‘Mob Wives’ star Drita D’Avanzo revealed that her hit VH1 reality show continued to film during Hurricane Sandy in order to show how the storm damaged the East Coast earlier this month, during an interview with Celebuzz. The Staten Island native saw the destruction firs-hand, and how her hometown remains in the shadows of national news coverage.
Residents have nicknamed Staten Island New York City’s forgotten borough as a result. So D’Avanzo used her star power to use when she organized a fundraising event in New York this week to help those devastated by Sandy. Some people questioned her generosity after discovering that VH1 was filming the fundraiser. But she told Celebuzz that the cameras were there to show Sandy’s devastation.
“There was controversy,” admitted D’Avanzo, who’s filming ‘Mob Wives’ third season, which is set to begin airing in January. “[But] how can we not film it? I’m not going to make believe the most devastating thing that has happened, that affected my friends and family, didn’t happen. This is reality, and honestly, ‘Mob Wives’ is as real as can be… This was very devastating to all of us. It hit home to us on a personal level.”
“There have been some areas that have been so neglected,” D’Avanzo also told Celebuzz. “Nobody is there. Nobody is helping these people. There are people with no homes or only half a home. They have no electric, no gas, there’s nothing. And they’re starving, and they’re freezing, and they’re neglected! It’s crazy. It’s really sad to see.”
However, D’Avanzo’s home wasn’t damaged by Sandy, which she said she feels lucky about. “My home is a block away from the ocean, so I really thought my home was going to be completely gone,” the reality star said. “I took my children, I went to my mother’s, and the whole time I’m there, I thought my house was gone, floating away somewhere. I had so much anxiety. I was so nervous… It was awful.”
Watch the video of D’Avanzo discussing Hurricane Sandy and ‘Mob Wives’ below.
Written by: Karen Benardello
