[Photo: Getty Images]
“Talking is not harmful. It’s hitting that’s harmful,” host Joy Behar says in this sneak peek from part two of the Mob Wives reunion. It’s a nice effort at conflict mediation, but Joy, have you met these ladies? The drama between Drita and Ramona continues, and they might not hit each other in this clip, but they still manage to lob some impressive insults that even Joy can’t deny.
After the jump we have a second sneak peek featuring my favorite mob husband, Joe Ferragamo, a.k.a. Mr. Carla Facciolo. The Mob Wives reunion airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on VH1.
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Usually when I ask someone if they have any regrets from the past season of whatever reality show they’re on, they give me a line about moving forward, not having any regrets, and learning from their mistakes. But Mob Wives star Drita D’Avanzo knows that there were a couple things she could have prevented this season or done differently. Like attending a certain celebration of life party and throwing a punch while she was there. However, one of the reasons Drita says she loves reunion shows is because she gets to explain herself, and what she doesn’t explain on air, she puts out there in this interview I conducted with her just before the reunion filmed. She’s not one to cling to regrets though, she has too many amazing opportunities and friendships to relish and enjoy, as she discusses below.
Do you feel different at this year’s reunion compared to last year?
Yeah, I do feel different, the last reunion left off with the rooftop issue, so going into it I felt bad. Now, Karen and I went over that, so it’s good, but in a way we have to review so many things on stage that pissed us the f— off again, that could put us back to square one. Hopefully it doesn’t. [click to continue…]
Carla Facciolo was the quiet, reserved one last season on Mob Wives, but she definitely started to speak up this season. Carla managed to forge a peaceful relationship with both Karen and Ramona, despite her best friend’s difficult history with both of them, and she also opened herself and her relationship with her ex-husband Joe for all to see this season.
I feel like we saw more of you this season, you definitely became more outspoken than in season one.
Yeah, I had to start speaking up a little more. I am who I am, I’ve always been like this, but I saw that if I didn’t speak up, they’d try to make me look like this character I wasn’t. So I was like okay, I have to speak up and voice my opinion now.
You kept getting into it with Renee, I felt, because you were so forthcoming with whatever was going on with her in her life.
Yeah, and we cleared the air and then stuff would come up again, it was like, oh my God. You know, I had had enough and I exploded a little.
So what’s your relationship now with everyone, now that the season is over?
At this moment, of course I’m very close with Ang and Drita, and me and Renee are very good right now, we’re very cool. Karen and Ramona, I’m distant from. I don’t have a problem with Karen, and Ramona and me are not the best of friends, we just deal with each other. [click to continue…]
Season two of Mob Wives (original flavor) is winding down, with the final part of the reunion set to air on Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and Mob Wives Chicago will kick into full gear when it premieres on June 10 at 8 p.m. That means that show creator Jennifer Graziano will barely get any vacation time this summer (she also has Big Ang‘s spinoff in the pipes). Graziano spoke to The Hollywood Reporter recently to talk about all three shows, the casting process, and what’s next for our favorite ladies. Here are some of the highlights of the interview, which can be read in full here.
On casting Big Ang and her rise to fame: I did know going into this that Big Ang was a star. I’ve known her since I was a kid, and I always had her in mind, but what I wanted to do was build the brand around the initial four women who had real close, authentic relationships…And I think from a casting perspective, you always want to have something up your sleeve for the following season. Ang was my magic trick.
On why she chose Chicago for her next show: Even though Chicago is one of America’s major cities, it’s still is very much Midwestern. There’s that kind of laid back feel with the women. Although their mindset and their values and their “mob mentalities” are very much the same as New York, they just live their life a little bit slower and a little less aggressively. But for the most part, in terms of their beliefs and those “everybody keep your mouth shut” type of values, they’re very much the same…I just wanted to go next to a city that had that big mob backdrop — the history that’s somewhat still alive.
On making changes to the original show: Like I said, I always have something up my sleeve and I always want to be able to pepper something in so I’m thinking maybe. I’m not saying the original cast will change but there may be some addition.
On her plans to branch out into scripted series:Right now I’m in development on a series that is… I don’t want to say a spin-off, but it’s a “What happened before they were mob wives.” It’s set when they where 19-20 years old and what was going on in those days. I have a couple of other scripted projects in development as well.
On what we can expect from the Big Ang spinoff: There’s going to be a couple of characters added to her show that are really going to make a splash. So I think that this show is going to be much different than Mob Wives in the sense that it’s going to be a lot more lighthearted and a lot more colorful and fun. Given the circumstances of what’s been going on with Mob Wives and the intensity, I’m looking forward to some of that colorfulness.
