I can’t really tell who you people care about in the Real Housewife world, so I’m sorry if you find this one boring. Real Housewife of New Jersey Danielle Staub has already been outed as a former hooker in league with some kind of major Miami coke dealer back in the 1980s (sidenote: rumor is that the coke dealer was part of the Medellín cartel). In 1986, Danielle, who then went by the name Beverly Merrill in life (her hooker name was “Angela Minelli”), was arrested on federal charges of extortion and cocaine possession. She had six kilos of coke! Anyway, long story short, she cut a deal with the prosecution, pleading guilty to the extortion charge and cooperating fully. If you want to read about her arrest and her plea deal, Gawker has a really good summary, including some of the old court documents.

Anyway, parts of this story came out on the first season of RHONJ, in a hilarious dinner scene. Something about a “prostitution whore”. So Danielle/Beverly/Angela wants to set the record straight. So she’s written a book about her adventures, The Naked Truth. People Magazine has some excerpts from the book, as well as a short interview. Here are some of the highlights:

On writing the book: “I don’t want acceptance anymore. It’s my journey, I wasn’t afraid to put it out there.”

On her 1986 arrest: “I was 20, I didn’t have morals!”

On the on-air confrontation: “Reliving it all was gut-wrenching. But it was also the most incredible rebirth. I am blessed to have survived.”

Book excerpt, on her sexual abuse at the hands of members of her adoptive family: “Sexual abuse entered my life I was extremely young. My bedroom door would open in the middle of the night, and in would come a relative or family friend – one of my abusers – who’d climb into bed with me and treat me with no regard.”

Star-f-cking: “I was young, hustling and doing quite well. I dated an Olympic athlete. I met Don Johnson in an elevator and we ended up kissing for what felt like ages. I was at a party and I met Prince. All I am going to say is that he was the best kisser out of all the celebrities I have ever been with.

On being a prostitute: A friend introduced her to a “call service” and she began going on dates for money. Until now she denied having been a call girl. “Was I going to admit it before I’d been paid to admit it? No. What I was doing was not illegal. On the other hand, soliciting sex is. I wasn’t a prostitute! I was paid to establish relationships. I ended up having physical relationships with two men. I was attracted to them and they were attracted to me.”

[From People Magazine, print edition]

There’s more from her book, something about how she gave birth to a son who died of SIDS when he was 11 days old, which is sad. I mean, I get it. This woman has lived a very full and diverse life, and only part of it involved being a hooker. But it’s funny to me that even now she can’t just say “yes, I was a hooker.” All of this hedging with “I was paid to establish relationships.” Goodness.