RHONJ's Danielle Staub Laments About Rift with Estranged Husband's Kids Days Before Wedding

Hours before heading down the aisle in Bimini to say their “I do’s,” Danielle Staub and Marty Caffrey were bickering over a rift their wedding was causing between him and his children.

On Wednesday’s Real Housewives of New Jersey, the soon-to-be newlyweds dined at their destination soirée with friends and castmates Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, and Margaret Josephs where they opened up about the troubles they were having blending their families.

Both have kids from previous relationships, Staub, 56, a mom to daughters Christine, 24 and Jillian, 20 and Caffrey, a dad to three grown children. But only two of Caffrey’s kids made it to the Bahamas.

“His kids don’t like me,” Staub told the group, pushing back Caffrey’s claims otherwise. “I guess that would be the issue. They don’t.”

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Josephs, who has been open in the past about the estranged relationship she has with two of her three stepchildren, could relate. When she ended her first marriage to ex-husband Jan Josephs in 2013 and married new husband, Joe Benigno, she found some of Benigno’s kids reluctant to accept her.

“Joe’s daughter didn’t used to like me. She literally hated me, she told me I’m fake,” Josephs said. “But can I tell you, things have turned around. … You can change their mind.”

“I don’t care what his kids have said to you, I don’t care what has happened — you are still the adult,” she told audiences. “You suck it up and you bring this family together. Don’t do things to tear it apart. Don’t make this man not be with his children. I’m heartbroken for him.”

But Staub didn’t seem encouraged. “I command respect,” she shouted. “If you’re not going to respect me, stay out of my space.”

For what it’s worth, Caffrey agreed and stood by Staub’s side. “You deserve respect!” he said.

He then opened up about how hurt he was by what had happened, admitting, “It’s hard for me,” and accusing Staub of not necessarily understanding how “torn apart” he is.

“I didn’t cause this,” Staub said, in her defense. “I just got here buddy, you raised it!”

She clearly misunderstood Caffrey, who quickly clarified. “I didn’t cause it!” he said. “That’s my point, neither of us caused it. It happened.”

“I chose. I chose you! I chose you at the detriment of them and my relationship with them,” he said. “Therefore, we have to move on. Life is short. That’s all I have to say.”

In the end, both agreed to put their feelings aside and focus on the wedding. The two would tie the knot in May in a lavish wedding ceremony held on the Bahamas’ North Bimini Island at the Luna Beach Club.

Just four months later, in August, he filed for divorce. Both are currently estranged.

Back in October, Staub told PEOPLE exclusively that she and Caffrey were never able to overcome the tense dynamics between their blended families — and that the problems carried over to her kids as well.

“He doesn’t like me and he doesn’t like my children,” Staub claimed. “My kids have never been anything but respectful and lovely towards him even though he hasn’t been the same towards their mom. They don’t have to like him, but they respected him. … I wish that I would have received the same from his children. They have a perception of me from being on TV and I never got a chance to break them of that. It was always, ‘I’ll handle it my way, I know how to handle it.’ But everything gets swept under the rug so much that the table can no longer sit on the floor.”

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Eventually, it got to the point where Staub knew there was no turning back. “I think he just likes the attention of people fighting over him — for him, with him,” she said. “People think that I love to fight and I don’t know how to live like that. I really don’t.”

Caffrey, in a statement to PEOPLE, said, “This is not my world nor do I have any further interest in it. These are manufactured celebrities in manufactured lives who manufacture their own truths. I look forward to getting back to my reality among real people. My loving family and vast amount of friends.”