There are several new faces this season on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, but the breakout star of last night’s episode was definitely Paul “Paulie” Connell.
Viewers first met Paul – the new boyfriend of RHONJ star Dolores Catania – at the beginning of Season 13 and were happy to see Dolores moving on from her ex-husband Frank Catania.
This week, fans got to know Paul a little bit more as newly reconciled friends Dolores and Jennifer Aydin commandeered his home to host their “coffee reading” lunch.
Not only did Angie the psychic see “a ring” in Dolores’s coffee, meaning an engagement in the happy couple’s future, but Paul also charmed the women with his beautiful apartment, which RHONJ newcomer Jenn Fessler compared to “the Taj Mahal.”
“If Paulie would look at me twice, I would dump your a**,” Jenn later joked to Dolores. “I’d be like, ‘Dolores who?'”
So who is Paulie Connell? Here’s everything we know so far about Dolores’s new man.
Who is Paul Connell on RHONJ?
According to the US Sun, Paul was born in Dublin, Ireland.
Ahead of the February 2023 premiere of RHONJ Season 13, Dolores told Us Weekly that Paul “left [his] whole family behind” and “came to this country alone in his 20s.”
He reportedly purchased the Edgewater, New Jersey, apartment featured on last night’s episode for $2.3 million back in 2018.
Per his LinkedIn page, Paul is the president and CEO of Eco Electrical Services, a New York City-based “high-end electrical contracting company.”
According to Paul, the company’s motto is “helping you be responsible for tomorrow, today.” He also notes on LinkedIn that they “take that very seriously.”
He has two teenage sons, Kameron and Brooklyn.
According to his Instagram, he also has two dogs, Arrow and Apollo.
Paul Connell and Dolores Catania’s relationship timeline
Paul and the former corrections officer started dating in 2021.
In December of that year, a source told Us Weekly that Dolores and Paul “have a lot in common.”
“She’s attracted to him on a deeper level,” the insider added, “Especially his charitable side and giving back which is something she does all the time.”
The couple took their relationship Instagram official on Valentine’s Day of 2022.
They have gone on multiple vacations together, including trips to Germany, Italy, and France.
Paul also took Dolores to his native Dublin, Ireland, where he introduced her to his family and showed her his hometown.
Dolores later told E! News that the family was “so warm and welcoming and close,” adding, “It was like meeting a New Jersey family but in Ireland.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.