Dina Manzo Battles Bullies
New Jersey Housewife joins "It Gets Better" movement.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey's Dina Manzo is the latest celebrity to make a video for Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project, a campaign to give support and encouragement to LGBT youth.
In the video, Dina (along with the help of Grandma Wrinkles) shares her experience as a bullied teenager: "I was painfully shy. I remember being in the cafeteria and not being in the cool group, being teased because I didn't go to parties, and I was called a prude... It was very hard for me to go through that."
Dina believes that people bully for two reasons. First: "Hurt people hurt people. Basically, that means that if you're hurting inside, sometimes you're going to take that out on someone else." She also thinks that online anonymity is also to blame for cyber-bullying: "At times, especially on Twitter, you can be bullied by a group of bloggers."
Addressing the haters, Dina advises, "Realize when you're doing this behind your computer, and you're all brave behind your keypads, that your kids may be in the next room. You think they don't know what's going on, but they do. Kids are a lot smarter than we think... and those are going to be the kids in school who are bullying someone else." Fans know Dina's true to her word -- she left the last season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey because she did not like the stressed out, dramatic person she was becoming around Danielle Staub.
Other Bravo stars have made videos as well. Earlier this month, Kathy Griffin and Andy Cohen shared their touching personal stories and inspiring words. And yesterday, in order to battle bullying and support GLAAD, Bravolebrities including Jill Zarin and Alex McCord proudly wore purple.
