‘RHONJ’s Jennifer Aydin Reveals Important Advice She Gave Daughter, 12, After Getting Bullied

Fans watched Jennifer Aydin learn that her teenage daughter was being bullied at school in Nov. 13 episode of ‘RHONJ’. In a new interview with HollywoodLife, she revealed the advice she gave to Gabriella and why she decided to film the emotional moment.

Jennifer Aydin showed a new side of her self on the latest episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. The Bravo star, 42, comforted her daughter, Gabriella, 12, in an emotional moment where the teen admitted to her mom that she was being bullied at school by a group of former female friends. Jennifer doesn’t film too much of her children, and is often seen showing off her fun, quirky side and opening up about her recent plastic surgery, so this was new for the viewers to see.

HollywoodLife caught up Jennifer at the first annual BravoCon in New York City on November 16, where she admitted that her daughter is doing just fine these days. “I keep telling her, ‘Your best revenge is to live your best life,'” Jennifer said, noting that Gabriella was going through somewhat of a breakup when the bullying began.

“She was just really sad at the time, and she was used to these girls being her companions. And after a while you get used to somebody always being around and then when they’re not around anymore just instantaneously — it was just really hard for her to get through that transition,” Jennifer explained.

Luckily, the RHONJ star swooped in with the ultimate advice. “I always kept telling her, ‘Time is your best friend right now.’ So now that she’s watching it back, she’s been getting so much love from the fans,” Jennifer revealed, admitting that Gabriella has even received nice messages from old friends. “She had friends from her old school reaching out to her saying, ‘Listen, I know we lost touch, but you know what, what you were going through is not right and if you wanted to get together.’”

Now, Gabriella isn’t looking in the rearview mirror. “She’s like, ‘You know what mom? I can’t even believe I was that sad about it. I don’t even care about them anymore,'” Jennifer said of her daughter’s mentality these days. “But, when you’re going through it, it’s like your whole world comes crumbling down. I was nervous about it at first — bringing that out there, because I didn’t want to embarrass the girls that were involved,” she continued. “But now, I’m like, stick it to them.”

During the episode, Jennifer said in the confessional that despite Gabriella creating a bond with the group of girls, they “then all of a sudden dropped Gabi.” Following the heartfelt episode, Jennifer took to Twitter to shed more light on what exactly happened to her daughter at school.

“They said, ‘You can’t sit with us.’ so she moved,” Jennifer said, explaining, “Then, the boys at the next able said, ‘You can’t sit with us either.’ She ignored them and proceeded to eat. (These boys were the boyfriends of these girls). So, they started to throw food at my daughter!” As a result, “Then, the boys got called to the office,” she wrote.

“And who has boyfriends at 12?!”, Jennifer questioned in a reply to her first tweet. She followed up with, “Why is where these kids sit at lunch so stressful! It gives me anxiety and it’s not even me!” In the same tweet, which she tagged her daughter in, Jennifer wrote, “I love you and will ALWAYS have your back”.

RHONJ‘s Dolores Catania also supported Jennifer’s daughter after the episode aired, tweeting, “Gabby is a beautiful sweet young women, I would sit with her at lunch any day #RHONJ”. The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.