Keeping it real! Dolores Catania has been a fan-favorite personality on The Real Housewives of New Jersey since joining the franchise in 2016.
“What I love about New Jersey is that it’s home. I could be anywhere in New Jersey and know someone that knows somebody,” the Bravo star, 52, exclusively reveals in the latest issue of Us Weekly.
Catania has been a RHONJ mainstay since 2016’s season 7 — and is proud of the way she’s conducted herself on the reality TV show.
“I haven’t had an embarrassing moment on RHONJ yet, but it’s probably going to happen this year,” the Powerhouse Fitness owner, who was previously married to Frank Catania, tells Us. “I’m so corny with [my boyfriend] Paul Connell.”
Us broke the news in December 2021 that Dolores and Connell were dating, nearly two months before they made their Instagram debut as a couple.
“I don’t wanna put him on [the show]. Absolutely not. But I know what I signed up for and [him] being such a part of my life — he wasn’t somebody who I go out to dinner with once in a while. You know, he’s not just a friend. He’s a part of my life now,” the former corrections officer — who coparents children Gabby, 27, and Frankie, 24, with her ex-husband, 58, — exclusively told Us last month of Connell’s Bravo debut. “I’m nervous for him because this is a big deal to people.”
She added at the time: “You know, Paul’s a very successful electrical contractor in the city. He owns a company called Eco Electric, and he’s done so well, and he came to this country alone [from Ireland] in his 20s. And he just, like, took over so much and then I’m like, ‘You may have done that, you have may have left your whole family behind in another country and came here and become this huge success in one of the greatest places in the world, but I’m going to tell you, I don’t know that you’re prepared for this.’”
Scroll below to learn more about Dolores, from her go-to beauty hack, fast food favorites and more:
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- I always wanted to go to Ireland, and I’ve been there three times this year.
- Now I’d like to visit the Maldives. The water looks so blue and beautiful. Give me sun and a beach, and I’m good.
- My favorite RHONJ memory was last year’s Maimonides softball game. We all came together to do something for charity [by] playing against doctors, who were having a good time amid COVID.
- My first car was a broken-down 1980 Mustang. It had no heat and no radio, and I learned to drive with the radio off. I don’t use a radio now.
- Growing up, I looked up to Mother Teresa and Princess Diana.
- I never get starstruck. I always look at everybody like they are just the same [as me].
- My No. 1 beauty trick is the Skin Guru, a.k.a. Kristen Hanenian.
- My Commando leather pants are my favorite item in my wardrobe.
- I haven’t had an embarrassing moment on RHONJ yet, but it’s probably going to happen this year. I’m so corny with [my boyfriend,] Paul Connell.
- My favorite job was being a sheriff’s officer. It was never the same thing every day.
- I don’t play sports, but I’m athletic. I’m in my 50s, but if you hand me a bat and ball or a football, I’m going to play.
- On a typical Sunday, I’m in my sweatpants looking for my kids because that’s the only day they both have off. You could find me in [my son] Frankie’s room watching the football games with him, [my daughter] Gabby and five dogs.
- Right now, I’m very into The Real Housewives of Miami.
- A misconception about me is [men I’ve dated] thought I was a girly girl. I’m a tomboy.
- My favorite movie is The Silence of the Lambs because, at heart, I’m a cop. I love how Hannibal Lecter breaks down people’s minds and how he’s able to read them.
- “I Will Survive” is my go-to karaoke song.
- My typical delivery food order is a salad.
- My Wendy’s order is a No. 1, no onions, cheese, medium [with a] Diet Coke.
- What I love about New Jersey is that it’s home. I could be anywhere in New Jersey and know someone that knows somebody.
- I read Tyler Perry’s Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings when my kids were little, and it made me change how I raised them.
- My goal for this year is to physically be my best self and to get into a routine that’s not just a fad diet.
- I am intuitive and can read people pretty well.
- I’ve never been so obsessed with a show as I am with The Blacklist. Raymond Reddington is the man of the year.
- My good luck charm is a little wooden cross from Israel.
- Secretly, I wish I was a ballroom dancer.
