Big Ang Films Reunion Days Before Death 'To Finish What She Started'
Just days before passing away, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that Angela "Big Ang" Raiola filmed one last scene for her hit reality show, Mob Wives.
Her costar Brittany Fogarty told RadarOnline.com that the season 6 reunion filmed in February—and Raiola didn't want to miss out on it, even though she was deathly ill.
"She was not doing too well with her health when we filmed the reunion, but she wanted to come," Fogarty, 25, said. "She wanted to film."
Raiola believed it was important to get her final cuts in for the show.
"She wanted to finish what she had started," Fogarty explained. "So she was there and she filmed the reunion for a brief amount of time."
But according to Forgarty, Raiola only stayed long enough to get her last words in—she didn't hang around to deal with her costars' never-ending fights and drama.
Unfortunately, as RadarOnline.com previously reported, Raiola lost her battle to cancer in the early morning hours of Feb. 18 at the age of 55.
The reality star's death hit her friends, family, and costars hard.
"It's just a big loss for everybody, not just people on the show, but so many people loved Ang," Fogarty said. "She touched so many people's lives and I think everybody is really feeling the loss of her."
Like Drita D'avanzo, Fogarty has hard a tough time watching the series since Raiola's passing.
"It's just really hard to watch the show and watch her struggle and watch what she was going through and know that she's not with us anymore," she admitted. "I don't like watching it really."
But she will never forget how caring her costar acted towards her.
"Ang really just welcomed me with open arms," Forgarty said. "I mean coming from this lifestyle, there is such a dark cloud over people who are associated with rats—and my father cooperated. There are women on the show who feel a certain way about that, and with Angela, she never looked at me that way."
"She never judged me because of it… and was just very good to me from day one," she continued.
Raiola went out of her way to make Fogarty feel welcome—and during one such occasion, put her own health issues aside to support the blonde newcomer.
"In September, she had had her lung surgery and a couple of days later, I had one of my fashion events in Fashion Week," Forgarty recalled. "It really touched me that she had so much going on in her own life emotionally, physically, mentally, and then she still showed up for me to support me."
"And she didn't just show up and show her face to support me, she was jumping up and down screaming and cheering me on in the front row," Fogarty added. "I started laughing and smiling at one point because it was just touching that she was showing so much support for me through everything she was going through."
Be sure to catch the Mob Wives season 6 reunion when it airs Wednesday, March 16 at 8 PM ET on VH1.