Dolores Catania may have deep New Jersey roots, but she also has a connection to Rhode Island.
“So my first time out of New Jersey was in Rhode Island,” Catania, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with Advanced Herbals. “I was 18 years old.”
Dolores explained that at the time that she and her now husband, Frank Catania, traveled to the Ocean State to help his sister get settled in at Rhode Island University.
“So we drove up to bring her to help her move into her dorm. It was my first time in a college,” she explained. “It was my first time experiencing anything [outside] of New Jersey. It was insane.”
UPDATE, 5/29/25 at 2:56 p.m. ET: Andy Cohen has no update on Dolores Catania’s possible involvement in The Real Housewives of Rhode Island despite what the rumor mill is saying. “You know what, we haven’t even started shooting yet,” Cohen, 56, told Us Weekly exclusively at Hoda Kotb’s Joy 101 red carpet event on Wednesday, […]
Dolores added that she found herself in “awe” of Rhode Island’s coastal charm. Later in life, Dolores learned that the state also has a “really strong Italian community.”
“They paint the streets with the Italian flag there,” she quipped.
Before learning about Rhode Island’s Italian community, Dolores thought the area was more like a stereotypical New England getaway.
Dolores Catania Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
“When I first went there, I thought it was like Martha’s Vineyard,” she told Us. “Everybody was very blonde and everybody was [in] their sweaters and everything was very preppy to me.”
Dolores teased that despite prevailing stereotypes, Rhode Island has “an Italian presence there that you will very much love.”
Earlier this year, Bravo confirmed that Rhode Island would be the next location to get the Real Housewives treatment.
Andy Cohen predicted the cast of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island will recapture the chaotic and volatile spirit of The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s table-flipping glory. “[The Rhode Island cast] are very Italian,” Cohen, 56, told Page Six in an interview published on Wednesday, May 7. “Rhode Island is such a small state, […]
“Set against the shores of the Ocean State, The Real Housewives franchise expands into the world of a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations,” the synopsis read. “With aspirational lives, thriving businesses and tangled family dynamics, these decade-long friendships prove that in a state this small, there’s no escaping your past … or each other.”
The cast of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island has yet to be announced. However, rumors swirled that Dolores would make an appearance amid Real Housewives of New Jersey’s indefinite pause. Andy Cohen later clarified that no decisions have been made about the cast.
Dolores Catania Courtesy of Advanced Herbals
“You know what, we haven’t even started shooting yet,” Cohen exclusively told Us in May when asked about Dolores’ future with Bravo.
Dolores has been a staple on RHONJ since season 7, which aired in 2016. Following RHONJ’s dramatic season 14 finale, the franchise went on hiatus. Dolores expressed her hopes to Us about a potential status update.
“We better know something,” she said, adding that she was keeping her fingers crossed for more news out of BravoCon in November.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dolores Catania shared positive health news after recently undergoing a heart procedure. The Traitors alum, 54, first revealed in May that she’d been diagnosed with the heart condition Atrial Fibrillation (a.k.a. Afib) and would need a cardiac ablation procedure. According to the Mayo Clinic, Afib is caused by […]
Amid her break from filming, Dolores has been focusing on her health. The reality star underwent a “cardiac ablation” for an irregular heartbeat and paused her usage of GLP-1s. Now that she is on the mend, she’s back on the medication and teamed up with Advanced Herbals. Dolores is sharing her experience with the weight loss medication in a new content series, titled “The Dish on GLP-1s.”
“A lot of people around us in our industry were losing weight and looking amazing and they weren’t being honest, and I know what I signed up for and I feel like being transparent with our friends that watch the show is only fair,” she told Us. “Just like sharing this with you, I could say, ‘Oh yeah, it was no big deal. I just took it and it was great.’ No, I was puking my guts up. I was really sick on GLP-1. I wanted to quit so many times.”
Dolores added that Advanced Herbals’ ginger chews helped her combat the nausea and now she wants to share her tips for others.
