My blog for the Reunion episodes is *finally* up on Bravo.com. Here it is: "Moving Up And Moving On." I don't know what took them so long to get it up, but I do want you guys to always hear things directly from me. Unfortunately, they did edit a lot out (for length...?), but that's what my own blog is for! So here are the pieces they cut... "I can’t believe Jacqueline thinks I put out a magazine story that says bad things about ME on the cover. How does that even make sense? I’m not even going to try and follow her logic anymore. I just hope she gets well... I can’t believe Caroline told the media her “children didn’t sign up for this.” They are grown adults and they actually did literally sign up for it. They have contracts and got paid. What do you call that? And Caroline keeps telling Jacqueline to let Ashley grow up?... I know Caroline and Jacqueline obsess about things and people and revenge (What sane person would stalk Danielle’s ex-husband? What sane person would be friends with Kim G? That’s just ugly.). SOURCE
Here’s the thing... Caroline and Jacqueline and Dina signed up for the show TOGETHER AS A FAMILY. It was the first time a family joined any Real Housewives show which I think is what made it so interesting from the beginning. I was just the friend on the sidelines with my juicy husband any my fab-u-lous girls. I thought it was very brave to go on a show with your family, and I wouldn’t have done it. Watching what being on TV together did to the Manzo and Laurita family is EXACTLY WHY I didn’t want my family on the show with me. Seeing all the hurt they went through, I would be crazy to want the same thing for my family. Unfortunately, it was a risk my sister-in-law and cousin were more than willing to take. They knew it would hurt me, so they joined the show behind my back. And they didn’t come on like the Manzos first did, just to show the world how a real family looks. They came on to hurt me, insulting me and my husband and my kids from the very first episode through the last (is there a single episode they didn’t say something nasty about me? My own family?). I would hope Melissa and Kathy wouldn’t have sold their own sisters down the river for a shot at 15 minutes of fame, but I’m not their sister, and I think they don’t think they care about the hurt it causes me and my parents because we’re not their immediate family. My first reaction when I heard they joined the show was shock, and then worry FOR THEM. I said it in season 1 and I’ll say it again--I don’t have any freakin’ skeletons in my freakin’ closet, thank you, thank you very much! I wasn’t worried that they would come on and expose me because there’s nothing to expose (I could have done without the disrespectful insults, but they’re just words...). I don’t lay in bed at night worrying that my porn past or previous arrests or unstable history is going to come out because I don’t have any of those things. I was however worried--like an idiot I guess--about my poor brother and Melissa and Kathy and their kids experiencing the ugly part of being on TV. After seeing how the tabloids go through my garbage and make up stories, I would think any sane, intelligent person would run the other direction from a chance to experience that. And I warned them. I told them stuff they didn’t want to talk about would come up, that people from their past would try and take them down, that journalists would dig through their lives... Melissa told me she didn’t care. They signed up anyway. And then it started to happen to them. The New York Post wrote a mean story about them. My brother Joey actually called me and screamed at me that I “wasn’t a good sister” because I “didn’t warn them about all the ins-and-outs.” I did. I told Melissa, and she didn’t want to listen. Then Melissa brings it up at the reunion as if I was trying to scare her off the show? It's just twisted. Sad and twisted. Family is everything to me. If my only brother was married to someone who didn’t crave the spotlight, I know we’d all be a family like we always were. Before that christening--the first time Joey and Melissa filmed the show--my family had never, EVER been through any kind of drama even close to this. If I could go back in time, I would gladly give Melissa my spot on the first season so she could live out her dreams, and I would be happy to sit on the couch and cheer her on, with my happy, in tact family around me. As far as the other women’s characters and morals and ideas of “loyalty” (I almost fell of the couch when Melissa used that word!)--I didn’t purposefully join a show with my family and bash them. Every single other one of the current cast members did. I didn’t expose my daughter’s problems to the world, judging her for a difficult time in her life in front of all of America. That was Jacqueline. I didn’t make fun of my niece/cousin and criticize her all the time and tell the world I thought my daughter was fat and ugly. That was Caroline and her kids. I don’t have a pre-teen son on Twitter using curse words and insulting my own family. That’s Kathy. Bravo, ladies! Class acts, all of you! To my amazing fans, thank you so much for your support! It breaks my heart that any of you are attacked on Twitter or Facebook for defending me. Please don’t engage with mean people. I love that my fans use humor and not hate. I saw all your sweet messages and emails and prayers and worry. Joe, the girls, my parents, and I are GREAT! Reality TV doesn't define me, big fat bullies who puff hot air because no one will listen to them don't phase me, rumors don't keep me up at night. I have my family, we all have our health, we live a very normal, happy life of Sunday school and dance lessons and birthdays and trips to Costco. I am moving on and up to amazing new things. Believe me, I am surrounded by true friends who would never even want to be on TV. I have the best, most inspiring fans in the world. And most importantly, God has me in the palm of His hand. With faith, you can get through anything! Thank you all for inspiring me! Tanti Baci, Teresa xx"
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