The Real Housewives of Rhode Island‘s Rulla Nehme Pontarelli is still standing by her man, following Jo-Ellen Tiberi’s accusations involving her husband Brian Pontarelli’s alleged affair.
Toward the end of their heated conversation in Episode 3, Jo-Ellen had claimed that Brian was still cheating on Rulla, after previously bringing photos of him with the “mistress” to her attention in the first place. Denying that the affair was still ongoing, Rulla asked Brian to “speak [his] piece” and defend himself, but he more or less remained silent. On The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show, Rulla explained why her husband did not speak up in that moment.
Acknowledging that “Brian barely said anything,” Rulla reasoned, “You don’t want to be the one yelling at a female. … Brian is definitely a mature, like, high-road guy as well.”
RELATED: Rulla Nehme Pontarelli Shares Unaired Details of Her Husband’s Affair (EXCLUSIVE)
Either way, Rulla said that Brian’s silence “surprised” her, because normally, “he wouldn’t hesitate to just get after somebody like Jo-Ellen.”
“He was on his best behavior,” she added, underscoring the fact that they were all celebrating Liz McGraw’s husband Gerry McGraw’s birthday at the time. “He wouldn’t want to ruin the party. I just don’t think it was the right time or place to have that conversation. I think that’s why he just hung back a little bit.”
As Rulla concluded, “He probably just didn’t want the pot to be stirred further.”
Did Rulla’s husband Brian contact Jo-Ellen’s work?
On RHORI, Brian admitted that he had spoken to one of Jo-Ellen’s colleagues regarding her supposedly spreading “gossip” about his personal life. However, the podiatrist insisted that his “intent wasn’t to get her fired,” but rather, for this person to simply “have her, like, stop saying certain things” about him.
In fact, the complaint that Brian allegedly filed against Jo-Ellen, who works in sales for a medical device company, was the premise for her and husband Gary Tiberi sitting down with him and Rulla at Gerry’s birthday party. The two women further unpacked that aspect of the drama in a separate clip from the RHORI After Show.
RELATED: What Does the Real Housewives of Rhode Island Cast Do for a Living?
“The truth that cannot be twisted, because I have proof, Brian called one of my colleagues that was a superior. He was way above me,” Jo-Ellen recalled. “[Brian] proceeded to talk to him and say, ‘Jo-Ellen is telling people in my life and the internet…’ — which, I wasn’t telling the internet; the mistress was.”
As she declared, “I told his wife. I own it. … And I won’t apologize for that.”
A bit later, Jo-Ellen continued, “Brian proceeds, like a moron, to write an email to my job, which, then, my job forwarded to me. It said Brian Pontarelli and his email and his phone number. ‘I would like to file a complaint.’ … There’s no changing this. My job didn’t make this up. This is not A.I. I have the email. You cannot lie.”
After Rosie DiMare separately recapped that Jo-Ellen was claiming that Brian “deliberately” contacted her employer to “try to ruin her life,” Rulla scoffed, saying, “That’s a lie.”
Further sharing her perspective on the matter, Rulla described initially feeling “grateful” that Jo-Ellen informed her of her husband’s affair. However, when she further “perpetuated” the situation, Brian grew “irritated” and brought the issue up to a friend who happened to work for the same company as Jo-Ellen.
“Brian was just talking to his friend, the friend that was her boss,” Rulla said. “Brian looked at it as though, you know, she’s trying to ruin my reputation publicly. … And so, as he voiced that to this friend, the friend was like, you know what, you know, we should say something.”
She continued, “I think it was just maybe an effort to try to have her slow her roll a little bit and quiet her down, right? So, how she turned it into, ‘You made a complaint’ or ‘You tried to get me fired from my job,’ I have no idea.”
How Rulla Nehme Pontarelli reacted to Brian’s silence on the affair rumors on RHORI
During their ride home from the birthday party, Rulla told Brian, “I know you like to be calm and quiet about things. I just wish you would’ve said something because Jo-Ellen, she was trying to put you down.”
In a confessional, she admitted, “I’m upset that Brian didn’t say much. Gary was standing by his wife’s side.” She added, “I wish Brian were a little more stern and defensive. I wouldn’t have minded if he had unleashed on her.”
Brian, for his part, explained that he “wasn’t about to start a fight with a female,” to which Rulla countered, “It’s not about starting a fight.”
When she asked point-blank why he didn’t “shut it down,” Brian simply answered, “You were shutting it down quite well, so…”
As the drama continues to play out on RHORI, don’t miss the unaired details Rulla revealed about Brian’s affair in a previous installment of the After Show.
