Big Ang‘s friend Robin Borges opened up to Us Weekly this past weekend about how the late Mob Wives star’s two kids, A.J. and Raquel, are coping after their mom died of cancer last week at age 55.
“The kids are holding on,” Borges told Us on Sunday, February 21, of Ang’s adult children. “A.J.’s taking it really hard . . . Raquel’s all right.”
Big Ang, who battled stage IV lung and brain cancer, was surrounded by family members when she passed away at 3:01 a.m. on Thursday, February 18. The reality star is survived by her daughter Raquel, her son A.J. and her six beloved grandkids.
Ang’s loved ones paid their respects to the late VH1 star with numerous events this past weekend, including four visitations, and a viewing on Sunday, before she was laid to rest the following morning. As previously reported by Us, Ang was honored with a disco party at her viewing held at the Scarpaci Funeral Home in Brooklyn.
“She looks like Ang,” Borges told Us of seeing her late friend at the viewing. “She’s got her red bottoms [Louboutins] on. She’s got her fur. She’s got her red ruby diamond. She’s going out with style! That’s Ang, she looks beautiful. It looks just like her. Like she’s just sleeping.”
Borges also spoke to Us Weekly at Ang’s bar, the Drunken Monkey, in Staten Island, New York, on Friday, February 18. “I know she didn’t suffer,” she told Us then. “You know, her main thing was her grandkids and her kids.”
Ang’s sister Janine Detore reiterated that point to Us in an interview last week. “She was so at peace with death,” Detore told Us. “She was OK with it. She said she didn’t want to live being on the medicine, doing all that. She didn’t want to do that. And she said, ‘If it’s my time, it’s my time. Just tell me. I want to spend my time with the grandchildren and with my family.’ She wanted to be home and all that.”
Other celebs to show up to the services this past weekend included Ang’s fellow Mob Wives, Renee Graziano, Marissa Fiore and Natalie Guercio, as well as Shark Tank investor Daymond John. Unfortunately, there was some drama with two Mob Wives, Brittany Fogarty and Karen Gravano, who were banned from the visitation on Saturday.
“The last thing that I would want is to go there and cause a scene,” Fogarty told Us on Monday. “This is about celebrating Ang’s life and the fact that her family has to say bye to such a beautiful person, and I want to respect that.”
