Dolores Catania made a stunning confession about her and fiancé Paul “Paulie” Connell’s recent near-breakup during her latest appearance on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.
As Dolores met with Liz McGraw to taste-test samples from their forthcoming line of “menopause gummies” in Episode 8, the friends and business partners discussed the toll that the hormonal changes in their bodies had taken on both of them.
“It’s so bad. You don’t even know yourself anymore,” The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member shared with Liz. “Me and Paul almost broke up over it. We were literally fist-fighting over the thermostat.”
RELATED: Dolores Catania’s Guide to RHORI: How It’s Different From RHONJ & More Behind-the-Scenes Secrets
As Liz explained in a confessional, Dolores had been “involved in cannabis for a few years” through her ex-husband, Frank Catania. So, after “countless hours of bitching” about their similarly “turbulent” experiences with aging, they decided to team up and “create this product that can address all these negative symptoms of menopause.”
As Dolores explained to Liz’s director of lab operations, “We’re definitely looking for relief of symptoms.” After the sampled the product, the RHORI friend declared, “I haven’t felt this good in a long time.”
How Dolores Catania and Paulie Connell’s relationship changed while filming RHORI
Whether or not the gummies were involved, Dolores and Paulie previously revealed in an exclusive joint interview with BravoTV.com that taking a short break from their lives in New Jersey to film RHORI last year had a major impact on their relationship.
“Paul and I fell in love again in Rhode Island. It was so beautiful,” Dolores said in January. “Spending the summer there, I think, made us even get closer.”
RELATED: Dolores Catania Reveals Something Special Happened Between Her & Paulie Filming RHORI (EXCLUSIVE)
Underscoring how she and her fiancé enjoyed basking in the Ocean State’s “beautiful” simplicity last summer, she added, “I would tell couples or suggest that couples definitely do something like what we [did] because we didn’t realize how much we needed it until we did it.”
Paulie, for his part, chimed in, “I can’t wait to go back up and spend time there this summer.”
Dolores Catania and Paulie Connell share wedding planning updates
In fact, the vibes were so good in Rhode Island last summer that Dolores and Paulie got engaged after filming wrapped. Just months after they announced their November 2025 engagement, the happy couple also exclusively opened up about wedding planning, along with all of the other celebrations leading up to the big day.
Noting that Paulie proposed in front of “strangers at the Apple store,” Dolo expressed her hope to have a more “intimate” engagement party. She tasked her new fiancé with organizing the “surprise” bash, noting, however, that she didn’t know when they would be “squeezing that in.”
After all, the RHONJ ‘Wife wanted to make sure that her son, Frankie Catania Jr., would have “his moment” to shine first, with his wedding to fiancée Nicole Perricho already scheduled to take place in Portugal later this year.
“Then we can have our time,” Paulie added. “Then it’s, like, something to look forward to.”
Although their own wedding location had yet to be determined, Paulie, who was born and raised in Ireland, joked that they would at least have to hold some sort of reception on the Emerald Isle, “because I would never be able to go back if I didn’t have a party there.”
Dolores, meanwhile, remarked that she “would love to get married in a castle in Ireland,” but her New Jersey-based loved ones might not be so keen on the idea. “My family’s never leaving Paterson,” she explained. “So, it would be opposite in Ireland. Like, we’d get married here, and I’d have a party for his family there.”
When is Dolores Catania getting married to Paulie?
As for Dolores and Paulie’s wedding date, they’ve already got some ideas on that, too. “Paul wants to get married on November 10th because that’s when we got engaged and that’s a significant date for him cause that’s when I moved in,” she said. “And I wanna do a New Year’s Eve party.”
In the meantime, don’t miss exclusive details on Dolores’ engagement ring from Paulie.
