Caroline Manzo revealed to HollywoodLife at BravoCon that she was recently asked to return to The Real Housewives of New Jersey, but she declined the invitation. “It was a thank you, no thank you,” the 61-year-old EXCLUSIVELY said on October 14. “I’ve had many conversations. Just had one a couple months ago,” Caroline added. “I wanna have fun. If I can’t have fun. I’m too old. If I can’t have fun, I’m not going.”
Caroline, who left the Bravo show after season 5 in 2013, explained why she thinks RHONJ has drastically changed since the original seasons. “You kind of lose your innocence as time goes on. A little bit jaded. But that’s clearly what they want, so you’re not going to go against the recipe, I suppose.”
Caroline continued, “I think when new wives come on, they come on with an agenda to try and be what the public wants them to be. The best thing that they could be is their authentic selves, because you never know what magic you hold that nobody else has.”
But fans will be glad to hear that the iconic Manzo matriarch is still open to returning to RHONJ eventually, to finally settle the score with her longtime rival Teresa Giudice.
“I have great love for Bravo. It gave me wonderful opportunities,” she told us. “Wonderful memories. I will never snub them. I will never say I’m too good for you. Because that’s biting the hand that feeds you. You respect it. I will always respect it and love everybody. So always, always open to a conversation.”
Caroline previously revealed that Bravo asked her to return to the show ahead of Season 10, but when she was only offered a “friend of” role to start, she declined the offer. “They wanted me back to see how I blend with the women — that’s an insult,” she said during a 2019 episode of her son Albie Manzo‘s podcast. “I helped build that show. I wasn’t the cause of that success, I was part of that puzzle. A very, very important puzzle. Point is, you don’t insult me like that. You don’t insult me like that by saying, ‘Let’s see how you do.’ You know how I’m going to do. You know how I’m going to blend, and you know what I’m going to bring.”