Even though Rulla Nehme Pontarelli is now aware of the video of husband Brian Pontarelli with his mistress that Jo-Ellen Tiberi shared with some of their castmates on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, she’s still skeptical that the footage proved his affair was still ongoing.
When a producer brought up Rosie DiMare’s bombshell reveal at her Arabian Nights party on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show for Episode 11, Rulla asked, “Can we just not talk about this stupid thing? It was quite the way to kill a vibe, needless to say.”
Rosie, for her part, agreed with her, adding, “Yeah, tell me about it. I didn’t want to bring it up. … Â I felt very uncomfortable by it. We were both kind of punching bags all summer. But what happened at the mansion was really unsettling to me.” Rulla responded by noting, “You seemed uncomfortable.”
What Is on the Video of Rulla Nehme Pontarelli’s Husband and His Alleged Mistress? (EXCLUSIVE)
After more of the RHORI cast, including Alicia Carmody who was also part of the conversation with Rosie, weighed in with their opinions on Brian’s alleged ongoing affair on the After Show, Rulla eventually declared, “Still to this day, it’s all bulls–t to me.”
Why Alicia Carmody did not tell Rulla Nehme Pontarelli about the video of Brian
Among Rulla’s many questions was why Alicia had not been the one to tell her about the video, especially considering they’d had dinner together in the interim. In a separate RHORI After Show setup, even Jo-Ellen told Alicia that she “should’ve told her.” Alicia, for her part, said that Jo-Ellen was right. “I’m gonna tell you why I didn’t,” she added. “Rulla just came out of the hospital.”
Even so, Alicia insisted that she still intended to fill Rulla in once the time was right, but Rosie decided to take the reins all on her own. “Rosie was like, ‘I know you can’t do it, so I’m gonna do it,” Alicia claimed.
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That’s not how Rosie remembered it, however. “Alicia basically told me that she didn’t think she could do it, and she was like, ‘Can you do it?'” she recalled. “I was like, ‘I really don’t want to do this.'”
Regardless of whose idea it was for Rosie to be the bearer of bad news, Alicia ultimately chalked up Rulla’s doubtful reaction to her simply “protecting her family,” which also includes her and Brian’s two children, son Luca, 8, and daughter Laila, 5.
How Rulla Nehme Pontarelli and Brian reacted to the video reveal on RHORI
With Rulla’s go-ahead, Rosie revealed in RHORI‘s June 7 episode that the timestamped video of Brian was allegedly filmed the day before the cast’s drama-filled polo outing. When Rulla asked, “How do you know that dating is valid?” Rosie explained that it was on the car’s dashboard display, going on to further detail that the footage showed an unnamed blonde woman “kissing and hugging” Brian.
“I’m not really appreciating the fact that Rosie chose this time and place to share this information,” Rulla remarked in a confessional. “I haven’t seen any video. Do I even see this thing or consider seeing this thing? How do I verify this? Do I get upset with Brian? Who do I believe? Like, I don’t want to process this right now. I don’t have the bandwidth.”
In the meantime, Brian joined the ladies’ poolside conversation at the party, and when Rulla told him what they were discussing, he threw up his hands. Rosie, meanwhile, chimed in to inform Brian, “It’s just, like, canoodling, kissing, hugging, leaving her house. Like, there’s a timestamp on it.” She added that she didn’t know who Jo-Ellen was “getting her information from.”
“You can change a timestamp,” Brian replied. “I trust [Jo-Ellen] about as much as gas station sushi. Who cares? It’s not like … Jo-Ellen is our friend. I know so many things about her, but I don’t say it. I take the high road.”
After assuring Rosie that she didn’t feel she was “coming from a bad place,” Rulla concluded to a producer, “I’m trying to move past everything, and just when I feel like we’re moving in the right direction, another bomb gets dropped on me. … I don’t know what to do with it. I just have to take time to answer questions and find out information and just figure this out. And I am gonna figure it out for myself. I have my ways.”
As you wait to find out what she decides to do, don’t miss the unaired details Rulla revealed about Brian’s affair.
