Rulla Nehme Pontarelli is not fully buying what the RHORI women are saying about the video of her husband Brian Pontarelli and his alleged mistress.
The Real Housewives of Rhode Island star has been at the center of one of the show’s biggest storylines as rumors about Brian’s alleged affair continue to play out on camera. And even after learning that Jo-Ellen Tiberi had shared a video with some of the cast that allegedly showed Brian with another woman, Rulla still seems skeptical that the footage proves his affair was ongoing.
During The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show for Episode 11, a producer brought up the moment Rosie DiMare revealed the video situation at Rulla’s Arabian Nights party.
Rulla immediately made it clear she was not thrilled to revisit it.
“Can we just not talk about this stupid thing? It was quite the way to kill a vibe, needless to say,” Rulla said.
Rosie, who was the one who ultimately told Rulla about the alleged video during the party, agreed that the timing was uncomfortable.
“Yeah, tell me about it. I didn’t want to bring it up. … I felt very uncomfortable by it. We were both kind of punching bags all summer. But what happened at the mansion was really unsettling to me,” Rosie said.
Rulla responded, “You seemed uncomfortable.”
The video has become a major talking point because it allegedly showed Brian with an unnamed blonde woman. According to Rosie, the footage included “canoodling, kissing, hugging, leaving her house” and allegedly had a timestamp visible on the car’s dashboard display.
Despite the details, Rulla still questioned whether the video actually proved what the women were implying.
After several of the RHORI cast members weighed in on Brian’s alleged ongoing affair during the After Show, Rulla eventually said, “Still to this day, it’s all bulls–t to me.”
Rulla also questioned why Alicia Carmody did not tell her about the video sooner, especially since the two had dinner together before the Arabian Nights party.
In a separate RHORI After Show setup, Jo-Ellen told Alicia that she “should’ve told her.”
Alicia agreed but said there was a reason she waited.
“I’m gonna tell you why I didn’t,” Alicia said. “Rulla just came out of the hospital.”
Alicia insisted that she still planned to tell Rulla when the timing felt right, but claimed Rosie took over the situation.
“Rosie was like, ‘I know you can’t do it, so I’m gonna do it,” Alicia claimed.
Rosie remembered that differently.
“Alicia basically told me that she didn’t think she could do it, and she was like, ‘Can you do it?’” Rosie recalled. “I was like, ‘I really don’t want to do this.’”
Regardless of who made the final decision, Rosie ended up being the one to tell Rulla during the party. With Rulla’s go ahead, Rosie revealed in RHORI’s June 7 episode that the video was allegedly filmed the day before the cast’s dramatic polo outing.
When Pontarelli asked, “How do you know that dating is valid?” Rosie explained that the timestamp appeared on the car’s dashboard display.
Rosie then said the video allegedly showed an unnamed blonde woman “kissing and hugging” Brian.
Pontarelli was clearly overwhelmed by the timing and admitted in a confessional that she did not want to process the information in that moment.
“I’m not really appreciating the fact that Rosie chose this time and place to share this information,” Rulla said. “I haven’t seen any video. Do I even see this thing or consider seeing this thing? How do I verify this? Do I get upset with Brian? Who do I believe? Like, I don’t want to process this right now. I don’t have the bandwidth.”
The moment became even more awkward when Brian joined the poolside conversation at the party. After Rulla told him what the women were discussing, Brian threw up his hands.
Rosie then filled him in on what she had heard about the video.
“It’s just, like, canoodling, kissing, hugging, leaving her house. Like, there’s a timestamp on it,” Rosie told him.
She also added that she did not know who Jo-Ellen was “getting her information from.”
Alicia later suggested that Rulla’s doubtful reaction may simply be her way of protecting her family. Rulla and Brian share two children, son Luca, 8, and daughter Laila, 5, making the situation even more emotional and complicated.
Rulla has already addressed Brian’s affair publicly and has said she is working on her marriage. During Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Rulla said she and Brian were in a better place, while Brian said they were “stronger than ever.”
Still, the RHORI women clearly have questions about what really happened and when. The alleged timestamped video has only added more confusion to an already messy storyline.
For now, she is not ready to accept the cast’s interpretation of the footage without seeing and verifying it herself.
And when it comes to the alleged video, Rulla is making her stance very clear.
To this day, she says it is “all bulls–t.”