RHONY: Ramona Singer’s response to alcohol and Leah McSweeney

Ramona Singer has come a long way since her abusive childhood, but sometimes drunken nonsense can be triggering for the RHONY star.

Ramona Singer has been on The Real Housewives of New York City since the first episode.  Through all twelve seasons, we’ve been through a lot with Ramona.  But the one thing we don’t hear much about is Ramona’s life growing up.  We know she had a traumatic family life and there were issues with alcohol present.  Ramona and her siblings were also subject to the family drama, though she doesn’t mention them frequently.

During one of the first episodes of The Real Housewives of New York City, Ramona was clear about one thing: she wanted to be successful on her own.  She mentioned that she would ask her mom why she didn’t just leave her father, and her mom said it was because she had no way to.  She had no education, no money, no career.  Ramona’s mother, Veronika Mazur, said, “Please don’t make the same mistake. Have a career, and whoever you marry, make sure you’re always making your own money, because that will give you strength.”  Ramona took this to heart and worked hard for her money before marrying her husband, Mario Singer.

In a previous season, Ramona mentioned that when her father passed away, he left her nothing in his will.  During a dinner with Bethenny Frankel and Dorinda Medley, Ramona opened up about his death.  The last will and testament from her father said, “‘And to my daughter, Ramona Mazur Singer, I bequeath nothing.’  And I just got hysterical.”

Ramona’s father, Bohdan Mazur, had issues with alcohol and was abusive to her mother in front of the family.  While on a trip to the Berkshires with Heather Thomson in 2014, Ramona was triggered by the woods around their hotel.  She said something along the lines of her father moved them to the woods so no one could hear her mom screaming.

Back in 2010, the housewives had to blog about the episode instead of live-tweeting.  In Ramona’s blog, she said

"Even as I am writing this I am crying, crying for the love I never got from my father, crying for the way my mom was abused by my father, crying for the lost childhood I never had because of my father."

She went on to say that she realizes that sometimes her childhood makes her say things before she has a chance to think about them.  That’s a common trait discussed about Ramona: she doesn’t think before she speaks and can say hurtful things.

While dealing with Leah McSweeney and her drunken behavior, Ramona mentioned that she mostly blocked out her antics.  “I actually blacked it out, and I call it ‘black out,’ I blocked out your behavior because it was so atrocious, I didn’t want to remember it. It’s very upsetting to me.”  Leah apologized for triggering Ramona with her drinking.

“Dorinda and Luann grew up in a very loving home.  I grew up in a warzone.  My brother, raging alcoholic, totally dysfunctional.”  Ramona repeated that she would just read her books and blank it out in order to survive and move forward.  So when she simply walked away from Leah and tried to ignore it, she wasn’t being mean – she was just doing what she knew how to do.

So, Ramona might not respond in the correct way to Leah’s behavior, but she’s trying.  Not everyone will have the same response to events and it seems that Ramona recognizes that she could have been more compassionate toward Leah.  Sometimes people walk away from situations they don’t want to be in, and Ramona has the option to do that.  But will things get better for the two next episode?

Ramona Singer and The Real Housewives of New York will be back next Thursday!