Rulla Pontarelli and Jo-Ellen Tiberi have had “an epiphany.”
After spending months feuding on the debut season of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, mainly over Jo-Ellen’s involvement in exposing Brian Pontarelli‘s affair with Beth Walker, Rulla, 46, and Jo-Ellen, 39, confirmed they were back on good terms at Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea Awards.
“We’ve had an epiphany,” Rulla confirmed to Page Six. “Jo-Ellen realized that I have feelings, that I’m innocent; we’ve bridged the gap.”
As for Jo-Ellen, she pointed out that Brian finally “admitted the truth” about his affair.
“They moved past it, and that’s the best thing,” Jo-Ellen said. “I was vindicated.”
Brian spoke to Page Six on Tuesday, as well, insisting he’d grown since his affair.
“I’ve grown as a person, we’ve grown together, and the most important thing is that our family is very strong,” he said. “If we can just show other families going through the same thing that with hard work and dedication and, most importantly, love, we can get through it.”
During RHORI season one, Rulla and Brian insisted that his relationship with Beth had ended earlier than Jo-Ellen and other members of the cast believed. And, as the episodes continued, Jo-Ellen continued to provide proof and clues that Rulla had turned a blind eye to the truth. Rulla and Jo-Ellen also feuded over Rulla and Brian’s alleged efforts to get her fired from her job at a local aesthetics center.
Then, at the reunion, Jo-Ellen suggested that Brian may have been married to his now-ex-wife when he and Rulla began dating, and Rulla slammed Jo-Ellen as a “sl*t.”
Also at Tuesday’s event, Rulla, Brian, Jo-Ellen, and her husband, Gary Tiberi, recreated their reunion “sl*t” fight by mouthing the words to each other’s insults.
“You’re no good. You’re a f*cking sl*t. That’s all you are,” Brian mouthed to Rulla’s comment.
“Your husband’s a sl*t,” Gary mouthed to Jo-Ellen’s voice.
Then, Rulla was heard saying, “No f*ck you. You sleep with doctors!”
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The Real Housewives of Rhode Island season two is currently in production.