Jacqueline Laurita reacted to Caroline Manzo‘s support of Tommy Manzo during a podcast appearance last week, months after Tommy was found guilty of hiring a hit man to assault ex-wife Dina Manzo‘s now-husband, Dave Cantin.
While also sharing her thoughts on Danielle Cabral, 39, unfollowing Caroline, 63, her aunt, after being cast on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and shading Jackie Goldschneider, 47, and Margaret Josephs, 57, for their behavior on the show, Jacqueline, 54, described the Bravo series as “toxic” and weighed in on Caroline being a character witness for Tommy, 59.
“I’m happy the truth finally came out and justice will be served. It just was so disturbing and scary,” Jacqueline began on the September 10 episode of the AllAboutTRH podcast.
As for the involvement of both Caroline and Dolores Catania, 53, Jacqueline said she had no idea what their letters said — or if they actually existed.
“I did hear from the grapevine that they were character witnesses for Tommy because I know at the time, Caroline and Dolores were close with Tommy and not so much Dina. And they hadn’t been in contact with Dina in a really long time,” she noted. “Tommy is Caroline’s husband’s brother. So, I could imagine that it put her in an awkward position. And I don’t think either of them truly believed that Tommy would be capable of this. I think they thought it came from someone else, maybe Dina’s husband’s ex’s family [the one that he left for Dina].”
“I’m sure they’re shocked and disappointed about it. I haven’t discussed this with either of them … because it’s so deep. But I can’t imagine, that’s Caroline’s brother and then her mother-in-law’s son. I’m sure she’s angry,” Jacqueline continued.
While Jacqueline acknowledged that Caroline and Dina “aren’t close,” she said she “would’ve opted to stay out of” the court case.
Moving on to Danielle unfollowing Caroline after landing a role on RHONJ, Jacqueline, whose brother-in-law’s ex-wife is married to Danielle’s father, admitted she didn’t understand why she would do that.
“What happened there?” she wondered. “Caroline helped her. She was, like, kind of suggesting her for the show and everything. I had heard she got in an argument with her brother’s wife because she didn’t take her wedding dress shopping with her. That’s the only thing I’ve heard. But I don’t know what that has to do with Caroline.”
As for Jackie’s newfound friendship with Teresa Giudice, 52, Jacqueline didn’t have anything good to say about Jackie — especially after she shared private texts between them with Melissa Gorga, who went public with the texts at the RHONJ season 13 reunion.
“She’s pathetic to me, sorry. I just think that was sh*tty. I just think she’s so desperate and pathetic. I think she’s trying to hold onto her position so she’s doing that,” Jacqueline suspected. “For me, I [was] just like, ‘We were good and I don’t understand why you did that.’”
Jacqueline then noted that Teresa “thinks they’ve transpired into a real friendship.”
“Which, maybe, because Jackie was acting out because of what was said on camera and that she was upset about her husband [Evan Goldschneider] cheating. So I understood why Jackie was upset at the time. So if Teresa can let that go, that’s on her,” Jacqueline reasoned.
According to Jacqueline, she had an experience with Jackie that was similar to that of Margaret, who had said Jackie constantly sent her stuff about Teresa.
“Why would you put mine out there without putting yours out there?” she asked Jackie.
Continuing on about Margaret, Jacqueline said she initially thought Margaret was “good for the show.”
“I thought she was witty and stuff like that. But Margaret, I don’t know … I think there’s obviously a lot behind the scenes going on and being talked about and stuff like that. People will say something for shock value,” she explained. “And I think Margaret likes to keep things in her back pocket to use against people for things, and it is a dirty game to play.”
Then, when Margaret calling Jennifer Aydin, 47, a drug addict and exposing Bill Aydin‘s affair were mentioned, Jacqueline admitted that can stick with a person.
“People will tend to believe it [even] if it’s not true. [But] I think they all kind of do that. They go after each other because it’s like, ‘Let me talk about you, take the heat off me.’ I feel like they all kind of take jabs at each other,” she stated. “It’s gotten very toxic to watch. It’s not fun to watch anymore. It’s too tense and deep and dark.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey is currently on pause ahead of its 15th season.