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The Truth Will Come Out

Jacqueline talks about Dina and Danielle's confrontation, her relationship with her daughter, and poker night hazing rituals!

By Jacqueline Laurita

 

How to Watch

Watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 14 premiere May 5th at 8/9c on Bravo and stream next day on Peacock.

Sorry this blog is a little late. I have been a busy woman lately. It was driving me crazy looking at myself in one of my interviews because I had pink eye during it. Can you guess which one? I tried to get out of filming that day but the crew came over anyway with gloves on. They show no mercy. LOL. I have also noticed that in just about every scene I am eating something. It's like my body doesn't realize that I'm not pregnant anymore. I will just have to work extra hard to tone up my body because food is something I really enjoy and I'm not willing to sacrifice a whole lot. I like being able to eat what I want and when I want but in moderation of course. Chris and I are really passionate about food. We enjoy shopping for it, preparing it, eating it, sharing it, entertaining with it, celebrating with it, mourning with it, the list goes on. Food is such a huge part of our lives. It's something that we thoroughly enjoy together as well as with our family and friends. For those that have asked, I'm 40 years old, 5'3", 118 pounds. I'm doing OK.

During Dina's goodbye confrontation with our fifth housewife, I feel that Dina handled herself in a calm, civilized and mature manner. I understand and respect her desire to bring closure to the negativity that a certain person brought to her life. I think Dina quickly realized that you can't reason with an irrational person. She tried her best. I give her an "A" for effort. Will we sincerely miss seeing Dina's beautiful face, listening to her witty sense of humor and watching her silly cats to decide whether or not Grandma Wrinkles is cute. (I voted 'so ugly that it's cute,' like Yoda.) Dina has said her peace and has now retreated to her place of Zen. I wish her happiness and the ability to enjoy the serenity she finally has and deserves. We love you! We will miss you on our show, but as your family we will continue to see you as usual.

Alstede Farms is a farm we go to every fall located in Chester, NJ. We have enjoyed going there as a family for years. They offer pumpkin, berry and apple picking, corn mazes, hay rides, hay stack climbing and tunnels, horse rides, jumpy things for kids to play in and on, food stands, a country fresh market full of great fruit and vegetables among other things, and of course, as you know, a petting zoo. OK, OK, I know I should have never made that animal comparison especially in front of my son. CJ is much too wise a child for me to try to escape that one after it rolled out of my mouth. I really need to work self-control. All I could do at that point was to admit I said it, point out the reasons why it was a mistake, and move on. I am sure there are worse things mothers have said and done in front of their kids. I just made a note to self: Self, stop teaching kids how to act ugly by showing them how I act ugly. Do as I say, not as I do, remember kids? Doesn't always work like that.

I DID find it a shame that our day was filled with so many special, fun, family moments that I'm SURE you would have enjoyed, as well as with other scenes that we have filmed this season, but it seems what gets highlighted are the brief, unimportant moments where the fifth housewife is mentioned. It's a little disappointing. I guess TV viewers love watching drama and dysfunction. I'm glad that we can provide that for your entertainment. We ALL have a little of that in our lives. You're lucky you don't have cameras catching those moments and highlighting them on national TV. In the reality TV world, you can't be afraid to put it all out there. You have to be OK with yourself enough to allow a large scale of people judging you and your actions. If you are a private person, if you are trying to hide from the past or from something in your life now, or if you are sensitive to criticism, I don't recommend you do what we do.

 

 

A&S Pork Store is a place we go often. They offer great Italian specialties in a clean and friendly environment. They are really good to us. Chris DID spend over $500 that day, but not just on mortadella, mozzarella and prosciutto. He also stocked up on cans of Italian peeled plum tomatoes, water, Manhattan specials and things we like to freeze for use at a later date. The poker players can change every other week slightly but the menu is usually the same. It consists of platters of a variety of meats and cheeses, dry sausage, olives, hot peppers in garlic and olive oil served over Italian bread, sliced mozzarella with tomatoes and basil, meatballs, and a pasta dish of some kind along with their wine. I enjoy preparing and serving it but not so much the cleaning up after it. It's nice to know my husband is having a good time with the guys while safe in our home. I thought it was nice that the guys finally invited Derek to a card game. I like Derek. I think he is a good kid.

