Lauren Manzo Reveals ‘Insane’ Weight Gain After Lap-Band Removal

Lauren Manzo is getting real about her decades-long battle with weight and how she finally found balance.

The "Real Housewives of New Jersey" alum, who first appeared on Bravo alongside her mom, Caroline Manzo, back in 2009, revealed that her body has been under public scrutiny since her early 20s.

In fact, when Lauren Manzo was just 21 years old, television viewers would tell her she was "fat" and "disgusting."

Growing up in a tight-knit Italian family with food always at the center, from her family’s catering business to dinners out together, Lauren admitted eating was practically a hobby.

“We love to eat. We don’t eat to live,” the now 37-year-old told PEOPLE. But despite always working out and trying diets, she recalled, “I could be full to the point where I was in pain, but my brain was still, ‘It’s time to eat.’”

By middle school, her weight struggles already kept her from pool parties and Jersey Shore trips with friends. “I was just a big girl, and I never understood why,” she explained.

In her early 20s, Lauren underwent lap-band surgery, desperate for a solution. While it helped her shed pounds, she admitted she ignored worrying side effects, including vomiting, because she was just happy to be “skinny.”

Eventually, she had the band removed, only to gain back “an insane amount of weight,” peaking at 208 pounds. “I felt unhealthy, swollen, and depressed,” she recalled.

Everything shifted three years ago when Lauren started seeing a functional medicine doctor. Cutting out gluten and dairy helped her lose 50 pounds and feel less exhausted, but she still struggled to get further results.

That’s when she turned to the GLP-1 weight-loss drug Mounjaro, a decision she says saved her life. “I really believed [Mounjaro] saved my life. What they say about food noise. I had never heard that term,” she explained.

In total, Lauren dropped another 50 pounds on the medication. But while her physical health improved, critics began to weigh in, accusing her of taking the “easy way out.”

“It wasn’t the easy way out, the surgeries weren’t easy,” she fired back. “Comments like that. I don’t think it’s fair. What are you teaching your kids? That it’s okay to attack someone for their body, especially knowing how much they have struggled?”

Today, Lauren is still on Mounjaro but says she’s focusing on long-term health by strength training and eating a balanced diet to build muscle. “Being skinny doesn’t mean that you’re healthy,” she emphasized.

The transformation has given her back her confidence and her life. Last year, she wore a bikini for the first time while vacationing in Florida with her 8-year-old daughter, a milestone she once thought impossible.

“I used to be able to be outside for 10 minutes, tops. I would be sweating, breathing heavily, and so uncomfortable. Now, I’m out with my daughter every day and we’re going to the pool,” she said, proudly reflecting on the everyday benefits of living at a healthier weight.

Lauren’s health transformation comes on the heels of major personal changes in her life.

Earlier this year, news broke that the former "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star had quietly finalized her divorce from Vito Scalia months ago. According to Daily Mail, court documents revealed that a judge signed off on their split in November 2024, nearly a decade after their 2015 wedding.

As part of the settlement, the exes agreed to share joint legal custody of their daughter, Marchesa, with Lauren’s mother, "RHONJ" alum Caroline Manzo, serving as the “exchange point” for custody transitions.

Scalia was ordered to pay $1,000 per month in child support and $4,000 in limited-duration alimony for just over two years. Lauren also retained ownership of the couple’s New Jersey home and its contents, while both kept their own vehicles.

The pair, who first faced split rumors as far back as 2017, officially cited “irreconcilable differences” in their divorce filing.

Lauren later confirmed the breakup in an October 2023 Instagram video, assuring fans that the separation was amicable.

“This has been done for a very long time,” she said at the time. “The last part of the process was filing. We were on the same page. This is something that we did together.”

Scalia has since found new love with wellness coach Dominique Valenti, who began sharing photos with him on her Instagram as early as August 2023.