Roxanne 
Ashley Iaconetti is opening up about her experience joining The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, and it wasn’t exactly a warm welcome.
Despite her years in reality TV, Ashley revealed that her new castmates weren’t impressed by her background and instead questioned her from the start.
“This cast was so skeptical of me,” she told People. “And they did not give a crap about the fact that I’d been on reality TV or anything like that before.”
According to Ashley, the real issue had nothing to do with fame — it was where she’s from.
“They were skeptical of me because I wasn’t from Rhode Island,” she explained.
That outsider status made it difficult for the group to place her.
“They’re like, ‘What’s she about if she’s not from Rhode Island?’”
Ashley said the tight-knit nature of the community played a big role in how she was received.
“They’re like, ‘But we don’t know anybody who’s known her personally in the past, how can we let her in?’”
She described Rhode Island as a place where everyone seems connected.
“Everybody is one degree of separation from everyone,” she said, noting how her husband Jared Haibon often runs into people he’s known for years.
Even going into the show, Ashley admitted she wasn’t fully prepared for what she was stepping into.
“I know this is crazy, I haven’t watched much,” she said. “So I went in a little blind, to be honest.”
Still, she saw the opportunity as too big to pass up.
“It was too immense to pass up.”
Ashley also shared that part of her motivation for joining the show was personal — building a community in a place where she doesn’t yet feel fully rooted.
“I don’t have my core group of friends,” she said, explaining that her friends are spread out across the country.
Now, she hopes viewers will see a new version of her.
“I would like people to recognize me as being the same old Ashley, but at the same time… a more mature, evolved Ashley.”
But if her first impression with the RHORI cast is any indication, fitting in won’t come easy — and the drama is already there.
“They definitely have a different personality than I’m used to,” she said. “They’re a lot more rough around the edges, a lot less filtered.”
“They put shame to calling a Bachelor season dramatic.”
With that kind of energy, Ashley’s transition into the Housewives world might be anything but smooth.