[Photo: Getty Images]
It’s safe to say Renee Graziano has been through hell and back this season on Mob Wives. From a botched plastic surgery that left her hospitalized, to her ex-husband betraying her, her family, and their friends by cooperating with the FBI, she’s done a lot of living, and a lot of soul-searching lately. And yet despite her public bouts with depression and topics that would make a weaker woman retreat, she’s attacking life head on these days. I talked to her about all her family drama, but what’s surprising is all the good that’s come out of the bad. Her relationship with her dad is better than ever, her family is solid, and she has a fan base that has shown nothing but love. When I asked if she’s ever faced any nasty rumors in the press, her response said it all: “With the s— I go through, why make anything up?”
Is it a relief that the season is finally over?
Is it a relief that the season is over? YES. This season was extremely hard. I actually watched it as an outsider and I was pretty much saying “Call 911! This b—h is crazy!” I watched it very objectively and it was very depressing. So I didn’t watch a lot of it.
How are you able to take yourself out of it?
I put myself in that mindset when I saw myself break down. I watched a girl break down. It didn’t seem like that was me. It was easier for me this year to watch it objectively and I wasn’t as angry with everyone as I normally get.
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The men of Mob Wives play a very important role on the show. They’re the fathers, the husbands, the sons of the women we love, and even though they’re just supporting characters on the show, their presence is felt in every episode. On part two of the Mob Wives reunion, which will air next Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT (please note that special time, an hour earlier than usual), the show will dig a little deeper into some of the relationships we’ve seen on the show, like Carla and Joe, Karen and David, and Big Ang and her son AJ. But in the meantime, we’ve pulled our favorite moments from this season together in a playlist so you can watch them all again to refresh your memory. We’ll always have a soft spot for Carla and Joe, so take a look at Joe’s emotional, amazing homecoming in the clip above.
Karen Gravano has said on a few occasions that she’s the nicest castmember on Mob Wives, and when you hang out in person, she’s not lying. Gravano is a funny and sweet woman as long as you’re not threatening her or the people she loves. (I mean, aren’t we all?)
At the reunion this season, I spoke to her just before she took to the stage to see if she was at peace with the way this season played out and what her relationship with the rest of the cast was like now that peace has been achieved…for the most part. She told me that as far as Drita is concerned, “we called a truce, [but] we’ll never be friends,” and just hopes that no one talks out their face (to use a Mob Wives term). Because if you talk smack about her family, she won’t take that lying down.
Do you feel any different today as you’re preparing for this reunion, compared to last season at this time?
I feel good!
I feel like it’s less dramatic this year now that you’ve worked some issues out.
I don’t even think it’s dramatic because some people are just acting, you know what I mean. I’m very calm, cool, and collected, and I’m done with acting.
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On tonight’s first installment of the Mob Wives reunion, there were so many revelations and complete surprises, we’re still reeling. This five-month-long season has been epic, and occasionally it can feel like some of the fights and arguments go in circles, but this reunion was not just a re-hashing of events we’re seen ten times already, there were new arguments, buried secrets that were dug up, and absolutely heartbreaking personal issues that we never had any idea existed. So what made the cut for our biggest shocks from part one? Check our list below.
1. Renee Suffered A Miscarriage During Filming
When Joy probed Renee about her feelings toward Junior, Renee said simply “I probably wouldn’t have anything to say to him. He’s selfish, self-centered, evil, no good.” It would make sense to think that she was just upset about his cooperation with the government, but her pain was much more personal. She admitted that she was pregnant and suffered a miscarriage as a result of all the stress that resulted. “Because of all this I miscarried, that’s actually why I ended up in the hospital,” she tearfully admitted. As if your heart couldn’t break for this woman even more, boom, it just did. “I definitely could not have carried a child, I was not in the right frame of mind.” [click to continue…]
We’ve been to a few reality show reunions now, and we know at this point that a lot of fashion decisions are made at the last minute. Often the casts of our shows bring a few outfit changes, a steamer trunk full of shoes, and a stylist to help them get dressed, and the Mob Wives were no different at the taping of this latest reunion.
When I asked all the ladies ahead of time what they planned to wear, Carla and Renee were the only ones who had a definitive answer (Carla was in Bebe, Renee was wearing a dress custom-designed for her by local label Carla’s Closet in she wore her own brand new shoe line called Mob Candy, available at the Brooklyn store Je T’aime). Despite the last minute choices the rest had to make, we think they all pulled it together and looked amazing on the show. Take a look at some close ups of the ladies’ outfits, shoes, and supermodel poses in our Mob Wives fashion gallery below.
Part two of the Mob Wives reunion will air on Sunday, May 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
