Luann de Lesseps ‘Couldn’t Breathe’ During Her 7-Month Marriage to Tom D’Agostino

Luann de Lesseps divorce from husband of seven months Tom D’Agostino may have played out off-camera, but the Real Housewives of New York City personality is spilling everything when it comes to the aftermath.

“I never thought I would be here, but here I am, divorced,” de Lesseps told the camera during Wednesday’s premiere episode. “I was very happy with Tom, we were on this whirlwind. I love Tom, I did everything I can to make this marriage work, but sometimes it’s just not possible. Sometimes love is not enough.”

While discussing the split with castmate Dorinda Medley, the socialite had some harsh truths to tell her friend.

“He seemed to get worse after he got married,” she told de Lesseps. “But he was doing so well, and then he got married, and he became a s— show.”

De Lesseps knew her friend was right: “I had blinders on,” she said. “I didn’t want to see it, I didn’t want to believe it, but when I look back at all the warning signs.”

She is, as fans will remember, referring to the repeated warning she got from her fellow Housewives, including Bethenny Frankel, who captured a photo of D’Agostino kissing another woman on her phone.

“I don’t think your guy’s a good guy,” she told de Lesseps in tears last season.

She might not have listened then, but de Lesseps now understands what her castmate meant. “I didn’t want to see that. I didn’t want to believe it. But after a certain amount of time, everything the girls were saying was kind of true.”

Between D’Agostino going out all night, seeing ex-girlfriends, and being caught kissing the woman at the bar, de Lesseps said the “lack of respect” was “the last straw” for their relationship.

“I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I felt like the water was just tumbling in and I couldn’t keep my head above water. I was drowning. I suffered a lot, I mean I really suffered a lot.”

“At the end of the day, he truly was a leopard who couldn’t change his spots,” Medley told her friend.

To the cameras, Medley explained her perspective even more: “Was I sad for her? Absolutely. Now was I horrified and surprised? No. I don’t think Tom’s a bad guy, I just don’t think that Tom should be a married guy.”

The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Photo credit: Bravo