Jenni “JWoww” Farley is opening up about her divorce from Roger Mathews for the first time on camera.
In a clip from an upcoming episode of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, the MTV star, 33, got candid about her relationship with Mathews, 44, whom she filed for divorce from in September 2018 after almost three years of marriage.
“I thought silence was the greater good,” Farley tells Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi in the episode, which airs on Thursday, August 22.
“It is, for your kids,” Polizzi says. “And who wants this s–t out in the public, anyway? I guess he does.”
Farley responds, “As bad as our relationship got, I stayed f–ing quiet, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. So to me, the ultimate betrayal is the fact that he went public.”
The reality stars’ conversation is in reference to a series of Instagram videos Mathews posted in December, where he alleged that Farley was “hysterically shouting” at him and threatened to call the police after a fight they had about her going back to work.
The videos, several of which were filmed in the back of a police car, continued with Mathews claiming that he called the cops himself. After they left, he went to record a podcast with a friend. When he returned, he went to sleep without talking to Farely. He claimed that he was woken up by the police at 2 a.m. and removed from his home. He said the officers told him that Farley had contacted a judge and filed a restraining order against him.
“This is the level my ex wife takes it to after telling my kids their dad is a piece of s–t and she’s sorry she ever had children with him,” Mathews wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “She gets so emotional and irrational in her anger this is the level she brings it to.”
Farley, who filed for divorce three months before Mathews’ videos, told producers in the episode that she tried to stay quiet about her split for the sake of their kids: daughter Meilani, 5, and son Greyson, 3.
“I didn’t want to talk about it publicly, out of respect for my children,” she says. “So when those videos came out, I feel like it was a really, really low blow by Roger.”
In defense of her friend, Polizzi said that Farley “never” told Mathews he couldn’t see his children.
“Everyone was attacking Jenni for keeping the kids away from Roger, when that’s not even the truth,” Polizzi tells producers. “Little does anybody know, Jenni let Roger stay in the house after she filed for divorce so he could still be with the kids. But he would start fights in front of the children. So finally, enough is enough, she called the cops and said, ‘You’ve got to get out.’ But she never said Roger can’t see his kids.”
Farley also denied that she wanted Mathews arrested, despite what he claimed on social media.
“People think that I had him arrested — not even the case,” she says. “Because you wouldn’t have your phone in the back of a cop car! They were being nice and giving him a ride.”
Despite their drama, the Jersey Shore star suggested that she has no ill will toward her ex.
“I just want this to calm down because I’m in the public eye, and I don’t want this to get out of control,” she tells Polizzi. “At the end of the day, he’s still the father of my kids. Gotta keep it together.”
Since her divorce, the New York native has been in a relationship with professional wrestler Zack Carpinello, which Us Weekly confirmed in April.
In July, the MTV personality posted a sweet video on her Instagram Story of her beau and Greyson playing in the backyard. The video shows the toddler going up and down a slide. When Farley asks where Carpinello is, Greyson responds: “He’s over there. Yes, it’s Zack. Hi, Zack!” before blowing the athlete a kiss.
