She added, “I was told to pay him that kind of affection out of respect. Therefore, I felt like our relationship was very uncomfortable for me.”
Dina, 53, married Tommy in 2007 when Lexi was 6 years old. They separated in 2012 and divorced four years later. Dina married now-husband David Cantin in 2017. (Tommy is the brother of fellow former RHONJ star Caroline Manzo’s husband, Albert Manzo.)
Tommy is currently incarcerated. In October 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of New Jersey announced that Tommy was sentenced to 84 months in prison for “hiring, then assisting, a soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family to assault” Cantin in 2015.
Lexi first spoke about her relationship with Tommy in a Substack article titled “Don’t Poke the Bear,” in which she recalled the unraveling of her mom’s relationship. She claimed that in 2012 she was “violently” shaken awake by Tommy, who told Lexi that she had 30 minutes to “get the f***” out of her house.”
“In that chaotic moment, I lost not only my home but also irreplaceable heirlooms collected over generations along with my childhood keepsakes,” she wrote at the time. “I mourn not only for myself, but for my future children, as these tangible connections to my family history have been stolen from us.”
During Monday’s podcast episode, Lexi claimed that after Tommy went to prison, she reached out to Caroline’s daughter, Lauren Manzo, to try and get her stuff back — but she never did.
“I had an understanding that he kept everything of mine all those years. So, I wanted it back,” she continued. “It was really difficult for me to extend myself and to ask for help, but I was that desperate. I just wanted those things back.”
