The Real Housewives of New Jersey alum Lauren Manzo confirmed that she and husband Vito Scalia have called it quits — and revealed that their divorce has been coming for a while.
“By now you guys have seen the news that has broken,” Manzo, 35, began in a video shared via Instagram on Tuesday, October 24. “I just want to let you guys know we’re all good. This has been done for a very long time. The last part of the process was filing. We were on the same page. This is something that we did together.”
Manzo went on to say that she and Scalia, 37, still “love and respect each other” and plan to “move forward as a family.” The estranged couple, who tied the knot in July 2015, share daughter Markie, 6.
“All that matters to us is that our daughter is happy and healthy,” Manzo continued. “Our privacy is important to us. We haven’t been on TV in seven years, which is why we did not feel the need for some dramatic announcement. And we continue to move forward with love and respect for each other. And we will always be a family, and that’s it. It’s about our daughter and her privacy, because she didn’t ask to be on TV — we did.”
Manzo and Scalia’s wedding was filmed for the Bravo series Manzo’d With Children, which ran for three seasons from 2014 to 2016. The show was a spinoff of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, which debuted in May 2009. Lauren’s mom, Caroline Manzo, was one of the original cast members on RHONJ before she departed the series at the end of season 5.
Lauren and Scalia got engaged in November 2013 after four years together. The duo started dating in 2009 after they were introduced by Lauren’s brother Albie Manzo.
Fans were speculating about Lauren’s relationship status before the split news, in part because she hadn’t shared any photos of Scalia via social media for several months. In July, she clapped back after commenters noticed she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring in a photo.
“First of all, I truly give zero f–ks if you admire me or not,” she wrote via Instagram. “Secondly, I haven’t been on TV for 7 years. I am allowed to keep many aspects of my life private especially after having a child. If you don’t like it then stay away from my page. Simple as that.”
Scalia, for his part, shut down speculation about their marriage in January 2019 when fans noticed Lauren hadn’t shared a photo of him in more than a year. “We just don’t put our relationship on social media and people can’t seem to understand that,” he wrote via Facebook at the time. “We are perfect!!!!!!”
