Alexis Bellino’s ex-husband, Jim Bellino, reached out when she announced her engagement to John Janssen.
“Jim did text me right after he found out and just said, ‘Congratulations,’” the Real Housewives of Orange County star, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, September 12.
Alexis and Jim, 62, were previously married between 2005 and 2018, during which they welcomed son James, 17, and twins MacKenna and Miles, both 16. Alexis moved on with Janssen, 61, in late 2023. Janssen, who previously dated RHOC star Shannon Beador for four years, has been introduced to Jim.
“John had been around a few times to family events, like James’s graduation, another party that we threw for James [and] a track meet,” Alexis told Us. “So, they had been in the same vicinity and met.”
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Janssen proposed to Alexis in August and their relationship, as she explained to Us on Thursday, has flourished since getting engaged.
“The engagement is stronger than ever,” Alexis gushed. “I think, in part, it’s due to the negativity. It’s just brought us closer and it’s also shown us that we can pretty much make it through anything if we can make it through everything we’ve been through already in 9 months.”
Alexis’ romance with Janssen, which began shortly before her RHOC return this season, made waves amongst the other Bravo stars due to the connection to his past with Beador.
“It has been really difficult and I didn’t expect it so much. I knew I was going to be the villain and I was strong enough and felt OK doing that because it’s like, ‘How can the younger new girl [and] new girlfriend, come into a group where the ex is there and has been there for 10 years in that group and not be the bad guy?’” Alexis admitted to Us. “I was OK with that, and I was comfortable in that because of my love for John. I didn’t expect it to be the level of hate that John and I have received. And, honestly, we could handle it. We’re adults and we’re strong.”
Not only do Alexis and Janssen refuse to let the haters come in between them, but they are full steam ahead with wedding plans.
“We are doing a very unorthodox, unconventional wedding,” Alexis teased to Us. “I don’t want to walk down another aisle, but my son did ask to give me to John, which I think is touching and it made me cry. So, we are going to have to figure all of that out.”
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Alexis, who doesn’t want to wear a “typical” wedding gown, noted that specific plans will depend on the ceremony location.
“We visited one possible venue. It’s really about locking the venue down,” she said. “I’m assuming it’ll probably be by next summer, [but] it just depends on the venue.”
One thing that hasn’t waited for the big day is blending families. (Janssen has adult children from a past relationship.)
“We’ve taken several family trips together,” she said. “I feel like John and I are with one of our children [all the time] ‘cause there’s 6 and a few of them have significant others that are pretty much like they are part of our family, too. So there’s 9 and we are always together. The family’s already blended [and] we’re either on the boat or we’re doing a family dinner or we’re going to his parents’ house. We’re just one big Brady Bunch.”
While Alexis’ relationship has been the talk of season 18 of RHOC, Janssen was not interested in joining her on camera. (The businessman even allegedly offered her money not to return to the Bravo hit, which she refused.)
“I can’t give away anything, but he does not film this season. There’s one little cameo he makes for me, but he’s not ‘filming,’” Alexis teased. “And I honestly don’t think that’d be good for any of us. I wouldn’t [want that and Shannon] wouldn’t want it. He wouldn’t want it [either.]”
New episodes of RHOC air Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo, and can be streamed the next day on Peacock.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
