EXCLUSIVEReal Housewives rocked by political scandal as Trump supporting star says she was made to look ‘crazy’
Former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Siggy Flicker has accused the show’s producers of making her look ‘crazy’ after they learned she had voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Flicker, 57, starred on RHONJ for two seasons before quitting in 2017, and has since been a vocal Trump supporter who frequently expresses her admiration for the President-elect on her social media accounts.
However, the reality TV star believes her political leanings resulted in producers deliberately painting her as ‘a villain.’
‘My first season was great, they presented me as I am – emotional but loving and very into relationships,’ she told DailyMail.com exclusively. ‘Then, in my second season, they had learned that I voted for Trump in the 2016 election and the producers hated it.’
The mother-of-two, who is married to Michael Campanella, claimed that things started to change when the production team came to her home to film and saw her Make America Great Again merchandise.
Former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Siggy Flicker has accused the show’s producers of making her look ‘crazy’ after they learned she had voted for Donald Trump in 2016
Flicker, 57, starred on RHONJ for two seasons before quitting in 2017 , and has since been a vocal Trump supporter
She continued: ‘They came to my house and saw the MAGA hats everywhere and they actually asked me – you can’t seriously be voting for Trump, he is an anti-Semite and a fascist.
‘They said that to me – the only Jew on the cast and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. It was unbelievable. I said, “Yes ,I am voting for him”.’
Flicker is the Israeli-born daughter of Holocaust survivors. Her father is the renowned scholar Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, who was the former director of Israel’s Holocaust authority.
Reflecting on how the tide seemingly turned against her, Flicker continued: ‘Then, everything for me changed in the editing room. They changed the edit to suddenly they made me look crazy. They tried to coax me into saying things – that’s what they do…
‘They absolutely hated the fact I was voting for Trump and so they made me out to be a villain.’
Discussing some of the alleged tactics producers reportedly tried to use to shape her narrative, Flicker continued: ‘You’ll be filming, then they’ll pause and a producer will whisper you “say this to Teresa” or “say this to Margaret [Josephs]” and I just wouldn’t.
The Why Am I Still Single?! host then accused Bravo producers of reacting negatively towards any Housewives they believe to be Republican.
‘They are terrible to any housewife that’s a Republican,’ she claimed. ‘Look at what they did to Ramona [Singer] – it was the same thing. I didn’t like it.’
Back in 2021, longtime Real Housewives of New York star Singer clashed with new cast mate Eboni K. Williams after the latter expressed her support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during the 2020 election.
The mother-of-two claimed that things started to change when the production team came to her home to film and saw her Make America Great Again merchandise
The star told DailyMail.com: ‘Everything for me changed in the editing room. They changed the edit to suddenly they made me look crazy’
When asked for her thoughts by Williams, Singer stressed that she did not ‘want to talk politics’ – leading to a heated exchange between the pair.
Singer eventually headed to her bedroom and threatened to leave her own apartment due to the tension.
‘I’m going to take a step away because you know what, I don’t want to do this. I don’t,’ the star said. ‘I’m liking you. I don’t know you that well, feel like you’re teaching me, you’re preaching me.’
Singer left RHONY in 2021, and in November 2023 it was revealed that she would no longer be starring in the Legacy spin-off series amid backlash from a Vanity Fair article which alleged that she used a racial slur during the production of her final season.
Opening up about her own decision to leave the Housewives franchise, Flicker explained the reasoning behind her move to Florida.
‘I wanted to get away from the spotlight,’ she said. ‘I like to be more behind the scenes.’
Her new home meant she was perfectly positioned to join Trump at his election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach on November 6.
The star gushed that the President-elect’s family had watched her during her time on Bravo and had ‘loved her.’
The star gushed that the President-elect’s family had watched her during her time on Bravo and had revealed that they ‘loved her’
Flicker also opened up about her fallout with former RHONJ costar Margaret Josephs (pictured second left)
She also revealed to DailyMail.com that in the years since she was first being called out for her support of Trump, people were now ‘flooding’ her DMs to ‘apologize for judging her so harshly.’
A show insider slammed Flicker’s claim that her political views cost her a place on the show.
‘These statements could not be further from the truth,’ they said. ‘So many of the women on the show supported Trump then and so many women on the show support Trump now.
‘That had nothing to do with it. There is no bad edit. The way that viewers saw Siggy is exactly who she is and that is why she was kicked off the show.’
She also addressed her relationship with her former RHONJ costar Josephs, revealing that there is no love lost.
Viewers watched the pair clash back in 2017 after Josephs made a comment regarding Adolf Hitler to Flicker.
Flicker, who was the only Jewish housewife at the time, called her out on her alleged prejudice.
The pair had been discussing treatment of other when Josephs said to Flicker: ‘But Siggy, Hitler would have not killed me. Does that make him a good person?’
Tensions between the pair were never fully resolved and Flicker described Josephs as ‘the most evil person on the planet.’
She continued: ‘She will do anything for the producers. They go for the weak one, on every cast, the one who needs the job the most and they know they will do anything they ask them to because they can’t afford to lose the job.’
