Jennifer Aydin and Dolores Catania got into a wild and dramatic fight in the closing minutes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 13 premiere, putting the future of their friendship in serious jeopardy. The scene was rough to watch for everybody — including even Jennifer, 45, who gave some insight into her drama with Dolores, 52, during her EXCLUSIVE interview on HollywoodLife‘s Real Housewives podcast, Pay Attention Puh-Lease!.
“I will say that that was even hard for me to watch,” Jennifer shared. “You know, playing it back and seeing how… really I was hurting and how the dynamic was. I just felt that it was a tough spot for us to be in. Having said that, we’ve moved past that.”
Jennifer admitted to HL that she “regrets some of the things” she said to Dolores during the fight. The mom-of-five called Dolores “two-faced”, “phony”, and a “bitch” during the wild altercation. Jennifer ended the insults by saying that Dolores “looks like an old handbag” as she stormed out of Dolores’ house with her husband Bill Aydin.
“Some of the things were mean and hurtful,” Jennifer acknowledged in our interview. “Sometimes in the heat of the moment that’s what I do. I lash out. I speak before I think. I know she [Dolores] wasn’t happy about the first episode. But I apologized for some of the things that I said. And I’m really glad that Dolores and I were able to make it to a place where we’re friends again. And you guys are gonna see how that plays out.”
Jennifer and Dolores’ drama actually started last season, because Jennifer felt like Dolores was more of a friend to Margaret Josephs, than her. Jennifer couldn’t look past the fact that Dolores remained buddy-buddy with Margaret even after Margaret exposed Bill’s affair from years ago on camera.
“My issue with her was sometimes seeing the dynamic that, someone who is sometimes a flip-flopper, is always taking the side of my adversary,” Jennifer explained. “After a while actions speak louder than words. I remember Dolores told me once when I first met her: ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them.’ And knowing that Dolores was friends with both of us, sometimes when I would see her flip-flopping it was disappointing to me.”
Jennifer also mentioned that their big fight in the premiere was from “a buildup that unfolded at last year’s reunion.” That was when Dolores infamously called Jennifer the C word, which shocked the entire cast. “That didn’t make me happy,” Jennifer said. “Obviously I want to talk to my friend and work it out. And I felt like I was being dismissed.”
“Sometimes you have to respect the way people feel,” Jennifer continued to say. “Even if she doesn’t agree with it, she should be like, ‘You know what, I didn’t realize I was making you feel like that, but I’m not going to dismiss your feelings. So I acknowledge them and let’s do whatever we need to do to keep it moving.’ ”
We’ll have to see the rest of the season to find out how Jennifer and Dolores make up. In the meantime, you can listen to Jennifer’s full interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! She chimes in on Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga‘s feud and discusses the shocking tea that’s spilt by an ex-friend of Margaret’s.