The blood feuds in the upcoming season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey have affected Dolores Catania in ways she didn’t expect.
While speaking at BravoCon 2023 over the weekend, the reality star, 52, explained why filming season 14 of the hit Bravo show was especially hard this year.
“It’s so crazy, it’s crazy. It’s a lot. It was even a lot for me,” she confessed, noting how she usually isn’t the type of person to ever get emotional. “You didn’t see it. I’m not telling anybody really, but there was a point where I got a little choked up once.”
“The hate that I saw, and the hard feelings I saw and the fighting was so deep, it ran so deep,” she continued, seemingly referencing the drama between fellow housewives and sister-in-laws, Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga.
“I want what we had in Ireland,” she added, referring to the cast’s season 13 trip to Dublin, before joking, “I call it the last supper.”
As fans know, last season of RHONJ was heavily focused on the Gorga/Giudice family feud. Years of misunderstandings plus business dealings between Giudice’s now-husband Luis “Louie” Ruelas and her brother Joe Gorga had put a strain on their relationship. Despite their attempts to repair their relationships, the divide between them only grew as the season progressed.
Later in the season, Giudice, 51, and Ruelas, 48, met with Joe behind Melissa’s back to tell him about rumors of her infidelity — claims that Melissa has called “baseless” and vehemently denied. In the end, Joe and Melissa decided not to attend Giudice and Ruelas’ wedding after things came to a breaking point.
Things didn’t get better by the reunion, either. Taped in April, the three-part special included plenty of name-calling. While the Gorgas both offered hopes of reconciling their fractured relationships, Giudice made it clear she never planned on seeing them again.
Melissa, 44, addressed the ongoing drama at BravoCon, saying she had no regrets about cutting Giudice and Ruelas out of their lives.
“I’ve come to a point in my life where, you know, you can try, you can try, you can try, but at some point you need to protect your peace and you need to create a boundary and I think that’s what I did and that’s what we’re doing,” she explained during part one of the RHONJ panel on Saturday. “I think, you know, when something is really toxic and it doesn’t work for you and it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t need to force yourself to be around it. It’s okay to let something go. I am protecting my peace.”
When asked by moderator Jerry O’Connell how their lack of communication would change things for season 14, Melissa said, “It’s very different from last season… because there’s not a lot of communication so I think its different and better.”
“I think the fans will feel refreshed as well. I mean, weren’t you sick of it?” she asked the crowd, who erupted into cheers. “It’s so much to describe right now but I think everyone knows where we’re at. Everyone’s reading it. I think it’s, like I said, we’re at a place of peace. I think everyone needs a minute. Everyone needs a break and there’s just a period on it right now.”
Joe, 43, was also asked about the family tension during the panel, with one fan asking him why he thinks his sister continues to pick fights with them.
In response, Joe simply said: “I’m always gonna say I am a brother and I am a man, and I really wish the family would come together. What I want is the best. I have two parents in heaven and I would love for us to come together.”
Giudice, however, had a different perspective on the situation. Asked during Sunday’s RHONJ part two panel about whether she’d reconcile with her brother, Giudice said: “Listen, my parents are not here anymore. So no.”
“First of all, I’m living this journey and I’m all about family and respect and trust,” she continued. “Sorry. That chapter is closed with my brother unfortunately. It really is.”
