The Real Housewives of New Jersey alum Caroline Manzo’s daughter, Lauren Manzo, is weighing in on recent comments made by her cousin Lexi Ioannou.
“I do love my cousin Lexi so much and I have a soft spot for her. She lived with me for many years when she was a little girl,” Lauren, 37, said in one of two lengthy TikTok videos on Wednesday, May 29. “We were her siblings.”
Lauren told her followers that she “never wanted to have to address” the Manzo family drama publicly. She explained that they “don’t speak on the situation” regarding former RHONJ star Dina Manzo and her ex-husband Tommy Manzo because it impacts “both sides” of the family.
Dina married Tommy — who is brothers with Albert Manzo, her sister Caroline’s husband — in 2007. They separated in 2012 and divorced four years later. Tommy is currently incarcerated after being found guilty for “hiring, then assisting, a soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family to assault” Dina’s now-husband, David Cantin, in 2015.
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Lexi, 29 claimed during an appearance on Gia Giudice’s podcast earlier this week that when her mom and Tommy split, he essentially threw them out of the house and kept all of their stuff. When Tommy went to prison in October 2024, Lexi said she reached out to Lauren for help recovering her and Dina’s things. In Lexi’s eyes, they didn’t do enough. (Lexi also claimed in the podcast that some of her and Dina’s heirlooms were found in the garbage at The Brownstone, the New Jersey banquet hall owned by the Manzo family.)
The recent “backlash” on social media tearing down Lauren’s character after Lexi’s podcast appearance is what led her to finally speak out in the TikTok videos.
@laurenmanzo
Lauren claimed on Wednesday that she called Tommy “for Lexi” after he went to prison, explaining that her family “did not have a relationship with him.” Lauren claimed that she had a “really nice” conversation with Lexi and agreed to help recover her and Dina’s things.
Per Lauren, she was not allowed in the home. Instead, the people in control — who she called “not good people” — had a garage sale. Lauren said she and Caroline went to the sale and made it clear that she was “fighting for Lexi.” Caroline was apparently willing to “buy everything,” but Lauren was “met with a lot of resistance” when it came to getting Lexi and Dina’s things from the sale. Lauren claimed that she “felt a major responsibility” to help Lexi in this “mission.”
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It became “extremely clear” to Lauren that they were not welcome in the house and said that she and Caroline “burnt those bridges” with certain people in their family by trying to help Lexi.
“I stand by burning those bridges. I’m still upset. I still think about it often that we weren’t allowed in,” Lauren said. “It kills me that she feels we let her down.”
