Written by Reality Tea on November 17th, 2009

Jo De La Rosa with Boyfriend Jeff

In an exclusive new interview with RealityWanted, Bravo housewives alum Jo De La Rosa opens up about her new life post The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Jo appeared on the 1st and 2nd seasons of the show as the fiance of Slade Smiley. In this new interview, Jo talks about her feelings towards Slade and Gretchen’s new dating relationship (Gretchen was friends with both Jo and Slade), the new man in her life (pictured above) and why she chose not to return to the show this season.

Excerpts from Jo’s interview below -

Q. Reality Wanted: Will you make an appearance in Season 5 of The Real Housewives of Orange County?

A. Jo: It is one of those things where, I left the show back in Season 2, and my life is so different now, who I am now compared to who I was 4 years ago. I live in LA now. There were talks of me coming on the show to confront Gretchen and Slade, but I need to be selfless at this point. Regardless of how I feel about them being together, this is Gretchen and Slade’s time in the spotlight and I just want to move forward with my music. It would have put me back out there in the public eye, but for all the wrong reasons. I will forever be thankful for The Real Housewives of Orange County, because that is how I got my start, but I have my own story that I have to tell through my music, and for me to go back to confront the past just doesn’t make sense.

Q. Reality Wanted: How long did you & Slade date? Even on Date My Ex, he was always with you…

A. Jo: We were together for five years. Here is the funny thing, some insider information: even though I was on the show; I was still in love with Slade. I was still trying to work things out. It was never really over for Slade and I. Even after Date My Ex, Slade and I were still trying to work it out and then….came Gretchen.

Q. Reality Wanted: On the show, Gretchen said that she called you to let you know about her and Slade, even though he had said not to. Is this accurate?

A. Jo: She called me because I found out from her ex-boyfriend Jay that Slade and Gretchen were hooking up. So the whole reason she called me was because it was already out. She actually called me when Slade was in jail and she was asking for help. (Smiley was arrested in February 2009 for unpaid child support, purportedly at Rossi’s Costa Mesa home.) I was just like, “How can you call me and ask me for help when I just found out that you are sleeping with Slade?” The truth of the matter is that it is what it is, and Gretchen, to me, is…it’s just dumb. We were ALL friends, you know, no matter how close we were, I just wish they would have come to me first, without me having to find out the way that I did. Even being able to talk to Slade on it, one on one, but they didn’t even give me that. I just have to move forward, and not have a confrontation on camera. He was the love of my life, and she knew that. I was with him for 5 years, we were engaged, I acted as the mother of his children, and I was building a life with this man, and she was the girl that I knew, and you know what it is, at the end of the day, I just hate the way it all came down and came to an end. Slade and I are no longer even friends, and I haven’t even been able to talk to him face to face about it, and I know that is because of her (Gretchen).


Q. Reality Wanted: So, I have to ask, are you dating anyone?

A. Jo: I have been dating the same person for awhile now. He is super hot! Jeff was walking out of a club as I was walking in, and when I saw him, my heart just dropped. He was walking away, and he was wearing a fedora, and I thought “I have to talk to this guy!” So, I just yelled out “hey, you, fedora boy!” He is not in the entertainment industry, he is a little bit younger than me, and he is hot! I am really happy right now and things are going great in my life!

  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Twitter
  • email
  • MySpace


17 Responses to “Real Housewives of Orange County: New Interview With Jo De La Rosa”

  1. 1
    bur bur e says: - November 17, 2009 at 8:52 am

    Jo still looks beautiful. Atleast she’s not starting to sag like a few of the other much older OC Housewives like Jeana, Vick, Tamra and Lynne before her facelift!

    Her new boyfriend is a lot hotter than Slade. But Jo, Jo, Jo, can you stop with the boy crazy stuff and your UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT AT A SINGING CAREER and perhaps go back to school and get a valuable degree and job?

