Dolores Catania Warns Teresa Giudice About 'Scumbag' Danielle Staub: 'Sleep with One Eye Open'
Teresa Giudice may have made up with former enemy Danielle Staub, but her friend of 20 years Dolores Catania has some advice for the mother of four: “Sleep with one eye open.”
On Wednesday’s Real Housewives of New Jersey, Catania issued a stern warning to Giudice about Staub’s intentions.
“Do you think that she’s coming around after the things that happened in the past because she wants to be your friend? She’s a starving hungry bitch, believe it or not,” Catania said. “She’s up to no good. … Teresa, I’m afraid for you. Something’s not right.”
Catania has a point, considering Giudice and Staub were two of RHONJ‘s biggest rivals ever, their feud giving the hit Bravo series its most iconic moment when Giudice flipped a table at Staub and called her a “prostitution w****” in the season 1 finale.
It took years for Staub to beat down the negative perceptions people had of her after she left the show in season 2, she told PEOPLE earlier this month. But returning as a “Friend of the Housewives” this season, Staub has been able to laugh off some of her past drama, like her 19 previous engagements (she’s currently engaged for the 20th time), and focus on repairing their friendship.
“Teresa and I are on a new path,” Staub told PEOPLE. “We’ve both apologized and owned up to things we’ve done in the past.
Giudice agreed. “Danielle and I are friends now,” the 45-year-old author wrote in her new book Standing Strong. “We have a lot more in common than I thought. That’s what I’m saying about how things evolve. You never know who will come in and out of your life at different stages or for different reasons. I forgave her, she forgave me. … All is good with Danielle and me, which is how it should be. I’m truly thrilled she’s on the show.”
So why did Catania feel the need to warn Giudice about Staub? It started when Staub accused Catania of saying that Giudice is “many things, but she is not concerned about anything or anyone except for money — be careful.”
The rumor upset Giudice. “I’m shocked. I’m pissed off,” she told Staub when she first heard the claim. “‘Alls I care about is money?’ And she told you to ‘be careful?’ Be careful of what? Why would she be telling you that? All my real friends would never say something like that. And she is one of my real friends. I can’t even comprehend why those words would come out of her mouth. Like, at all. I’m furious. I can’t wait to say something to her. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say.”
Giudice got her chance to say something to Catania as the two addressed the fallout from #cakegate during a tense sit-down alongside Staub, Melissa Gorga and Siggy Flicker.
“Dolores, why when this was all happening were you quiet?” Giudice asked Catania, angry that Catania had stood by Flicker’s side as she called Giudice and Gorga “trash” for throwing a cake across a restaurant in Boca Raton, Florida during a girls trip earlier in the season. “Why didn’t you say, ‘Siggy, relax they’re having fun. It’s a f—— birthday cake. We’re just having fun!’ ”
“You are attached to her,” Giudice told Catania of her relationship with Flicker. “Let’s call a spade a spade.”
Catania was bothered by the accusation. After all, she claimed she was just being a loyal friend and letting Flicker express her hurt feelings. “Let’s call a spade a spade, I’ve been sticking up for you for a long time,” Catania told Giudice. “I would never let anybody talk about you ever.”
That’s when Staub laid out her accusation, going against her assertion earlier in the episode that she was against “creating drama” and telling the table of a private meeting the two had had weeks ago in which Catania allegedly made the dig at Giudice.
As one might imagine, Catania blew her lid. “You m———— liar. I never said that,” she screamed, getting up in Staub’s face. “You’re a f——- liar. I never ever said that. You’re a f—— liar. You’re a crazy scumbag. Scumbag. Welcome back, Scumbag. You’re a crazy person.”
“I would never ever say that about you,” Catania told Giudice, explaining to viewers that throughout her long friendship with Giudice she’s “jeopardized [her] own credibility to vouch for Teresa 100 times.”
“My head is spinning, I don’t get it,” Catania confessed. “I have a history of honesty. I have a history of never being a two face and being nothing but a loyal friend. I can’t say the same for everybody in the group.”
The entire exchange left Giudice torn about who to believe. “I don’t want it to be true that Dolores said this, but I feel like Dolores has been a little distant with me, a little upset with me,” she said. “Danielle and I do have a pretty crazy past, but we’ve been getting along great. So now I’m more confused than ever.”
“I’m just trying to understand why would she lie?” Giudice wondered.
Meanwhile, Staub was in tears before leaving the event. “I have no ulterior motive, I have no reason — no game for this,” she said. “I’m not a crazy person! … She f—— said it to me, Teresa. … Helen Keller could see that she’s lying.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
