‘Soul destroying’: Why Gina Liano quit Real Housewives

Real Housewives fans shouldn’t hold their breath for Gina Liano to ever return to the franchise, if her latest comments are anything to go by.

Her no-nonsense attitude and refusal to back down from a fight made former The

Real Housewives Of Melbourne cast member Gina Liano a reality TV star.

But fans of the Melbourne iteration of the franchise – which hasn’t aired since 2021 – shouldn’t hold their breath in the hopes Liano will ever return.

She quit the conflict-heavy series after the fourth season finished airing in 2018, and in a new interview with Stellar, out today, she confesses that four seasons of dinner party catfights was quite enough.

“It all got too much. It’s very soul destroying,” Liano told Stellar.

Liano (third from left) finished up with Real Housewives after season four. Picture: Foxtel.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Lydia [Schiavello, her co-star and friend] about feeling quite traumatised at the end of it all because you’re constantly in trouble. You’re in constant conflict. And someone’s always trying to catch you out. It feels like being a kid at school and

waiting for the principal to call you into their office. You have that anxious, ‘What did I do wrong?’, shamed, humiliated and embarrassed feeling.”

But that doesn’t mean Liano – who is the host of a new podcast drawing on her legal background, Judge Gina – has closed the door on reality television altogether. Rather, she says she’s been frustrated at the lack of TV opportunities available in the five years since she finished up with RHOM.

The full interview appears in this week's Stellar.

Liano: “I’m a household name, really.”

“It’s a bit disappointing that the entertainment industry in Melbourne is so limiting. I have hundreds of thousands of followers. I’m a household name, really,” she says.

“If you say ‘Gina’, most people know my name out of the series over anyone else’s, and no-one has really utilised that or come to me with an option [for a new TV format].”

Liano has appeared

I would like to do something where someone films me, on the couch, watching seasons of Housewives in real time.”

Liano also opened up about why she’s stayed single since the end of her last romantic relationship, with partner of 14 years Dean Giannarelli, in 2017.

“I’m probably not approachable and nor do I want to be. That makes it harder. I’m very happy with my dogs and my sons and living at home. I’m working very hard at the moment, I’m in court every day, so I’m probably in the happiest space I’ve ever been in.”

Read the full interview with Gina Liano in this week’s Stellar, included in the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun.