Renee and Jennifer Graziano Say 'Mob Wives' Was the 'Most Honest' and 'Raw' Reality Television Cast of All Time
By Molly Claire Goddard,
1 days ago
Renee and Jennifer Graziano have never shied away from being brutally candid about their lives.
The sisters made reality history with their hit VH1 show Mob Wives , which lifted the lid on families in the "lifestyle" and the struggles they faced . Renee won over audiences as she spilled her heart and soul in front of the camera while dealing with her ex-husband and father being in jail, as Jennifer remained the creative force behind the scenes as an executive producer.
Now, the duo continues to put it all out there with their respective podcast ventures.
Renee and Jennifer chat exclusively with OK! about how the ladies of Mob Wives differed from any other group of people on television, if it was ever difficult to be honest with the world given their background and launching into the podcast space.
"I feel like The Real Housewives of New Jersey comes very close to what we were doing in the sense of the rawness of the relationships and the honesty," Jennifer, who recently launched her " Straightened Out " podcast, says of their former series. "But I think a lot of what we're seeing now is put on."
"It's people hiding their real lives and putting on a persona that they only want the public to see," the producer continues about the current landscape of reality. "I definitely think we were, by far, the most honest cast ever ... and will ever be."
The Marriage Boot Camp alum, who launched her " CRYsis Queen " podcast, agrees with her sibling, adding, "I don't think anyone will ever compare to what we did for the simple reason nobody lived the lives we lived."
"I'm a huge fan of Real Housewives and you see the hardships with some of them, like Erika Jayne . That's very real ," Renee notes, referring to Jayne's legal woes and divorce. "It doesn't hit as hard in the diamonds and the furs as it does when you're going to visit people in prison, or you're watching people get those nasty phone calls. That's some real stuff."
Since the two grew up in an environment that valued keeping personal issues private, Renee and Jennifer took a different direction and challenged the status quo. "I can't say it was always easy for me to talk about because I hid my domestic violence. I hid my abuse for so long," the Finding Chrissy star says about sharing her struggles with the world.
"I couldn't talk about those things. You're told what happens in your house stays in your house. What happens in your marriage stays in your marriage," Renee continues.
As for Jennifer, the podcast space is a much more welcoming environment for her. "I would never go in front of the camera. In this instance, I can because it's a natural conversation," Jennifer notes of her venture into the audio format.
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"For me, it's a little bit more complex because it's so much more detailed and it's so deeper. It's not the superficial, 'let's pull each other's hair' type of stuff," Jennifer makes clear.
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