We Need To Believe Women - The Louis Of It All

I have had mixed feelings about Louis from the start. I do appreciate how he calms Theresa and her family down and helps them think rationally during conflict. I also like seeing how happy Theresa is and how he makes her glow. But underneath it all, I can’t shake that we may be dealing with a Vicki and Brooks 2.0 situation - or even worse.

The most troubling Louis topic to date for me was during this past week’s episode when multiple cast members, including both the wives and husbands, after confronting Louis on past allegations of partner abuse, chose to “give him the benefit of the doubt” and accept his explanation that his exes are “crazy” and “seeking attention”. 

I know the RHONJ cast tends to think in sexist or “old school” ways (remember Theresa last season saying that she would never be assaulted, because she is a strong woman?), but have we not learned anything from the past few years? After the Me Too Movement, the Womens Marches, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the Olympics and Larry Nassar - and too many other examples to list - are we still not believing women?

And to top it all off, it’s not one allegation or one questionable video or one ex - multiple exes have claimed emotional, psychological, or physical abuse from Louis. And as they say: where there’s smoke, there’s fire.  I recognize some cast members were staying quiet to keep the peace with Theresa, but is this really a topic we should choose to be silent on? Thank god Margaret was there as a progressive voice of reason, but I’m still disappointed overall on how it was handled.

I truly hope that the allegations are false about Louis and that Theresa and her girls are safe - but until  we start believing women, we will continue to stay in this cycle of silencing women’s voices and potentially allowing abuse to continue.