Dolores Catania and Frank Catania's relationship has come a long way since the pair first divorced more than 25 years ago, but they hit a rough patch when Frank was disbarred in 2017.
The decision was handed down as Dolores' second season as a cast member on The Real Housewives of New Jersey was wrapping up. Frank told her the news the day after the Season 8 reunion was filmed, during which Dolores had actually denied that Frank was getting disbarred to host Andy Cohen and the rest of the ladies.
Naturally, Dolores was upset. "I called him and I said, 'You made me lie to my boss?' Like, 'You made me look like a jerk in front of all these people?'" Dolores said on an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2018, which you can check out by watching the video at the top of this post. "Because I wouldn't have lied about that."
Frank's secret didn't destroy her trust in her ex, though.
"I know Frank well enough to know why he didn't tell me. [Be]cause he felt bad," she explained on WWHL. "He took it like a man, but yet, to come to me to tell me, he didn't want me to worry. It was right before the holidays, and then the longer it took, I guess he figured he didn't know how to tell me."
"It was so devastating what he went through, that I understand it was too hard to tell me," she continued in an exclusive interview with The Daily Dish shortly thereafter. "So I have compassion for him. It's not acceptable, but I kind of understand where it came from."
Why was Frank Catania disbarred?
During the RHONJ Season 9 premiere on November 7, 2018, Dolores opened up about how Frank was disbarred because he was "misappropriating client funds."
“Frank is no longer an attorney,” Dolores explained in an interview on the episode. “He was disbarred… Frank didn’t follow protocol,” she said. “He borrowed money from his client’s trust account… something called ‘co-mingling funds,’ and as a lawyer, you are not allowed to do that. Nobody lost money, and nothing was stolen. But it was enough to get him disbarred.”
See more from Frank and Dolores by tuning in to new episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey on Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo. Stream the next day on Peacock.
