Bravo sure has a knack for eliciting drama out of gorgeously-dressed, impossibly rich
middle-aged women, but The Real Housewives aren't the only source of trouble on the reality-show-driven
network.
Stay tuned for the biggest scandals to ever hit Bravo.
Juicy Joe's juicy fraud case
Teresa Giudice went from being a star on The Real Housewives of New Jersey to a real housewife
of the penitentiary.
The Bravo starlet and her husband, "Juicy" Joe Giudice, were both slapped with prison
time after an utterly scandalous scheme.
According to People magazine, the couple was charged in a 39-count indictment with making
false statements on loan applications, bankruptcy fraud, as well as conspiracy to commit mail
and wire fraud in 2013.
The magazine also reported that Joe failed to file tax returns between 2004 and 2008.
According to Good Morning America, Teresa pleaded guilty.
The real housewife spent nearly a year behind bars, which seems like child's play compared
to Joe's sentence of 41 months While he was released from federal prison in March 2019,
Joe was immediately transferred to an immigration detainee facility to wait and see if he'd
be deported back to his native Italy.
Teresa revealed to ABC News that she blames her husband for the time she lost behind bars,
saying:
"I don't feel like I should've gone away.
But listen, I took my punishment.
I did what I had to do."
Thomas Ravenel's uncharming charges
Bravo once allowed a housewife to appear in a reunion special even after she threatened
her co-star with a shard of broken glass, so Thomas Ravenel allegedly being banned from
Southern Charm's Season 5 reunion must mean the reality star messed up big time.
According to People, Ravenel was "charged with assault and battery in the second degree"
after being accused of sexually assaulting his children's nanny.
The woman, named Dawn, claimed Ravenel trapped her in the master bedroom, "dropped his pants,
blocked the door and 'proceeded to rip [her] clothes off'" before she eventually escaped.
That accusation emerged after real estate agent Ashley Perkins accused the Southern
Charm star of assaulting her mother, Debbie Holloway Perkins, following an October 2015
Tinder date.
Ravenel ended up quitting the show and railing on Bravo for having "the right to fictionalize"
his story.
People magazine reported that the charges could potentially be used against him in his
ongoing custody battle with his ex and Southern Charm co-star, Kathryn Dennis.
The countess' legal woes
Luann de Lesseps shocked fans of The Real Housewives of New York when a string of unfortunate
events led the star back to rehab and forced her to miss the Season 10 reunion.
The downward spiral began when de Lesseps announced in August 2017 that she'd be divorcing
Tom D'Agostino after seven months of marriage.
Then, that December, Page Six reported that the former countess was arrested after reportedly
threatening to kill a police officer who tried to remove her and a man from a hotel room
that wasn't hers.
People magazine reported that the incident resulted in de Lesseps being charged with
disorderly intoxication, battery on an officer, resisting arrest with violence and threatening
a public servant.
The reality star later apologized for her behavior, claiming she was emotional because
it was her first time in Palm Beach since her wedding.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Real Housewives star sought alcohol treatment following
her arrest but relapsed after her ex-husband and children sued her over selling their $8
million home.
Co-star Bethenny Frankel staged an intervention for the troubled star, who then entered treatment
for the second time in a year.
De Lesseps revealed to Megyn Kelly:
"I can't be like most normal people and have a glass or two of wine.
I'm like, I'll drink the whole bottle and then I'm looking, 'Where can I get another
bottle?'"
The RHOA dungeon debacle
Leave it to a real housewife to conjure up a rumor so bad it actually gets her fired
and causes a full-on scandal.
According to TMZ, Phaedra Parks got herself booted from The Real Housewives of Atlanta
in 2017 for lying about a cast member conspiring to sexually assault another cast member.
Parks reportedly sparked the rumor during filming when she told Porsha Williams that
Kandi Burruss and husband Todd Tucker planned to drug and kidnap Williams, bring her back
to their home, and assault her.
According to BET, Parks also alleged the couple had a secret dungeon where they took their
victims.
Williams, who was understandably horrified, kept repeating the rumor throughout Season
9 like it was a proven fact.
Subsequently, Burruss reportedly threatened to sue Bravo if they aired the clip in which
Parks plants the initial lie.
"Phaedra!
She said I had a sex dungeon!
You know if I HAD one, I would tell everybody about it because I don't care."
Williams and Burruss have since patched things up.
Burruss still does not have a dungeon, though she jokingly said she's open to the idea.
Apollo's prison engagement
The Real Housewives of Atlanta had its own prison scandal when Phaedra Parks' husband,
Apollo Nida, landed in the slammer for mail, wire, and bank fraud.
According to the Daily Mail, Parks' husband initially faced up to 30 years in prison for
identity theft and money laundering of up to 2.3 million dollars.
Nida reportedly stole the identities of more than 50 people by setting up a fake debt collection
agency to gather personal data, then allegedly used those identities to do things like set
up bank accounts to launder money from unclaimed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
funds.
Parks' husband pleaded guilty to "charges of fraud and money laundering" and was sentenced
to eight years in prison.
In a strange twist of Bravo fate, Nida was reportedly transferred to the same facility
where Real Housewives of New Jersey husband Joe Giudice was serving his sentence.
"Has he ever met Joe Giudice?"
"No, no he hasn't.
I'm sure they haven't crossed paths but I guess they will now."
He and Parks finalized a drawn-out divorce and custody arrangement in 2017, and by that
time, the incarcerated Nida was already reportedly engaged to another woman.
