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2nd February 2022
11:10am GMT
“I sat her down and I kept my composure because I realised [my kids] will react to however Mommy’s acting,” she explained. “I put on a brave face and said, ‘Listen, Daddy did a bad thing. But that doesn’t mean that he’s a bad person. And when we love people, we forgive them when they make mistakes. And I’ve forgiven him and I’m OK.’ She wasn’t upset because I wasn’t upset.” The couple have since discussed Bill's infidelity with the rest of their kids – Justin, 17, Gabriella, 14, Jacob, 12, and Christian, now 10. Each of the kids processed the news differently, Jennifer revealed. “My husband told Justin. I was in the room, and Justin kind of was almost irritated, like, ‘I don’t ever want to talk about this ever again.’ He’s not watching this season,” she admitted. “My Gabriella, she was more crushed. She felt very betrayed and was angry for a bit but we got through that. And my two [younger] boys, they’re neither here nor there. “And Olivia, now that she sees that Mommy’s OK with it, she’ll be like, ‘Mommy, do they know about “the secret,” too?’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, but it’s not a secret anymore and we’re OK with talking about it. And she’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right.’ “So remember, children will learn by example. As long as I’m cool and not breaking down, I think they’ll be okay.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CYK7TtqsBr0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Despite Jennifer “never once” mentioning the affair to loved ones or her fellow Housewives, it's likely going to prominently feature in the new season (which premiered Tuesday night in the US on Bravo and is now available to watch over here on Hayu) after being brought up on-camera by her co-star, Margaret Josephs. “You do not want Margaret to be your enemy. She is a digger and she could find out things. She’s got a big Rolodex of people in her friend group,” Jennifer told Page Six. “I wouldn’t put anything past her. She’s very focused when she wants to find out something about somebody. “I never told a soul. I didn’t tell my parents, I didn’t tell my cousins, I didn’t tell my sister, I didn’t tell my best friend. I put it in the vault and threw away the key. I pretended it never happened. “I have never brought it up as a dig. Because when you decide to forgive somebody, you really have to forgive it and never bring it up. Otherwise, your relationship is not going to work,” she added. Though she intended on taking her husband's infidelity to the grave, Jennifer said that since it's now out in the open, she finds speaking about it cathartic.
“[Bill] supported me in the sense of letting me share our story, which I think is very brave of him... I didn’t want to be the one to bring it up and ever talk about it because that would be at the expense of my children and it wasn’t worth it for me,” she said. “But since [Margaret] did bring it up and since I do have to talk about it, I’m going to use it as therapy and find it cathartic and therapeutic. Signing up for this show, that’s what I agreed to do — to show the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not easy.”
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