Celebrity News November 12, 2025
‘RHONJ’ Star Dolores Catania Engaged to Paulie Connell
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“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dolores Catania and boyfriend Paul “Paulie” Connell are leveling up in their relationship!
On Monday, Paul popped the question to Dolores with a 11-carat sparkler in an Apple store, where they first met in 2020.
Connell got down on one knee on the fourth anniversary of when Catania moved in with him.
He told People magazine, “I could have proposed on a yacht in Greece. I could have rented a grand hall, invited 400 people and asked her to marry me with fireworks in the background. But that’s not who we are.”
“I didn’t want anything over-the-top and staged because we’re a humble couple,” Paul went on. “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.”
Dolores “had not a clue at all” about his proposal plans, saying, “I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance for him! 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 okay?’ And then I realized he was proposing.”
Catania “immediately said yes,” adding, “The whole thing was so sincere and so thoughtful. And then when I came home, there was over 1,000 roses waiting for me. I mean, he really hit it out of the park.”
Before the big surprise, an Apple employee escorted the couple to the exact spot of their meet cute.
Once there, Catania quipped, “This is the table where we were standing! Wouldn’t it be funny if we got engaged here?”
The couple aren’t rushing to get married. She pointed out, “The way we’ve set our life up, we can do things however and whenever we want to do them, and I don’t do things based on what people think I should do. I’ve never done that. Just ask my friends!”
