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Article IndexRed carpet rolled out at Brownstone Inn in Paterson
BY LINDA MOSS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
There won't be any table-flipping this year.
But it still promises to be an eventful ride for "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" in its second season on Bravo.
"It's dramatic, it's tense, it's funny, it's always intense," Andy Cohen, host of Bravo's "Watch What Happens: Live."
Three of the "wives" — family matriarch Caroline Manzo, Teresa Giudice and Jacqueline Laurita — held a party Monday night for the premiere of the reality show's new season. The event, a charity fundraiser with about 600 attending, was at the Brownstone Inn in Paterson, which is owned by Manzo's husband Albert.
At the party most of the "Real Housewives" female cast have a bright red streak in their hair, in honor of one of the three charities getting money from the fundraiser, Project Ladybug. It's a foundation created by Jersey "Housewife' Dina Manzo, Caroline's sister.
There was a red carpet at the Brownstone — yes, in the Garden State — and lots of pricey designer dresses, shoes and handbags.
A lot has happened since the final "Real Housewives of New Jersey" episode last season, when Giudice got angry at the show's mouthy troublemaker, Danielle Staub, and tossed a dinner table at a restaurant where all their families had gathered. Staub wasn't at the party last night, nor was Dina Manzo, Caroline's sister.
Since the first "Real Housewives of New Jersey" season ended both Laurita and Giudice have had babies, and Laurita and Dina Manzo have had breast reductions. Several of these Jersey girls have books coming out: Giudice's "Skinny Italian" cookbook and Staub's memoir to set the record straight, "The Naked Truth."
There have also been a bumper crop of Jersey-based reality shows since "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" went off the air. Those include MTV's controversial "Jersey Shore," Style Network's "Jerseylicious" and the upcoming "Jersey Couture" on Oxygen.
But one thing hasn't changed in the past months: Caroline and Teresa's disdain for Staub, whose checkered past was revealed last season.
In this season's first episode, which was shown at the party, Giudice gets in her digs at Staub without having to flip a table.
"She must have slept with at least like 500 guys," Giudice said on the show. "Her hole must be as big as not the Lincoln Tunnel, not the Holland Tunnel, what's the longest tunnel?"
During an interview on the red carpet Giudice, who lives in Montville, offered no apologies about her comment.
"Well, it's true," Giudice said. "You might as well say it. If the shoe fits, right? Hey, I think that's the one thing about Jersey, is that you say it the way it is. I can't help it. I'm really outspoken. I don't lie...I'm not trying to be mean. But she's attacked me. So I'm sorry, if I'm attacked I attack back."
Giudice and three of her daughters all wore purple dresses with rosettes around the neckline, but the new baby girl stayed home. Daughter Gia, 8, carried a Louis Vuitton purse.
And Laurita — who is Caroline and Dina's sister-in-law — raised a few eyebrows when on Monday's episode she asked her rebellious 18-year-old daughter Ashley, who's moved out of the house, if she's using birth control.
"I knew she was dating a 23-year-old and I'm not going to be in denial like a lot of parents and thinking not my kid," Laurita, clad in a Roberto Cavalli dress and Louboutin shoes, said on the red carpet.
"If you're going to do the show, we're going to go out there and be real," she said. "I'm on a reality show. You're seeing what's going on in reality. So some mothers will relate to it, some will be appalled and that's just what we chose to do."
The Manzo sisters live in Franklin Lakes, as does Laurita, while Staub resides in Wayne.
The women were gracious in their comments about the other Jersey reality shows.
Giudice has only seen "Jersey Shore" twice.
"They're in their 20s, they have their own thing going on," she said.
As for "Jerseylicious," Giudice said, "It's a good show, but it has to do with salons."
Caroline Manzo decribed "Jersey Shore" as "kids doing their thing. They're not hurting anybody. At the end of the day they're going to look at themselves and maybe some day say, ‘Ugh, ugh.'"
And although "Jersey Shore" got some Italian Americans riled up because its cast members celebrated being "guidos," that didn't vex Manzo.
"There are bigger things to worry about in this world than being called a guido or a guidette," she said. "Be strong. Know who you are. The rest is just nonsense."
Manzo was wearing a satiny beige one-shoulder dress by Kay Unger that she just purchased.
"I went like a bat out of hell last night to the Short Hills Mall to Bloomingdales, like a lunatic before the store was closing," she said.
Jill Zarin, one of "The Housewives of New York City," also attended the premiere party with her husband Bobby.
"I'm here to support my girls," Zarin, wearing a black Helmut Lang dress, said. "They're authentic."
At 10 p.m., the Brownstone's ballroom was packed with several hundred guests gathered to watch the first episode. On the show, there was a brief introduction that included scenes from last season, including Caroline's now infamous remarks.
"Let me tell you something about my family: We're thick as thieves," Manzo tells Staub in one scene.
