The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 12 premiere brought the expected levels of drama, but it also brought something completely unexpected: an affair confession!
Given the amount of affair rumors swirling around the cast of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, let me narrow that down for you a bit. After being confronted by Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin admits that her husband, Bill Aydin, had a two-year affair with a pharmaceutical rep.
The confrontation and confession comes in the closing scene of the Premiere as the wives and husband mingle poolside. Jennifer and Jackie Goldschneider had just spoken about Jackie thinking Jennifer originated the rumor that Jackie’s husband had an affair.
Margaret walks over and confronts Jennifer over an Instagram post from May in which Jennifer called her a “snake.” Here’s the full post:
Take a good look at what unbothered looks like. I’m on this show because of me- not because my sister-n-law or a more entertaining husband. My husband is a class act who respects women and would never stoop low for the cameras. I guess people envy what they don’t have – I share real and authentic stories, not fake, made up ones. And I see that some people are threatened by that.You can take your “sloppy” comments and run with it all you want-hold on to it for dear life- ya got nothing else. Your group is infested with a snake that talks behind all your backs and you’re just Salty…And Boring to Boot! So careful with all that reach, you’re gonna pull a muscle😘 #Rhonj #reunion #Tonight! #IRetaliate
Margaret says Jennifer is, in fact, bothered and her life isn’t as fantastic as she would let on. “I think you’re unhappy,” she tells Jennifer at one point.
“I get that that’s your truth. I get that,” Jennifer replies. “I wake up feeling blessed. I love my house. I love my husband. He allowed me to make things happen that never would’ve happened for me…having a man nag me about the bills. Do you know what a f***ing blessing that is?”
Margaret replies by suggesting Jennifer missed her point. “It’s not about the f***ing money, Jennifer.”
“It’s not about the money,” Jennifer agrees, “but it is about him trying to do everything he can to let me be the perfect mom to my kids.”
Margaret says that a big reason that Bill is so good to Jennifer is because he is covering for things he did in the past. She then goes back and forth with Jennifer over whether or not Jennifer is being honest.
After demonstrating a bit of reluctance to let the cat out the bag, Margaret sets the kitty free. “You always say Bill’s the best,” she tells Jennifer. “Listen, he had an affair. Everybody knows. And that’s why he left his old job.”
Maragaret then addresses a gobsmacked Teresa Giudice, who is an innocent third wheel in the conversation. “Her marriage isn’t as perfect as she says it is. Bill had the affair with his office manager for two years.”
Jennifer denies part of Margaret’s claim — but not the affair part! “She’s not an office manager, she was a f***ing pharmaceutical rep, you f***ing idiot. If you get the facts straight.”
That’s where the scene — and the episode — ends.
Jennifer Aydin responds to Bill’s affair reveal
The on-screen affair confirmation came as a huge surprise to most viewers, but the cast — including Jennifer — knew it was coming. She spoke with US Weekly about the scene and about the Billandering prior to the episode airing.
“I thought nobody would ever find out,” Jennifer told Us Weekly. “I never told anybody…Nobody knew — [not] my mother, my sister, my best friend, my cousin. Like, when I say I was taking it to the grave, I kept that secret inside.”
Jennifer added that she talked with her husband about the possibility of the affair becoming public knowledge, and she told him that she wouldn’t shy away from it. She vowed to tackle it head on.
Despite being willing to address the affair if it came up on the show, Jennifer still wasn’t happy with how it happened. “I’m not gonna be the one to share the story, because I would never do that at the expense of my own children,” she said. “At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter that [Margaret] found out. … But I feel like she could have went about it differently.”
Regardless, Jennifer has no regrets. “I signed up to do the show to show my life: the good, the bad, the ugly,” she says. “And … for people to learn from the journey. You know, not everything is black-and-white and just because somebody does a bad thing doesn’t mean they’re a bad person.”
When was Bill Aydin’s affair?
In Jennifer Aydin’s conversation with Us Weekly, she also revealed some additional details about her husband’s affair. She says she found out 10 days before she gave birth to her oldest son, now 17-year-old Christian.
“I was going through the process of letting it sink in while having to have a baby and wanting my baby to have all of the blessings that a normal child would, like having his mommy and his daddy in the delivery room,” Jennifer says. “So I wanted to go through the motions of playing this game of life, so to speak, to try to put on a brave face for my children.”
The couple was eventually able to move on — in a way. “[Bill] was so remorseful and, you know, always petting me, trying to kiss [and] care [for] me — after a while I was just like, ‘You know what? Let’s just pretend this never happened.’ And that’s what I did.”
I don’t think many counselors would recommend dealing with infidelity by pretending it never happened, but it seems to have worked for Jennifer and Bill. So far.
To see if their coping strategy holds up through public (and co-star) scrutiny, be sure to keep tuning in for new episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey airing Tuesday nights at 8/7c on Bravo!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
