Dolores Catania wants all the moms out there to know it’s okay if their daughters turn out a little — or a lot — different from them.
“Gabrielle is so different from her mom since she was little,” Catania told Page Six of her 25-year-old daughter told Page Six in a recent interview.
“I want to let a lot of moms know out there that if your daughter’s not like you, it’s okay,” Catania, 50, says. “Like, I wanted Gabby to wear Juicy sweatpants and be a cheerleader. And she had black nail polish and wore skulls on her clothes. She marched to a beat of her own drum — I had to let her be herself.”
The “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star, 50, shares fan-favorite Frankie, 22, and Gabrielle, 25, with her ex-husband Frank Catania.
Gabrielle was often missing from family scenes on the Bravo show as she was studying to become a vet in St. Kitts, but she made a rare — and hilarious — appearance on Wednesday’s episode of “RHONJ,” outright refusing to take one of her mother’s feminine shirts as a present.
“She just got back from Texas,” Catania explains. “She did an internship at a shelter there. She came back with ringworm and scabies and I mean, I think she came back with a puppy caught in her hair. She doesn’t brush her hair, I don’t know!”
And while the mother-daughter duo may not be sharing clothes anytime soon, Dolores is making sure they spend quality time together now that Gabrielle is Stateside again.
“She is very into nature,” she said. “I’m actually going to Yellowstone Forest or Park, whatever that is, with her next week. We’ve lost a lot of time with her being in school for so long, so we’re going to do this.”
But despite their very different lives, she couldn’t be any prouder of Gabrielle.
“She’s got an amazing job waiting for her. She had a bunch of job offers because people know how good she is. I mean, Gabby’s interned in Africa working with anti-poacher reservations and she’s just a tough, strong woman. Puts me to shame. And like, if you think I’m tough, wait till you get to know her better.”
The “Real Housewives of New Jersey” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