Jenni vs. Jeff
Jenni Pulos and Jeff Lewis' friendship fueled more than a decade's worth of Flipping Out
episodes, but as it turns out, the home renovator may have actually flipped out on his longtime
assistant-turned-executive producer.
In 2018, Lewis shocked audiences when he revealed on his SiriusXM radio show that Pulos had
allegedly reported him to Bravo for, quote, "abuse and victimization."
She reportedly claimed that Flipping Out was a hostile working environment, but following
an investigation, Lewis' name was cleared.
Lewis revealed:
"Her making this claim, it put my entire career in jeopardy.
My family, my livelihood, everything.
I just lost my job.
I'm pretty sure of that.
But I need to get in front of the story and I have to tell my side of the story.
I'm a dead man walking, but I have to tell my story."
The strange part is that it's possible none of this is even true.
According to People magazine, Pulos claimed Lewis abruptly fired her from Jeff Lewis Design
following, quote, "an explosive lunch," and also said that she never filed a wrongful
termination or abuse and victimization claim against him.
"I never filed a claim.
I really worked for him.
We were really friends.
Uh, you know, heartbroken about how it's all transpired."
Sonja Morgan's major debt
Sonja Morgan's riches to rags story absolutely rocked The Real Housewives of New York.
The star found herself embroiled in a devastating bankruptcy case following her divorce from
J.P. Morgan heir John Morgan.
It lasted nearly five years, and as fans of the show know, the star's decision to move
out of her townhouse was a painful plot point.
According to E! News, Sonja filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2010, and in a twist no one
saw coming, actor John Travolta was involved.
Why?
Her production company, Sonja Productions, reportedly took a major hit after she backed
a Travolta flick called Fast Flash to Bang Time in partnership with another company called
Hannibal Pictures.
The film never happened because Morgan allegedly couldn't meet Travolta's demands, and Hannibal
Pictures ended up suing her and winning a cool seven million dollars.
In June 2015, Sonja clawed her way out of her massive debt.
According to E! News, the star wound up paying about 9 million dollars, significantly less
than the nearly 20 million she initially owed.
However, she was reportedly sued by her bankruptcy attorney in 2017 for about 350 thousand dollars.
You know the saying, one step forward, 350 thousand steps back.
Jax Taylor's cheating scandal
Jax Taylor has never had the best track record in the dating department, but longtime fans
of Vanderpump Rules were really crossing their fingers that the star had finally closed his
wandering eye when he and Brittany Cartwright got together.
Unfortunately, 2018 proved that wasn't the case when Taylor found himself embroiled in
a cheating scandal so salacious that it remained a major plot point on the show for quite some
time.
According to Entertainment Tonight, Taylor cheated on longtime girlfriend Cartwright
with former waitress Faith Stowers.
That's not big news, considering Taylor's bad boy reputation for cheating on girlfriends
and flirting with Cartwright's friends.
"Did I say some things I probably shouldn't have?
Hmm, I maybe have danced on that line a little bit.
But Brittany doesn't need to know all the details."
However, there was a deeper, more-insidious layer to this particular indiscretion.
Leaked audio revealed that Taylor was trashing his girlfriend to Stowers post-hookup, reportedly
saying he wasn't attracted to Cartwright even after he reportedly persuaded her to get size
D breast implants.
"Has Brittany heard it yet?"
"Yeah, Brittany was like this: 'WHYYYYYY?!'
Literally!"
In a Facebook Live interview, Stowers claimed Taylor had been sliding into her DMs for an
entire year, and she reportedly only gave him a chance because he claimed to have split
with Cartwright.
Despite the numerous arguments that erupted on-screen as a result of Taylor's cheating,
Cartwright opted to stay with her man and the pair got engaged in June 2018.
Frasier's 'magical night'
Some serious drama played out on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills during its very
first seasons when Camille Grammer split from her husband, Frasier star Kelsey Grammer,
after she discovered his affair with Kayte Walsh, a woman 26 years his junior.
Kelsey revealed he'd been cheating on Camille for a solid six months before they split,
reportedly falling for the British flight attendant in 2009 and spending a, quote, "magical
night" with her days later.
The actor asked Camille for a divorce in 2010 after a friend supposedly spilled the beans.
In an interview with the New York Post, Camille said she believes Kelsey pushed her to do
the reality show to keep her "preoccupied in California" while he was romancing Walsh
in New York.
The reality star told the publication:
"I don't respect what he did to me and my family.
I am not happy with the way it went down.
When I signed on, I didn't think I would be going through a divorce in the middle of shooting
a reality show."
"Thank you, Kelsey, for the gift of humiliation for the first season."
Kelsey Grammer and Kayte Walsh got married in 2011, and Camille went on to marry David
C. Meyer in October 2018.
Danielle Staub's past life
Back when she was known as Beverly Merrill, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle
Staub could have doubled as a character in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
According to reports, Staub became embroiled in a botched drug deal that supposedly left
Pablo Escobar's cartel wanting her dead.
According to exclusive documents obtained by Radar, Staub was working as a sex worker
when she started selling drugs with then-boyfriend Daniel Aguilar, an "enforcer" in the Medellin
Cartel.
During a deal gone wrong, 100,000 dollars worth of cocaine was reportedly stolen, and
Aguilar allegedly stuck his own neck out to save Staub's.
He was later arrested by the FBI and spent nine years in prison.
The whole thing is almost enough to make you completely forget about Staub's 20 failed
engagements.
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