on a long hiatus, was revived on Peacock in 2021, and returned to Bravo two years later.
Show's future remains uncertain
The network has not canceled the show outright, but no firm plans have been made for an eighth season, with Bravo weighing a potential reboot or cast reshuffle, according to a TMZ report at the time. New cast members added when the series returned included Russian model Julia Lemigova, the first lesbian Real Housewife and wife of tennis star Martina Navratilova.
The Real Housewives of Miami, which concluded its seventh season in October, has the lowest ratings of any franchise installment, according to Variety.
Shojaee, the daughter of Colombian immigrants, said she was touched after hearing from Hispanic and Latino fans of the show following news of the hiatus. "I was genuinely touched. The passion from the fans reminded me how much this franchise means to people," she told OK!. "But what stood out to me most was hearing from so many members of the Hispanic and Latin communities. I think RHOM represented something bigger than a television show. It gave people the opportunity to see successful Hispanic women, immigrant families, entrepreneurs and multicultural households represented on screen."
