Jennifer Aydin Says 'You Set Your Own Destiny' After Shocking 'RHONJ' Exit: 'I Walked Away With Some Good Friends'

Jennifer Aydin is ready to turn the page.

After the reality star announced her departure from The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Aydin is ready to put everything she has into her new "TV Gold" podcast.

The matriarch speaks exclusively with OK! about her enduring friendships with Teresa Giudice and Dolores Catania, leaving Bravo, embracing what's next and maintaining her confidence.

Giudice and Catania were recently on hand at the launch of Aydin's podcast at her home in New Jersey. "It's the one good takeaway from [Real] Housewives," the mother-of-five explains of her close bond with her former cast members. "Or maybe one of many, I should say, but definitely one that's worth noting. I walked away with some good friends. They're really amazing."

After six seasons, Aydin announced she was departing the Bravo world. "The whole unknown was so frustrating," she shares of the fate of RHONJ. "People thought maybe I was not being forthright. I really didn't know. All the signs were there. God speaks to you in whispers. You have got to read the signs. So, I'm like, 'Why am I holding back from saying what I think?' When people were asking me, 'Hey, are you coming back?' Even my family would ask me, 'What's the deal?' I'm like, 'I don't know,' but you truly set your own destiny."

With RHONJ behind her, Aydin is ready for the public to see a new side to her. "You have got to love yourself first. If you don't love yourself, then you have to ask yourself, 'What can you do to get to a place where you can love yourself?' You are your own worst deterrent," she says of having the confidence as she steps into this next chapter. "There is no one out there who can take you away from where you want to go, but you. You have to have the drive, the force, and no fear of it moving forward. You are always going to be judged and criticized. You have to take in life and everything that comes with it."

"I've been getting ahead of myself excited because I think I spoke about this podcast first sometime last year, and it's really taken this long to get here," Aydin reveals. "At some point, I was rushing to get to this point because I didn't want the year to be up before I achieved my goal. I'm glad that I was able to do something like this in my own time. It's going to be an hour a week. Who knows? I may do more than that eventually, but we're going to start like slowly and see where it goes."