    RIGHT NOW JO IS WORKING AS A BARTENDER PEOPLE. THAT IS PRETTY BAD TO GO FROM OC HOUSEWIFE LIVING THE LIFE IN COTO TO A FREAKIN’ BARTENDER!!!!!!!! Geez, these people on the All The Real Housewives shows are freakin’ CURSED!!!! They either die (look at AJ, Jeff and the husband of that OC housewife who had a sudden heart attack), or they loose their house due to foreclosure, get a divorce/breakup or as in Jo’s case, START WORKING AT A FREAKIN’ BAR MOPPING DRUNK’S VOMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. 2

    Well put bur bur e.
    I totally agree.

  3. 3

    Honestly if you have a new bf and things are going great for you, why are you bashing Slade and Gretchen? Is there no one that knows what the high road is anymore?

  4. 4

    I find it quite hilarious that she has totally contradicted the perfect little picture that Gretchen attempted to paint on how her & Slade got together and how she spoke to Jo to get her blessing. Gretchen is a lying skank whore who plays the victim all the time. I’m not a 100% Tamra fan but she really nailed it on the head with that one.

  5. 5

    Oh BTW, Jo’s new man is WAYYYYYY hotter than Slade! Go Jo!!

  6. 6
    Scarlette says: - November 17, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Gretchen is the perfect g/f – fiance for a guy like Slade. She will be able to finance his lifestyle during this Greater Depression all while he does essentially nothing for employment.

    All that money Jeff left her will be gone in no time.

  7. 7
    Stephanie says: - November 17, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Oh no she didn’t she called Jay, Gretchen’s ex boyfriend! Isn’t that what Tamara during the reunion show was trying to get across about Gretchen and Jay? Does Jay talk to Jo, similar in the way that he talks to Tamara? So if Jay is talking to Jo, and calling Tamara in the middle of the night, then I am guessing that he was with Gretchen all last season when she was with Jeff [on the show] and if that is true, Gretchen fits in with most of the other housewives, living some strange sort of lie life.
    Any girl who hooks up with a rich guy and sees a great life ahead of her, and then he gets sick, of course she will stay with him to the end, the guy was rich!!

    Gretchen isn’t even a housewife, she is some sort of single girl, man eater I would like to thank Jo for setting things straight when it comes to Slade [she could have called him a fame whore] and to quote Carmen,” Gretchen is a lying skank whore”

    Maybe Kandi can help Jo with her singing career, she has done wonders for Kim, and I don’t think Jo is tone deaf so it might be easier.

  8. 8
    I'm Just Saying.. says: - November 17, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Lord Have mercy peeps.. why would Jo give a crap if she is in a new relationship!! MOVE ON!!! It appears Gretchin and Slade are very happy and enjoying themselves regardless of who dumped who? Move on peeps.. peeps lives change and they move on.

  9. 9
    I'm Just Saying.. says: - November 17, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    I have an ex husband who still has a fire for me. He is married and his wife won’t talk to me but we have kids. So now he dont have a relationship with his kids cause the wife is insecure and he wont let go. What a waste of time and relationship among a father and his kids due to ego.

    I’m just saying..

  10. 10

    I don’t care if she’s in a new relationship or not — you don’t just forget about being done dirty by someone you love and someone you considered a friend. Jo has every right to be bitter, but I hope she does move past it eventually or it will eat her up.

    And I’m glad she decided to talk about the situation. It DOES add credibility to the theory that Gretchen was cheating on Jeff with Jay the entire time he was laying in the hospital dying. She wouldn’t leave Jeff, because he was her Daddy Warbucks, but she wasn’t his “fiance” in the true sense. I wonder…if Jeff had not died, would she have stayed with him or not? Or would he have kicked her cheating, lying, gold-digging ass to the curb?

    Gretchen is a skank. She’s a narcissistic blood sucker who would steal her mother’s last dollar, of that I am sure. Pretty soon Jeff’s money will be gone — and then what?

  11. 11

    Bur Bur, where do you get the crack your smoking? Jo is beautiful? She looks deformed, her forhead is huge her nose is too long and her jaw needs to be re-set. For her age she is shot, and will look progressively worse as time goes on.

