The premiere of Real Housewives of New Jersey was one for the ages. Thanks to Margaret Josephs. At Teresa Giudice’s pool party, Marge went for costar Jennifer Aydin’s jugular. Margaret revealed what she has long teased on the show, that Bill Aydin had an affair on Jennifer, causing him to leave his old job. But Jennifer is no punk. She might have been embarrassed but she was quick to correct Margaret with the facts of what happened. Jennifer explained that it happened 10 years ago with a pharmaceutical rep, not an employee. And while she was pregnant with her fourth kid. Sheesh. Either way, the cat is now out of the bag.
Unfortunately for Bill and Jennifer, someone else found out about what was going on – their 9 year old daughter Olivia Aydin. Jennifer sat down with Page Six to reveal that Olivia found out about her dad’s affair on Tik Tok, of all places. Said Jennifer, “We had a blogger leak this awful storyline and somebody made a TikTok on it. My sweet little Olivia — who threw a beautiful anniversary party for us [on RHONJ Season 11] to show how her parents are still in love — saw a TikTok that said ‘the big secret.’”
Jennifer added that Olivia made sure to defend her parents in the comments. She wrote, “This is my mommy and daddy and this is not true!” Oh, bless this little girl’s sweet heart. And I don’t mean that facetiously. Defending her parents is so wholesome at an age when most kids hate their mom and dad.
Jennifer admitted, “She came to me to show me her comment and said, ‘Look, Mommy, I’m defending you from all of these lies.'” Jennifer then asked Olivia to delete the comment. She explained, “I said, ‘It’s for the show and it’s not good if we release things, so maybe we shouldn’t draw attention.’ I had her take it down that way.”
But Jennifer knew it was best to share some details with Olivia. Said Jennifer, “I sat her down and I kept my composure because I realized [my kids] will react to however Mommy’s acting. I put on a brave face and said, ‘Listen, Daddy did a bad thing. But that doesn’t mean that he’s a bad person. And when we love people, we forgive them when they make mistakes. And I’ve forgiven him and I’m OK.’ She wasn’t upset because I wasn’t upset.”
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Jennifer added that she and Bill have since told all of their kids. And each one took the news differently. Jennifer confessed, “My husband told Justin [Aydin]. I was in the room, and Justin kind of was almost irritated, like, ‘I don’t ever want to talk about this ever again.’ He’s not watching this season. My Gabriella [Aydin], she was more crushed. She felt very betrayed and was angry for a bit but we got through that. And my two [younger] boys, they’re neither here or there.”
She went on, “And Olivia, now that she sees that Mommy’s OK with it, she’ll be like, ‘Mommy, do they know about “the secret,” too?’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, but it’s not a secret anymore and we’re OK with talking about it.’ And she’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right.'” Jennifer added, “So remember, children will learn by example. As long as I’m cool and not breaking down, I think they’ll be OK.”
As for Margaret, Jennifer had some choice words. She explained, “You do not want Margaret to be your enemy. She is a digger and she could find out things. She’s got a big Rolodex of people in her friend group. I wouldn’t put anything past her. She’s very focused when she wants to find out something about somebody.”
And for Jennifer, that was tough given that she never told anyone about what happened. “I never told a soul. I didn’t tell my parents, I didn’t tell my cousins, I didn’t tell my sister, I didn’t tell my best friend,” she disclosed. Jennifer went on, “I put it in the vault and threw away the key. I pretended it never happened. I have never brought it up as a dig. Because when you decide to forgive somebody, you really have to forgive it and never bring it up. Otherwise, your relationship is not going to work.”
RELATED: Margaret Josephs Claims She Said Jennifer Aydin Treats Bill Aydin As A “Meal Ticket” In Response To Her Tagline…Which Was Released AFTER Margaret Said This During Filming
When it comes to Bill, Jennifer divulged that he’s “embarrassed” and that it was “uncomfortable.” But Jennifer is actually proud of him. She explained, “He supported me in the sense of letting me share our story, which I think is very brave of him. And I told him if we were able to get through it when it happened 10 years ago, we’ll be able to get through it now.”
A decade later, Jennifer declared that she and Bill are “in a great space.” Said Jennifer, “I didn’t want to be the one to bring it up and ever talk about it because that would be at the expense of my children and it wasn’t worth it for me. But since [Margaret] did bring it up and since I do have to talk about it, I’m going to use it as therapy and find it cathartic and therapeutic.”
RELATED: Bill Aydin Defends Jennifer Aydin For Being A Stay-At-Home Mom In The Midst Of Her Feud With Margaret Josephs
Jennifer candidly concluded, “Signing up for this show, that’s what I agreed to do — to show the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not easy.” Regardless of what you think about Jennifer, I think she handled a very sticky situation flawlessly. You could always tell she would do anything for her family and this time she did. Because leading with honesty and compassion as a mother isn’t always easy. Especially when you are the one that was hurt. But I’m proud of Jennifer and dare I say, have a newfound respect for her.
TELL US – WERE YOU SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT BILL HAD AN AFFAIR? DO YOU THINK MARGARET WAS OUT OF LINE FOR BRINGING IT UP? DO YOU THINK JENNIFER DID A GOOD JOB HANDLING IT WITH HER KIDS?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
