Even though Danielle Staub wasn’t a full-time cast member (again), the first half of Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 9 centered around the preparation for her wedding with Marty Caffrey. As if the bridezilla antics weren’t cringe-worthy enough to watch, the whole storyline wreaked of awkwardness knowing that Danielle and Marty called it quits just two months into the marriage.
It was also tough to see Marty going to bat on Danielle’s behalf knowing that just a few months later their split would get very nasty. Marty didn’t go down (literally) without a fight. He ended up in Jennifer Aydin’s pool after Margaret Josephs pushed him in. There has been a lot of chatter about the recently divorced pair. Now, Marty is opening up to Reality Tea to share his side of the story. In an exclusive interview, he discussed everything from the wedding to the pool push, and even his idea for a spin-off show with Danielle and Teresa Giudice.
When the divorce was finalized, both Marty and Danielle shared some eloquently-worded statements via their representatives. Danielle also showed off her middle fingers outside of the courthouse that same day. Clearly, they’re handling their taking different approaches to the breakup.
Marty remarked, “There was a tape of her giving me the finger and all that. I guess that’s added effect for cameras, which is important to her.” In his statement, Marty included, “Looking back on our relationship, it is hard to reconcile that the camera and the show were more important to her than her relationship was with me. I do think the show led to the destruction of our relationship.”
So was it the show itself or Danielle’s desire to be a relevant cast member the true cause for the downfall in their relationship? Marty admitted, “That’s a good question. I think those things are related. Our relationship was completely different when Season 9 began to film.”
He reflected, “There was a major turn of behavior at that time. I attributed a lot of that to it’s stressful filming and planning a wedding. Both individually, so when you put it together, it could be a lot.” Fair, but did she really need to flip out over wet hair and the price of gifts? Shouldn’t she be grateful to receive any gift at all? And for the screentime as a part-time cast member.
Marty declared, “The show and her and her inability to separate that from her personal life attributed to the end of our relationship.”
Marty looked back on his relationship before Danielle’s reality TV resurrection return. He said, “When I met her, she was not on the show. When I got to know her better and I saw her potential and her desire to get back on the show, I committed myself to supporting that effort.”
How so? Marty said, “I put some money in to get her out of some situations. I financially supported her for a bit there. And I put her into a really nice place so she could launch [her comeback]. I compare it to seeing a great athlete on the field who has no team to play on. So the athlete needs exposure for his career if that’s what he wants.” And Danielle got just that: a lot of exposure. But did it “help her career”? That’s up for debate. Along with the question of “what is her career?”
Unfortunately, Marty revealed, “She rarely, if ever, showed appreciation for that at the end of the day. It got into her head that she was important because of the show. ”
Marty told us, “Any time I was in some sort of conflict, like with the Joes for example. What was I doing? I was defending her. All I was doing was defending her. So, I had her back.” And, of course, this led to the discussion of that instantly iconic pool scene.
After all of that, what does Marty think about Margaret, Joe, and the other cast members? Surprisingly enough, he shared, “I would say that I have a friendly relationship with all of them. I’m very close with Margaret and Joe. The reason is that they know what the finale didn’t show. They know what happened at the pool and I didn’t come after her. Joe came after me and Danielle. They know that. They don’t harbor any animosity toward me.” And get ready for this one. Marty added, “We’re good. In fact, I’m having lunch with Joe tomorrow.”
Marty also emphasized that he appreciated Margaret’s advice to Danielle about his children. Marty said, “Danielle was taking the approach ‘I’m not going to stop Marty from having a relationship with his children. They’re just not going to be around me.’ How do you expect a relationship to survive that? It doesn’t make any sense. Margaret tried to make that point clear and Danielle became so stuck on her celebrity that she wasn’t going to change for anything.”
Marty explained, “Danielle didn’t respect what b was saying and didn’t even take it into consideration. So, I think Margaret lost some respect for Danielle there. Then, her bridezilla behavior with treating everyone like shit kind of turned Margaret off too.” Kind of? It was a lot more than “kind of” a turnoff. For the bridesmaids and the viewers.