    As an aside, I take Tamra’s side even though I dont particularly like or agree with her lifestyle. Gretchen can say wahtever she wants but the fact is she is a gold digging skank that prays on older man, preferrably that die soon and leave here money. That is the oldest trick in the book and if that guy was my father that bitch of Gretchen would not get a dime, I can assure you that. You can not hang around with a child pronographer and act like is wrong, just like you can not hang around with a praying, gold digging whore and act like nothing is wrong.

  12. 12
    arizonahottie says: - November 22, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Jo you are an idiot. You treated Slade like crap. You weren’t ready to be a wife or even a very good girlfriend. You believed your own hype that you’d be famous someday.

    Slade isn’t a prize but you ran him off to another girl w/ your boy crazy ditzy delusional drunken selfish antics.

    Now, Get me a beer!! LOL bartender.

  13. 13
    Shebarie says: - January 23, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Jo was different than the other OC housewives. She is the kind of person who would be your true friend. She is now following her dreams on her own terms. It seems no matter what she does, some of you just want to hate on her.

    Maybe it’s true and maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity. If she happens to be a bartender, SO WHAT?! Isn’t that better than being a gold digger? Is there something wrong with good old fashioned WORK on your own terms? And if she were a bartender, she’d prolly clean up in tips and draw people to the club/party.

    Considering the circumstances, I think she’s has taken the high road re Slade and Gretchen. If that happened to you, you would at least want time to absorb it. She gave her thoughts on the interview and at least we know what she was feeling. What’s she supposed to do, smile, bob her head from side to side and say it’s OK for her fiance and friend to betray her? At least give her time to heal from the double knife wounds in her back.

    Looks like she HAS moved on and has a healthy attitude about life and her future. If she’s a singer or a seamstress, an accountant or a zoologist, she’ll be fine because she makes it happen for herself. She doesn’t need me to tell dismiss the haters. I wish you well Jo!

  14. 14
    fabgal1 says: - January 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    I was kinda confused on this one….she was still in love with Slade, but was ok with doing a show called “Date My Ex”. Granted, I never saw that show, but to me it all sounds like a case of-’If I’m not happy, why should he be’

  15. 15

    Who cares if she is a bartender? At least she is making her own money! I tell you it really puts in perspective some of you alls priorities. If she is happy then let her be happy. She is young! At least she isn’t a gold digger living off somebody else money, she is trying to make her own way! As for Gretchen and Slade, it would be hard for anyone to have such a personal matter all over TV like that especially when they all supposed to be friends. I mean geez wasn’t the b!tch just in her video?

  16. 16
    mary anne says: - May 2, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    R U kidding? Jo treated Slade like dirt the entire time, never acted happy. (except when he was buying her stuff) Jo was with Slade while he had a big bank account and when that left, so did she. Don’t you remember the Birthday show when slade brought a jeweler to the house and Jo picked out thousands of $$ in jewelery and then went out partying with her girlfriends and left slade uninvited? How about date my ex? She tried to act like she’s working things out with slade as she’s sucking face with these guys on TV? C’mon. The only thing Jo was still in love with was the money, where ever it came from. ANd as for being a parent to his kids?? I saw some of their interactions with the kids on TV, and she was no mother figure to them, she was a sullen sulker who “tolerated” his kids. She always complained that she was young and wanted to be able to go out and be young. She is yesterdays news and a no talent.

  17. 17
    Island of Tonga says: - May 2, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    Jo is gorgeous. She did treat Slade like slime on the show. I heard somewhere that Skanklore owns the rights to Jo De La Rosa’s music catalog. She was asked to purchase by Slimey as a good sound business opportunity.lol. What was her last hit? There is much animosity there and rightfully so. Gretchen fooled many.

You might also like

Real Housewives of OC’s Jeana Keough Not Returning
While the new season of Bravo's The Real Housewives of Orange County is scheduled to begin filming...
‘OC Housewives’ Star Tamra Barney Opens Up On Dealing With Divorce
The Real Housewives of Orange County's self-proclaimed "hottest Housewife," Tamra Barney, has gone...
OC Housewives’ Tamra Challenges Gretchen To Take A Lie Detector Test
Last night's episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County brought us the long awaited confrontation...