Ashley Iaconetti is clearing the air after a quote about parenting, work and filming The Real Housewives of Rhode Island was taken out of context.
The Bachelor alum and RHORI star recently opened up about how difficult it has been trying to balance motherhood, filming a second season of the Bravo series and managing her growing workload on social media. Iaconetti shares two children, Dawson, 4, and Hayden, 10 months, with husband Jared Haibon.
While recapping a recent argument involving herself, Rosie DiMare and Kelsey Swanson during the Tuesday, May 19 episode of her and Ben Higgins’ Almost Famous podcast, Ben asked Ashley why she felt like things were “swirling” in her life.
Iaconetti explained that filming Housewives while raising two young children has been overwhelming, especially now that Season 2 is underway.
“It’s really hard to be a parent while going through all of this,” Iaconetti said. “Now that we can say [we’re] filming season 2, bracing for that filming, I can’t do it all myself anymore.”
Ashley went on to explain that she was not talking about her marriage or family falling apart. Instead, she was explaining that she needs more help professionally, specifically with her social media work.
“You need to have a social media or broadcasting background,” Ashley said of the type of assistant she is looking for. “I need somebody who can shoot and edit very well.”
Ben responded, “That’s tough.”
He then asked Ashley the bigger reality TV question.
“I mean, I think the big question was, do you regret filming this? This is becoming something that you’re going to be known for, maybe more than your time on The Bachelor,” Ben said.
Iaconetti pushed back on the idea that she will ever be more known as a Housewife than as part of Bachelor Nation.
“I think that was me at my finest reality TV,” Ashley explained. “I’m a totally different person emotionally now. I was only stressed out about romance. I only got into fights about guys. I don’t get triggered enough by friend drama.”
Things became messy after Us Weekly posted a now deleted quote from Ashley about parenting while filming RHORI. Over a photo of Ashley and Jared together, the outlet shared the quote, “It’s really hard to be a parent while going through all of this… I can’t do it all myself anymore.”
Ashley then commented to clarify that the quote was misleading because it made it seem like she may have been speaking about her marriage or home life, when the actual conversation was about needing work support.
“This whole conversation was about how I need an assistant or video editor for work now. I usually wouldn’t comment, but this is too misleading,” Ashley wrote.
This season, Ashley has been honest about feeling uncomfortable at times, especially when it comes to inserting herself into conflicts that existed long before she joined the cast. But with Season 2 now filming, it sounds like Ashley is trying to figure out how to juggle reality TV, motherhood and her work behind the scenes.
