The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dolores Catania is engaged to boyfriend Paulie Connell after nearly five years together.
“I’m ecstatic!” Catania, 54, gushed to People in an interview published Wednesday, November 12. “You know when you feel that happiness down in your gut? That’s where this excitement stems from for me. I feel so blessed, I almost feel guilty! Like I don’t deserve to be loved this way.”
Connell, for his part, said Catania deserves “so much more” than she thinks. “She’s an incredible woman,” he added. “And when I was proposing to her, I was able to articulate to her everything I see that she is, and everything I see that she does, and the impact she has on everybody around her. She’s one in a million.”
The 51-year-old got down on one knee on Monday, November 10, at the Apple Store in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, where their love story began.
“I didn’t want anything over-the-top and staged because we’re a humble couple,” Connell explained. “I wanted it to feel grounded and natural and organic. Plus, I wanted the element of surprise. And believe me, I had the element of surprise.”
Catania confirmed she “had not a clue” that a proposal was coming. “In fact, I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance for him!” she teased. “He was sweating so bad, his T-shirt was soaked, his face was beet red. And you know how people say weird things when they’re having a stroke? He started saying these sweet, beautiful things to me out of nowhere, and I was like, ‘Paul, are you OK?’”
Bravo fans have long wondered when the couple would take the next step since Us Weekly broke the news of their relationship in 2021. According to Catania, the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
“I’ve never been so sure of something ever,” she told People. “You know, patience is a big thing for us. … As a couple, we were able to naturally progress. So this engagement means more to us than it would if it was just something we were doing just for the sake of doing it.”
The reality star was previously married to ex-husband Frank Catania, with whom she shares daughter Gabby and son Frankie. Her relationship with ex-boyfriend David Principe was well-documented on RHONJ from 2017 to 2021 before she moved on with Connell.
Dolores isn’t the only member of the family with wedding bells in her future. Frankie, 26, proposed to girlfriend Nicole Perricho in February.
“Can’t find the words to depict how much joy we are all feeling since yesterday,” Dolores gushed via Instagram at the time alongside photos from the romantic moment. “My little Frankie, with a heart full of love and a lifetime of memories ahead of him, proposed to his amazing girlfriend Nicole and we couldn’t be happier!! … Here’s to forever, Frankie and Nicole!”
As news of Dolores’ engagement made headlines on Wednesday, several fellow Housewives shared their well-wishes for the happy couple via Instagram.
RHONJ‘s Danielle Cabral commented “Yasssss! Our Dolo is getting married!!!!!” while Real Housewives of Orange County star
Shaughna Phillips has given social media followers an update on family life with her boyfriend Billy Webb after the couple welcomed their second child last week.
The former Love Island star, 31, shared a carousel of photos featuring newborn daughter Sofia Phillips-Webb with her one million Instagram followers as her growing family came together for the birth.
Captioning the post, she wrote: ‘A bubble I hope never bursts… Lucia & Sofia, the most important thing we’ll ever give you both is each other.’
Shaughna was accompanied by her partner Billy and their daughter Lucia, two, alongside a pram at the hospital.
She showed off her baby bump in a hospital gown and was then seen reclining on the delivery table with her baby girl while Billy, dressed in scrubs, held her hand.
Baby Sofia has already enjoyed a number of family outings including obtaining her birth certificate and meeting her grandmother – Shaughna’s mother Tracy.
Shaughna Phillips has given social media followers an update on family life with her boyfriend Billy Webb after the couple welcomed their second child last week
The former Love Island star shared a carousel of photos featuring newborn daughter Sofia Phillips-Webb with her one million Instagram followers
In a subsequent post, the reality star showed more pictures of her new born and revealed she was born to the music of Westlife.
She wrote: ‘Hoping the fact you were born to a Westlife song means you will be connected to your Irish roots.
I will never not be shocked at what the woman’s body can do! We are bloody majestic superheroes if I do say so myself.’
Sharing an adorable clip from her birth, she was seen lying on a hospital bed with her baby girl, just moments after Sofia had been born.
She wrote: ‘Sofia Phillips-Webb. 31st October 2025. 7lb 4oz Our littlest love has completed us in ways I didn’t even know was possible. The dreamiest experience for our perfect girl.’
Her boyfriend Billy was able to be present for the birth after being released from prison early.
He was freed last month after being convicted of drug offences in 2023.
Billy was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply 4.5kg of cocaine worth at least £360,000.
Baby Sofia has already enjoyed a number of family outings including obtaining her birth certificate
The mother-of-two looked radiant in a natural selfie following the birth of her second child
Shaughna shared to her one million Instagram followers a carousel of photos showing her new born daughter Sofia Phillips-Webb (pictured)
Sofia has also got to meet her grandmother – mum to Love Island star Shaughna
However Shaughna revealed in November that the father of her little girl had been released after serving only 12 months of his sentence and the family reunited to enjoy a Christmas grotto together.
Despite his incarnation, he and Shaughna managed to conceive a baby.
Previously opening up on his detention, she said: ‘We definitely wouldn’t have tried for this baby if he wasn’t going to be here.
‘I’m so intrigued to see how he’s going to be at the birth because he is not good with blood AT ALL.
‘So I feel like watching him react will take my mind off of what is happening.’
Billy had been an inmate at a Category D prison, which is a low security jail where ‘low risk’ inmates are granted day releases and can leave the site during the date as well as attend education.
The mother-of-two said she was looking forward to having ‘someone there’ this time around, as Billy missed out on the early moments with Lucia – from cuddles to sleepless nights.
Her boyfriend Billy was able to be present for the birth after being released from prison early
Shaughna showed off her bump in a hospital gown on the bed
Billy was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply 4.5kg of cocaine worth at least £360,000 (the couple pictured at a music festival in September)
‘He definitely wanted another one,’ Shaughna shared. ‘He didn’t get that newborn experience with Lucia, and I think that’s what he really wanted.’
The blonde bombshell has been very open with her fans throughout Billy’s ordeal and previously revealed on her podcast Oh, Baby with Shaughna and Holly that she had struggled to come to terms with the situation.
She said: ‘It’s the most gut-wrenching position to be in.
‘And, I mean, before I even answer this question, I want to just put it out there that you can judge me all you want, but please don’t let me know, because I feel like unless you’ve been in this position you can’t really have an opinion on it.
‘Because before I was in this position, before I had a baby, if you had asked me would I ever, ever take my child into a prison, the answer would be absolutely not. Anyone that does that is crazy.
‘And then, lo and behold, I’m now in this position. And I think the thing is, we’re always going to be co-parents.
‘And I know that me and my dad had the best relationship ever, and to me, my dad is the best person in the world.
‘And I don’t want Lucia to think differently of her father. I would never, ever stop him from seeing her, ever.’