Roxanne 
After a season of substantial change, the ladies of RHONY came together for their reunion! We had the newbies, Aviva, Carole and Heather on one couch and the veterans, Ramona, Sonja and Luann on the other. It was fairly civilized for the most part, especially coming off of the RHONJ reunion which was an absolute jungle. The women disagreed without glaring death stares at each other, and I didn’t have to go insane trying to hear what five angry cockatoos were yapping at each other about. Even Andy Cohen seemed much more relaxed and comfortable!
The first topic at hand was Luann asking to borrow a dress from Carole’s designer friend. As we remember, Carole talked some smack about Luann for doing that. This became a back-and-forth royal battle between the princess and the countess. Luann called Carole out on making snarky remarks about the women in her interviews but not to their face while filming. I agree with that point, but I think Carole is just not one for confrontation. I think she was just trying to make good TV and crack some witty jokes in her interviews, but meant no malice. To me, Carole takes this for what it is – a reality TV show and nothing more.
The next topic was the link that connected Aviva to a lot of the women – her ex-husband Harry who apparently got around NYC. He dated Luann in the past and slept with Sonja. Heather and Ramona also know him socially. The discussion here was about Aviva becoming uncomfortable because the women brought Harry up a lot, especially in front of Aviva’s current husband Reid. I think Aviva was a bit hypocritical here because she brought Harry up quite often. Once again, it’s a case of Aviva’s rules applying to everyone else except her. Don’t get me wrong, I like Aviva but there are a lot of exceptions to her rules and she seems to be that exception a lot of times.
Aviva goes after Sonja after she says that “everyone loves Harry” in NYC and internationally. She thinks that Sonja should’ve been on her side because Aviva is battling Harry for unpaid hold support, just like Sonja is battling her ex-husband for a divorce settlement. Sonja disagrees and Aviva decides to drop this personal topic for the sake of the children involved. Good call, Aviva. (Take notes, RHONJ.)
Up next, Andy introduced a film package of Aviva and her very many anxieties, phobias and extreme paranoia. When I saw this, I couldn’t believe what I had just seen and I asked how people could put up with Aviva like this. Aviva then opened up about something she never discusses – her accident, which left her missing a leg.
Aviva’s vivid and descriptive story was just heart wrenching. She has a clear remembrance of what happened and the pain that she endured when she had that awful encounter with the barn conveyor belt. It gave me a little more insight into why she is so overly precautious and anxious. I still believe that she needs to not project such issues onto other people, which Aviva also took responsibility for last night.
Andy then transitions into the new ladies vowing to never become “mean girls” when they were having lunch in the city. Andy points out that Heather left Ramona out of her London business trip, which seemed like a bit of a mean girl move. Heather stood her ground and straight out said she didn’t want Ramona on the trip because the two had had a rocky start when they first met. Heather brings up the incident at Ramona’s home when Ramona was not happy with Heather who seemed to never stop talking and never let Ramona have a word in. I remember this episode and Heather bothered me then too. Heather attributed this to being nervous when filming began, so she did not really know how to act in front of the cameras. Ramona understood and the two have since moved forward. Shocking, right?
Andy then moved into St. Barths! I had to brace myself because I felt the storm coming. St. Barths was the pinnacle of drama this season and I was scared. We saw a clip of Aviva’s anxiety-prompted tirade against Ramonja which ended in Aviva telling the camera that her apology was basically empty by comparing her apology to Rush Limbaugh’s. This broke into Aviva reiterating her apology, that she meant it this time, but that she would understand if Ramona and Sonja did not accept it. Ramona went into victim mode and expressed how “terribly” she was hurt by Aviva. Sonja is not having it, and she goes off about how Aviva has been trashing Ramona and Sonja on Twitter and in the press as of recently.
Aviva says she apologizes and that when she does, it means she will never act that way again, but the ladies still don’t want anything to do with her and there is no resolution. Ramona goes into an emotional rant about how she seems like she has a tough exterior, but inside she really does have a soft heart that she let Aviva into. She said she considered Aviva a friend very quickly and was hurt by her. Ramona accuses Aviva of fake-apologizing only because of the backlash that Aviva received after all of America saw her antics. While I do think Aviva is sorry, I think she is only sorry after the backlash and not on her own accord. Ramona ends this saying she was no ill will towards Aviva, but that she needs a new therapist. LOL!
Next week we get into the juiciness! The ladies discuss George and his drama with Ramona, and we get to see Luann defend herself against the cheating allegations with Tomas! What did you think of the first part of the reunion? Do you think Aviva is truly sorry for what she said to Ramona and Sonja?
