PHOTOS'Real Housewives of Orange County' Alum Jo De La Rosa Claims Ex Slade Smiley Gave Her A Fake Engagement Ring
Nov. 21 2019, Published 8:13 p.m. ET
Real Housewives of Orange County alum Jo De La Rosa dropped quite the bombshell on Jeff Lewis' SiriusXM radio show on Wednesday, November 21. The former reality star claimed that ex-fiance Slade Smiley proposed to her with a fake engagement ring when he popped the question back in 2006.
Jo, 39, claimed that Slade, 46, planned on replacing the fake diamond with a real one when he gave her the canary yellow sparkler. "It was a placeholder. The center stone was supposed to be changed into the future, but we never got there, obviously," she said. "I didn’t try and sell it. It was the thought that counted for me," she added.
Jo and Slade's relationship didn't last and their breakup was captured on camera during season 2 of the hit Bravo series. After going their separate ways, Jo moved from Orange County to Los Angeles to pursue a singing career. Their split was amicable and they ended up costarring on a Bravo spinoff called Date My Ex: Jo & Slade in 2008.
Jo retreated from the spotlight and got engaged to media company CEO Mark Lovette. Sadly, she announced that she had ended that engagement in January 2019 on Instagram.
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"'I’m just not happy anymore and I want to build the life of my dreams,' I cried to my mom with tears rolling down my face. I had just called off my second engagement and felt like my world was falling apart. 'Then you should go do that' she responded as she gave me a hug. 'It’s too late to start over. What if I’m not good enough? What if I fail?' I replied. 'What if you don’t?' she responded so I packed up everything I had and moved back to LA," she wrote at the time.
Meanwhile, Slade moved on with Jo's former pal and fellow RHOC alum Gretchen Rossi. Gretchen famously proposed to Slade in 2013 and they've been together ever since. The pair welcomed daughter Skylar Gray in July.
Gretchen revealed on a recent episode of The Doctors that she struggled with postpartum depression after the birth. "I really wasn’t connecting with Skylar at the very beginning. Then I came to realize when I went to my pediatrician’s appointment and I was crying and broke down in that appointment, and my pediatrician said, ‘You know, Gretchen, I think maybe you need to think about the fact that you might have some serious postpartum,’“ she recalled.
What do you think about Jo's engagement ring confession? Sound off in the comments below!