Usually when there's a new player joining the card game, the guys will haze them. Nothing too serious, just some kind of juvenile prank. Sorry for Caroline to find out this way, but I'm afraid to tell you that it's true - someone WAS hog tied and put in a corner the first time they joined the poker group. IT only lasted for a minute though, honestly, geez! He was a good sport about it and he DID come back to play again. They have made people sing. They had someone wear a blindfold and then asked him to eat strange things. They have asked people to either stand still or ride around on a quad with a target on their back so the guys could practice their paintball gunshot aim. Someone got their hand smacked with a mallet every time they won a hand. They do crazy stuff like that and I have NO idea WHY they do these things but whatever, boys will be boys.

Knowing they were planning to haze Derek, I hid one of the baby monitors in the bookshelf behind the poker table. I put black tape around it, including the light so they couldn't see it. Don't worry, I told them what I had done later and they didn't even care. I just wanted to monitor Derek's abuse, if any, and plus I had always wanted to listen in on their drunken poker night conversations. Who wouldn't? Shame on me, I know. It was entertaining though I must say. I'm OK with my choice to invade their privacy by spying on them. I'm not so sure if I would want do it again. I'll never tell.

I felt so bad for believing the stories I was told about Steve regarding the sex tape scandal. I just couldn't believe that someone would lie about something like that so I believed the lies. I felt bad for thinking and speaking so poorly of Steve. When I saw Steve in my house, I knew I'd be face to face with him that night so I wanted to tell him how I felt. I didn't want to act fake, I wanted to take the opportunity to be honest with him. Chris was not upset with me at all about it. Chris knows how I am and respects my decisions. When something bothers me about someone, I have to be honest and tell them how I'm feeling. It's how I communicate. If I didn't say anything, I would have felt two-faced. That's not how I am. One rule of life my parents taught me is to NEVER say anything behind anyone's back that you WOULDN'T or HAVEN'T ALREADY said to their face. I live by that rule. If a certain somebody ever asked me what I've said about them, I would have no problem telling them. I'm OK with confrontation and it doesn't always have to be done in an ugly way. I don't have a problem with Steve anymore. I'm glad for Steve that the truth about the sex tape scandal finally came out. The truth ALWAYS comes out in the end.

 

I felt so bad that Ashley took my comment that she looked like her grandmother in such a negative way. I didn't mean for it to affect her in that way. Still, there was no excuse for her to talk to me the way she did. Her behavior was embarrassing. I'm glad that's over. A Mom's got to do what a Mom's got to do. To quote Aretha Franklin, "All I'm askin' is for a little respect when you come home, (just a little bit) ... R.E.S.P.E.C.T. find out what it means to me." LOL! Seriously though, after watching the scene, I now think Ashley and I both know how that whole scene could have been avoided. Live and learn. Derek handled himself well that night and I feel he did the right thing by staying when I threw Ashley out. It showed Ashley that he wasn't acknowledging or agreeing with her bad behavior. I'm sure he felt like he was between a rock and a hard place at the moment when deciding what to do. I appreciate his efforts to help Ashley make better choices and respecting our wishes at the same time. Ashley and I will make it through these rough patches and be closer than ever one day. I feel it. We love each other so much. I have faith in her. I feel that once Ashley learns to use her strong-willed, strong-minded personality to her advantage in a positive way that she will become a very successful, independent woman. She's getting there. She needs to decide on a career so that she can put her energy and focus into work. Curious people were wondering how we support Ashley. We don't pay for anything! We DO NOT pay for her phone, her gas, her car, NADA! When she moved out, she was cut completely off financially from us. She borrowed my car for filming a few times because we gave hers away. Tough love is very difficult. It's not enjoyable watching your kids struggle but sometimes they need a reality check and some tough love before they seem to learn to do the right thing. Some kids, as well as some adults, me included, only learn the hard way.

Kim G. WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING GIRLFRIEND? You DID know you were being filmed didn't you? I can't figure you out! Is Kim G. a trouble maker or a people pleaser or do you think that she is just enjoying her camera time and doing what she feels she needs to do? I am not sure. Although Kim G. appears to be a little two-faced right now, I think I will let this play out and see what happens. Another thing Kim, you have a GREAT figure and I'll give you an "A" for effort, but stay off the pole and stick to something you know. That looked like your first rope climb in an elementary school gym class. NOT SEXY! Then again, practice makes perfect. If you enjoy it, don't give up, go for it! Just stop pole dancing on national TV. Thank you.

Congratulations to Teresa on the success of her book Skinny Italian, which made the New York Times Bestsellers List four weeks in a row! I am so proud of your accomplishments Teresa. My family and I enjoy your recipes, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them and you! XXOO!

Thank you so much for your continued support and interest in our show. Love us or hate us, we really do appreciate the ridiculously high ratings you help us achieve. XXOO! I think all of you are great and I enjoy reading your input and advice. Keep it coming. Chow for now!!!

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