Credit: Milla Cochran/Giulio Marcocchi/Startraksphoto
Alexis Bellino opened up about her strained marriage to Jim Bellino during an interview on Friday.
Just under three years after their divorce was made final, the former Real Housewives of Orange County cast member admitted that she and Jim had issues throughout their relationship before comparing their dynamic to the hardships Melissa Gorga faced with Joe Gorga during the 11th season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
“I definitely don’t think our marriage would have sustained it [long-term] regardless of the show,” Alexis told Us Weekly on June 3. “I don’t think Housewives was the reason because I had already been having feelings before Housewives that I was fighting back.”
According to Alexis, who appeared on RHOC from season five through season eight, she and Jim had such regular issues that they actually remained in therapy for the entirety of their marriage.
“We were married 14 years and then [in] therapy the whole 14 years. So that tells you something,” she explained. “And I haven’t been to one therapy session with [my fiancé Andy Bohn]. We haven’t had but two fights. We just were just meant to be together.”
After Alexis and Jim split in June 2018, Alexis fell in love with Andy, who she described as her “best friend.”
“If [Andy and I] don’t see eye to eye, we don’t need to go to the counselor and figure it out. We just sit down and have a discussion,” she said. “Neither of us yell. Neither of us boss the other one around. We just simply talk it through.”
Looking back at her and Jim’s time together, Alexis said that while she wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom for their three children, 15-year-old son James and 13-year-old twins Melania and Mackenna, when they were younger, she ultimately craved a career of her own.
“Once you’ve kind of took that agreement that, ‘OK, well, I’ll be the breadwinner. You stay home and take care of the kids.’ And then, I guess, basically if you don’t grow together in that path that’s when the hiccups really come into play,” Alexis said, giving a nod to Melissa and Joe’s struggles during the latest season of RHONJ.
While Alexis and Jim endured some tumultuous times amid their divorce, the two of them have since gotten to a better place with one another.
“We still have our ups and downs, but we do have one thing that we are a 100 percent [agree] about and that’s how much we love our kids,” she explained. “It’s definitely a work in progress, but we just try to respect each other and put our kids first.”