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Jacqueline Laurita: Why I Really Sent Daughter Ashlee Away to Las Vegas

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Jacqueline Laurita and Ashlee Holmes on May 3, 2010 in Paterson, New Jersey.

Jacqueline Laurita may have sent her daughter Ashlee Holmes away to Las Vegas on Sunday's episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, but the rebellious 20-year-old was hardly living it up in Sin City.

In fact, Laurita told Bravo's Andy Cohen that her daughter only went to Las Vegas for two weeks to receive vocational training from her sister-in-law.

Related: PHOTOS: Celeb family feuds

"She wasn't going there to party!" Laurita confirmed on Cohen's Watch What Happens Live show Sunday. "She was learning a specific skill on the computer that only my sister-in-law could teach her."

Related: PHOTOS: A-list mother-daughter duos

Later, Holmes — who debuted a drastically different appearance on Housewives' April 22 premiere — went on to visit her dad in Texas to work and attend classes, Laurita says.

Related: RECAP: What you missed on Sunday's RHONJ episode

"Asking her to leave didn't mean we didn't love her. Chris and I love her very much. At that point in time, although we weren't fighting as much, we didn't see her making much of an effort to jump-start her life," she wrote in her Bravo blog. "We needed her to spring into action and take charge of her life. We felt like we needed to take drastic measures to get her to wake up and go after her dreams."

Now, Laurita's relationship with her daughter is much healthier. "We are in a very good place," she told Cohen.

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