The Naked Truth: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewife of New Jersey--In Her Own Words [Hardcover]

Danielle Staub (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 25, 2010

In The Naked Truth, Danielle Staub, who’s been surrounded by controversy due to the now infamous book about her ex-husband, Cop Without a Badge, will finally get a chance to tell her side of the story and reveal the truth about her past.

A true story that could be found in the latest Hollywood gangster movie, Staub’s memoir is fraught with tragedy and heartache, low-lifes and high society. From living the good life as a model in Miami, spending a stint in the Big House after getting mixed up with mobsters and the FBI, stripping and fighting for her life in New York, to finally settling down in New Jersey with her daughters, Danielle thought she had already seen it all, but in reality, her second act was just beginning.

Fascinating, juicy, sometimes shocking, but ultimately inspiring, The Naked Truth tells the real truth about the life she’s spent so long running from.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Danielle Staub is a real New Jersey housewife and the mother of two daughters, Christine and Jillian. For more information, visit www.danielle-staub.com

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

The headline on the flyer handed to me at the Chateau hair salon in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, said “Jersey Girls: My Fabulous Life.” It was advertising the casting of a new televised reality show, and the flyer created quite a buzz among all the local girls, who imagined that their “fabulous” suburban lives would fascinate audiences everywhere. My reaction was quite the opposite: “My life sucks, so no thanks.”

Six months later, I was again approached about appearing on the reality show. The only show airing on Bravo within the Housewives franchise at the time was The Real Housewives of Orange County and I hadn’t seen it, but it had gotten a stamp of approval from my eldest daughter, Christine (who has become my “go-to” girlfriend for all of my big decisions), so I checked the show out for myself. I definitely liked what I saw.

After viewing an episode, I found it offered refreshing insight into families as well as friendships among married and single women alike. Single moms on the show were going through their problems while getting advice and support from their castmates. This made me think I should consider participating in the show.

In the beginning, I believed being on The Real Housewives of New Jersey was going to be an uplifting, quirky, fun, joining-of-the-hands experience that would perhaps entail a little drama shared by all of us. I soon found out how wrong I was. I became the focus of a character attack delivered at the hands of those who would, I thought, be holding mine in friendship. As the first season played out, my castmates’ biggest source of ammunition was a book (that came to be referred to as “the book”)—the expose written about my first husband, Kevin Maher.

Ironically, being exposed on TV forced me to reconcile my present with my past and realize that those experiences, for better or worse, made me who I am today. As I dealt with the scrutiny of my castmates, something clicked. People were taking so much interest in someone else’s take on my life that I decided they would perhaps like to know how it had really happened. And my fellow housewives had no right to turn what was my tortured past into the present. I realized that if the public had this much interest in my life, then it was time that I told my story in my own words. There are no two sides to one’s life story. If you didn’t live it, it’s not yours to speak of. don’t want to pretend or claim to be a voice for every housewife. But I have a voice and I intend to use it. I will lend my life as an example for others.

I get notes every day from people who pour their hearts out to me about their own challenges and how they can relate to my life’s struggles on many levels. These are the people whom I wrote this book for, as well as my children and myself. Every story that’s been written about me—and there have been a lot—has been edited. This book is the unedited version of my life. What you read in the following chapters is what happened the way I remember it.

In this memoir, I’m finally baring it all. The title, The Naked Truth, doesn’t refer to being naked without clothing. It means naked as in stripped down and laid bare. It means naked without skin—totally raw to the bone. That’s exactly what this book is. No matter what has happened in my life, good or bad, I am now in a place where I can make some sense out of it and hopefully help some others to do the same. It’s time to set the record straight and correct all the lies. If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, then hell is a quaint suburb in New Jersey and the woman scorned is resident housewife Danielle Staub.

You either love me or you hate me, there is no in-between. But people are going to pay attention when I’m around.

© 2010 Danielle Staub

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; 1 edition (May 25, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439182892
• ISBN-13: 978-1439182895
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Truth??? September 7, 2010

By LaughingWhileReading

Format:Hardcover

The very first page of this book clearly states that this story is what she believes and has been told, but "cannot confirm even her mother's name." Since when are hearsay, gossip, or fairy tales truth? Anyone? She claims her adoptive mother, who died before she penned this book, told her she saw a well-dressed woman in the hospital, and concluded that the woman was Danielle's mother. Seriously? What kind of publishing house would allow this nonsense? Quoting Emily Dickenson? Comparing her teenage parents' romp to the scene in The Godfather when Vito first sees Apollonia? Come on. She paints a picture of a mafia princess for a mother, from a wealthy mafia family, who had her father killed. Excuse me...Romeo was killed. Juliet lived. The Capulets were wealthy Sicilians who picked Pennsylvania as the perfect locale to hide a bastard child, who's identity could ruin the mafia, Sicily, and all of Italy! Delusions of grandeur? You be the judge...I couldn't put this great, bathroom read down fast enough. The acknowledgments are actually 5 pages long. Can you imagine? 5 printed pages of acknowledgments! They include her 3 dogs (breed specified), hair colorist, makeup artist, each member of her film crew, personal friends, neighbors, facebook, and twitter fans, and even a celebrity she took a picture with. Not joking. She also included a thank you to "friend Danny Provenzano." In print he was her friend, but on the RHONJ reunion he was not her friend, just someone she filmed with. Might I add this book came out 8 months after the filming of the infamous gay slur at the benefit at the Brownstone. Danielle claimed on the reunion that that slur from Danny caused her to no longer speak to him. More naked truth. Great fantasy story! The Naked Truth...even though it cannot be confirmed. Just sayin.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Are you kidding me? December 21, 2010

By E. P. Brookshire VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I never watch any of the Housewife shows because they all get on my nerves. I have worked for every dime I have so I don't empathize with those type of women. I did request this book from my library (ha ha, no money spent on her) and thought is was the most sophomoric thing I have read in years. One quote in the first chapter just made me laugh..."My knowledge and appreciation of fine china...I must have perceived these things when I was in the womb and exposed to my birth mother's upscale Italian family". She doesn't even know her birth mother's name so how does she know they were rich and she learned to cook and play board games while in her teenage mother's uterus? This gal is absolutely nuts and the one person who liked her review sounds like a trailer trash jailbird herself so maybe the two of them could get an apartment and launch a new reality show on True TV. Please don't waste your time with this book. I also felt her memories of her "abuse" were about as trite and fabricated as they come. They in no way resemble any other memoir where a little girl was molested and they sound completely fake.

111 of 129 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Is the term truth used loosely? May 26, 2010

By S. Lyda

Format:Hardcover

The book is not well written, but rather a rant to defend her factually proven dark past. I suggest you read her online blog for free if you really care, because it is the same. If you know anything about this women you will question after reading each line.