Erika Jayne shared her thoughts on Real Housewives of Orange County star Alexis Bellino‘s engagement to Shannon Beador‘s ex-boyfriend, John Janssen, on an episode of Tamra Judge and Teddi Mellencamp‘s podcast last week.
Days after Alexis, 47, confirmed that John, 61, asked her to marry him on their nine-month anniversary, the 53-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said she felt they were moving too fast as she defended Shannon, 60, and spoke of her relationship with her son, Tommy Zizzo, 32.
“Any relationship is hard. Put it in the public. Put it on a reality TV show. Put it surrounded by all of this controversy or criticism. Good luck, because that’s going to be hard. And if it fails, there are going to be a lot of people cheerleading,” Erika shared on the August 30 episode of Two Ts in a Pod. “It’s too much too soon.”
“Look, I bet she does feel wonderful and all of that. And God bless you. But this sh*t changes, and it changes on a dime. And when it does, it sucks. So that’s why I’m much more reserved,” Erika continued. “She’s gonna get a good old test. [Her] faith better be strong because marriage is a test. I’m looking at 23 years, and it ain’t going so great. So if you wanna f*ck around and find out, call me.”
After signaling her marriage to her estranged husband, Thomas Girardi, 85, who was recently found guilty of fraud for stealing millions from former clients of his law firm, Erika suspected the upcoming RHOC reunion would “be horrible.”
“This is not gonna be easy,” she noted.
Erika then took a stand for Shannon, telling Alexis and John to “leave [her] alone.”
“If y’all are happy, hooray, go be happy. But don’t smash this girl’s face into it that much more. We can’t drag that out much longer. Am I wrong? Leave her alone,” she demanded.
Then after Teddi, 43, asked what it would feel like if she were to start dating Garcelle Beauvais‘ ex-husband, Mike Nilon, Erika said it would be “awkward” and “weird.”
“She would not be happy. The only people that are happy are the network and the producers,” Erika stated.
Moving on to her son, who she welcomed when she was just 20 with her first husband, Erika admitted that she was too young to be a parent.
“I did the best I could with what I had, and thank God, we’re super close,” she shared. “I had a lot of help. My first husband had his mother, who was getting involved … There was my mother. My grandmother was alive at the time. So this child had many hands on him, and I was there, too.”
Although Erika noted that boys need to “separate themselves from their mother” and “go have their own identity,” she and Tommy are very close today.
“My son is 32. I see him three times a week. He’s at my house. Everything is great,” she gushed. “I always [keep] the line of communication open. So if my son were to call me right now, I’d say, ‘Excuse me. I need to take this call.’ And I always did that all his life … [And] fortunately for me, I had a really great kid, so I got super lucky.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14 premieres this fall on Bravo.