‘RHONJ’: Dina Manzo Reveals She Regrets Leaving the Show
The Real Housewives of New Jersey OG fans will always love Dina Manzo. The youngest sister of Caroline Manzo, Dina provided the zen to the show and was too above the drama to stay. She returned briefly, and there have been asks of her to come back again. While she says she’s happy with her life outside of the spotlight, she does have some regrets.
Why Dina Manzo regrets quitting ‘RHONJ’
Manzo appeared in the first two seasons but left midway through Season 2 and did not attend the reunion special. She returned in Season 6, but opted not to renew her contract again. At the time, she remained estranged from her once tight-knit family, and was going through a divorce. Still, she revealed in a YouTube Q&A that she would have toughened it out a bit longer on the show.
“My biggest regret, I guess [was] leaving, but my biggest regret while being on [the show] was being so sensitive,” she said. “Looking back now, I wish I had a little tougher skin with like, some of the stuff that I saw people say in interviews and not take it personally.” She added that she’s “not a good Housewife” because she has a lot of “patience” and isn’t hot-tempered.
“I probably would’ve stayed on longer had I not been taking things so sensitively. Because my family was like falling apart, before my eyes, and I wish I could have been stronger through it,” she added.
Former producer says Dina Manzo was never supposed to be full-time after Season 1 of ‘RHONJ’
While Manzo’s exit in Season 2 was seemingly a shocker for fans, she went into the season knowing it would be her ending, but producers felt it was important to give fans closure and not have her leave after Season 1. Former RHONJ producer Carlos King explained how things went on his Reality With the King podcast.
“We knew that Dina Manzo was not going to be a full-time Housewife. After Season 1, Dina was like, ‘You know what: I can’t see myself doing another season like this. I just can’t.’ But Dina also understood that, ‘Look, I know that I have to take the audience on this journey of why I’m leaving,’” he said. “[She said], ‘So I’m open to doing that.’ So long story short, Dina gave us a commitment of a certain amount of episodes. And in terms of production, we had maybe two weeks with Dina before she sort of rode off into the sunset.”
She was offered to do ‘RHUGT’ and ‘RHOBH’
Manzo remarried and moved to California with her husband, David Cantin. She was offered a chance to join RHOBH. “When I first moved [to CA], Andy and I kind of talked about it for a minute, and I spoke to the higher-ups of Bravo. We had a meeting. It was when Erika Jayne just joined, and I was just like, ‘I don’t wanna be like the one who’s like the unquote poor chick’, but were not poor by any means. But, we’re not … living this outlandish life,” she said of her decision not to join the franchise.
As for why she didn’t participate in Season 2 of Ultimate Girls Trip, she said it was amid her legal battle and that she “can’t talk” about the legal case, which is “pending.” “Thank god [I didn’t do RHUGT], I don’t need the money. I’m not like promoting anything huge,” she said.
