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Credit: Instagram

The Real Housewives of New Jersey‘s Lauren Manzo shared more details behind the garage sale drama with cousin Lexi Ioannou, hinting at receipts and “record[ings]” that confirm her side of the story. Meanwhile, resurfaced posts show Dina Cantin’s attempts to find the family heirlooms that were purchased in the sale last fall.

In 2017, Dina’s ex-husband and Lexi’s former stepdad, Tommy Manzo, allegedly hired mafia soldiers to rob and assault Dina and her now-husband, Dave Cantin. Tommy was arrested and later convicted in 2024, though some of Lexi and Dina’s possessions were still in his house.

Earlier this month, Lexi revealed in a podcast that she had asked her cousin Lauren to help retrieve the items during the garage sale. Lexi claimed Lauren “failed” her by not doing more to get the belongings.

But in a recent TikTok video, Lauren shared her side of the story.

“This is something that I never wanted to have to address,” said Lauren. “A lot of you have seen my cousin Lexi and some of the things that she had said publicly. This is not an easy thing for me to talk about.”

“I will start by saying that I love my cousin Lexi very much,” she said. “She is the closest thing that I have ever and will ever have to a sister, and I still feel that way. Now, you have to remember that this is both sides of my family. So it’s my mom’s side — that has extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents — and my father’s side. So the reason that we don’t speak on it is because this isn’t just about us. Me not saying anything is because there are grandmothers on both sides, there are aunts and uncles on both sides that did not do anything to deserve the backlash.”

Lauren said she’s now defending herself because it’s “affecting my character,” and the facts “are not 100 percent.”

“[Lexi] could come to me any day, any time, and I will put my heart and soul into anything that she were to ask me to do – and I feel that I did that,” said Lauren. “I can’t even tell you the amount of pressure that I put on myself when she had called me … After my uncle went [to prison], he was unable to call anybody, and we would not have been able to call him. And the only reason I remember that is because the only reason I would ever call my uncle in prison would be for Lexi. We did not have a relationship with him before he went away.”

“Being [in] the middle of both sides of the family, you don’t wanna believe that someone would do something like that,” she said, referring to the crimes. “In no way, shape, or form was I supporting my uncle, even before Lexi had contacted me. You have people on both sides of your family that you’re just trying to understand and wrap your head around this. And it’s wild.”

According to Lauren, during her phone call with Lexi, she agreed to help her. Lauren then told everyone on both sides of her family, who also agreed. But they weren’t allowed access to Tommy’s house.

“The only reason I was hesitant to go [to the garage sale] is because I did not want to put their antennas up. I felt that if I went in … as a representative of Lexi, that I would have been iced out … of any opportunity to possibly get into the house,” she said, noting that she has receipts for everything. “That’s why I didn’t want to go myself. I wanted someone to go and take a video. Once we had a video, then we can go in and do what we needed to do.”

At this point, the house didn’t belong to anyone in the family.

“Once I went there and made it clear that I was there for Lexi … [The people who had access to the house] wouldn’t go near me or my mother with a 10-foot pole,” said Lauren. “These people that had this garage sale are not good people … [I] walked in, I recorded every possible thing that I could … My mom said, ‘I will buy everything.’”

“They had told me, ‘Well, your cousin just called us and basically told us to go F ourselves,’ and this and that … I was met with a lot of resistance and lies and silly comments,” she said. “Then I was kicked out. I was told to leave the property.”

Lauren said she then called Lexi and explained what happened. Lauren also burned bridges with several family members because she tried to help her, but she said she would “do it again.”

Around the same time, resurfaced Instagram posts show Dina’s past attempts to reclaim the lost items.

“If anyone shopped a garage sale yesterday 11/2 on Rose Terrace (off Valley Rd) it was most likely mine and my daughter’s items that were stolen from us,” Dina wrote at the time, via @rhonj_fact_vs_lies_ on Instagram. “Please DM myself or @bohochicken photos and if it’s something of sentimental value we will buy it back from you. 🙏 Please share this message!”

In another post, Dina revealed that the sale included “precious items that were handed down from my mother.”

“This is such a personal violation,” she said. “And the hurt is unimaginable for both of us.”

Image credit: @dina/Instagram via @rhonj_fact_vs_lies_/Instagram