“So, do you think if I get divorced, I’m just gonna get on my knee and get engaged to you the next day?” Paulie boldly asked when Dolores expressed her displeasure.
Not so fast with the wedding bells! The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Dolores Catania is calling her man out about why a divorce from his ex has yet to be finalized.
Paulie Connell found himself at the receiving end of Dolores’s frustrations amidst the ongoing struggle to legally divorce his estranged wife, a hot topic carrying over from RHONJ Season 13. Even though Paulie half-admitted sometime ago to already buying an engagement ring for Dolores — and both talking about marriage “all the time” — it looks like their relationship remains at a standstill, as seen in a preview clip for Season 14, Episode 6.
“Explain this to me,” said Dolores. “What’s taking so long?”
Is Paulie Connell still married?
Yes, the Dubliner who has been dating Dolores since 2021 is still legally married to another woman, although they’ve been separated for about 15 years.
The topic came up at Danielle Cabral’s Boujie Brunch after friends discussed the engagement between Dolores’s ex, Frank Catania, and his girlfriend, Brittany Mattessich, Dolores explained to Paulie over lunch in the new Episode 6 preview. Naturally, the conversation turned to where Paulie and Dolores stood when it comes to love and marriage.
“There’s no reason to talk about that until this divorce is final,” said Dolores. “We’re here, but to go here, you have to finalize what you’re doing.
Dolores admitted the delay was getting on her nerves.
“Now I’m getting angry,” she continued. “I’m getting frustrated with it a little bit because you told me you were going to be divorced last year.”
Paulie admitted to pushing the procedure off but refused to blame COVID-19 “’cause everybody does that.”
Will Dolores get engaged to Paulie?
Dolores admitted to RHONJ producers that stalling engagements were “nothing new” to her, citing her past relationship with ex-boyfriend, David Principe (who was also once Frank Catania's roommate).
“I’ve already been through this with David,” the Paterson native told producers, highlighting David’s unwillingness to get down on one knee.
“Me not moving in with David because I wasn’t engaged was definitely smart,” Dolores continued in her confessional. “But now I’m like, ‘What the f-ck are you doing?’”
She explained that she moved in with Paulie one year prior, which should have helped her secure the title of Paulie’s fiancée, but so far, nothing.
Why is Paulie Connell still married?
Audiences have Margaret Josephs to thank for dropping the bombshell about Paul's marital status in Season 13 and in The Real Housewives of New Jersey After Show.
“I mean, I guess it’s hard to get married if you’re not divorced,” Margaret said in the May 2023 episode. “You can give rings, I guess.”
Paulie later took to Instagram, sharing a selfie of him and Dolores inside a car at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel.
“Sticks & Stones… We all know the rest of the story,” Paulie captioned. “When it’s the one thing, nothing else matters.”
Dolores commented with a red heart emoji and the hashtag “Facts,” stating, “[You] tell them.”
Steps toward a possible divorce were also a point of conversation in November 2023 when, at BravoCon, Paulie said his divorce was “pretty much closed.”
“Obviously, we’re talking about a future; I’d be a silly person if I was not,” Paulie told a live audience. “Dolores means everything to me. Since I met her, she made me a better person. The future is looking bright.”
More to come as Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey continues, Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo and streaming the next day on Peacock.
