Dolores Catania on Resilience, Self-Worth, and the Hard Work of Letting Go

On More Life with Carl Radke, Dolores Catania — longtime Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member and winner of The Traitors season three — sat down for a conversation that ranged from her childhood in Paterson, New Jersey, to her time working in a county jail, to the life philosophy she's built from decades of hardship. The episode's central argument is that survival alone is not enough: real growth comes from learning to release resentment, accept what you cannot control, and show up for others even when you are still figuring yourself out.

The Hardening and the Thaw

Catania grew up in a strict Italian-American household where emotions were not discussed. Her father was a respected marine and police officer, but a difficult drinker at home. "Weekends were hard," she said. Her mother worked as a waitress. The family rule was simple: you don't tell your business, you don't talk about your feelings, and you handle whatever comes your way alone. That ethic carried her through a job as a corrections officer in the county jail, where she became "hardened" and "detached from feelings" as a survival mechanism. She recalls a young inmate named Sammy who had been arrested for a joyride with friends — his friends had someone to pick them up, but no one ever came for him. When she had to walk him ba