"She came to me to show me her comment and said, 'Look, Mommy, I'm defending you from all of these lies,'" the Bravolebrity recalled.
"Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Jennifer Aydin is opening up about how her 9-year-old daughter -- and her four other kids -- learned about their father's, Dr. Bill Aydin's, former affair.
While speaking to Page Six, the reality star detailed how she and Bill's 9-year-old daughter, Olivia, found out about her dad's affair on TikTok back when Season 12 of "RHONJ" began filming last summer.
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View Story"We had a blogger leak this awful storyline and somebody made a TikTok on it," Jennifer, 44, told Page Six. "My sweet little Olivia -- who threw a beautiful anniversary party for us [on 'RHONJ' Season 11] to show how her parents are still in love -- saw a TikTok that said 'the big secret.'"
Jennifer said her daughter commented on the TikTok video, denying the affair. She wrote, "This is my mommy and daddy and this is not true!"
Olivia then told her mom about how she defended her. "She came to me to show me her comment and said, 'Look, Mommy, I'm defending you from all of these lies,'" Jennifer recalled.
However, it, of course, wasn't a lie. Bill's past infidelity was revealed on the Season 12 premiere of "RHONJ" on Tuesday. Back when Jennifer was pregnant with the couple's fourth child, Christian, now 10, Bill cheated on her with a pharmaceutical rep.
Jennifer said she asked Olivia to remove her comment from the TikTok video. "I said, 'It's for the show and it's not good if we release things, so maybe we shouldn't draw attention.' I had her take it down that way."
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View StoryThe Bravolebrity said she later opened up to Olivia about Bill's affair.
"I sat her down and I kept my composure because I realized [my kids] will react to however Mommy's acting," she recalled. "I put on a brave face and said, 'Listen, Daddy did a bad thing. But that doesn't mean that he's a bad person. And when we love people, we forgive them when they make mistakes. And I've forgiven him and I'm OK.' She wasn't upset because I wasn't upset."
Jennifer noted that she and Bill went on to talk about the affair with their other kids -- and revealed how they all took the shocking news. The couple -- who married in 2002 -- share a total of five children together: Justin, 17, Gabriella, 14, Jacob, 12, as well as Christian and Olivia.
"My husband told Justin. I was in the room, and Justin kind of was almost irritated, like, 'I don't ever want to talk about this ever again.' He's not watching this season," Jennifer told Page Six. "My Gabriella, she was more crushed. She felt very betrayed and was angry for a bit but we got through that. And my two [younger] boys, they're neither here or there."
"And Olivia, now that she sees that Mommy's OK with it, she'll be like, 'Mommy, do they know about 'the secret,' too?’ And I'll say, 'Yeah, but it's not a secret anymore and we're OK with talking about it.' And she'll say, 'Oh yeah, that's right. So remember, children will learn by example. As long as I'm cool and not breaking down, I think they'll be OK."