Rulla Nehme Pontarelli “certainly did not” think that her marriage to Brian Pontarelli would be a story line on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.
Rulla made her debut during the new Bravo show’s second episode, which aired on Sunday, April 2, and discussions about her drama with Jo-Ellen Tiberi were immediately on the table.
“Jo-Ellen and I have definitely had ups and downs,” Rulla said in a confessional. “She is a rep in the beauty business. My husband, Brian, and I know a lot of people in the industry. She comes across as friendly, bubbly, but that’s not always the truth.”
During a lunch with Liz McGraw and Kelsey Swanson, Rulla claimed Jo-Ellen was talking about her, and Liz explained during her confessional that there are rumors “all around Rhode Island” that Brian has “a mistress.”
What apparently happened was Liz heard of “photos online” that showed Brian with another woman. Liz put Rulla in touch with Jo-Ellen, who “happened to see them.”
“At first, I thought that Jo-Ellen was trying to be supportive and help me because that’s what it sounded like,” Rulla claimed in her confessional. “Until I learned that she had shared the pictures with the whole group and was running her mouth around town about it.”
Rulla claimed that Brian was seeing this alleged other woman in summer 2024, but it had come to an end. Liz alluded to something still going on involving Brian.
“It’s pretty out there that Brian is still doing his thing with this woman,” Liz claimed in her confessional. “If Rulla chooses to not acknowledge what’s really going on and live in that land of delusion. I’m sorry, Elizabeth is allergic to bulls***.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Jo-Ellen explained her side of the story, claiming she’s getting the “brunt of the blame” from Rulla after Brian’s affair. “I shared a picture that the mistress posted on the internet,” Jo-Ellen said, alleging that Rulla and Brian tried to get her fired after the fact — but it seems a further discussion on that point will be coming later in the season.
Both Jo-Ellen and Rulla discussed how this drama impacts the rest of the season during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly.
“What happened to Rulla is really unfortunate. It’s not a secret, I’m not a fan of Rulla’s husband. I don’t think he’s a great person, and I think she is,” Jo-Ellen told Us. “I think she’s a really smart, brilliant, beautiful woman who doesn’t deserve some of the things that he put her through.”
Rulla, meanwhile, does not think Jo-Ellen is really on her side.
“I know that if you ask anyone in Rhode Island, those people who actually know maybe Jo-Ellen in her past and her practices and her character, I think they would agree that she’s not the most credible, not the most authentic source,” Rulla claimed. “When she just continued to kind of push harder and bring more to the group and bring more to the state and the city that she lives in, I just thought to myself, ‘What is her objective here?’”
New episodes of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island premiere on Bravo on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET and stream via Peacock the next day.
