Luann D'Agostino Says 'Marriage Takes Work' as She & Husband of 7 Months Hit a 'Major Rough Patch'

"Tom and I are in love and marriage takes work. We are working on this together," D'Agostino said in a statement to PEOPLE

The honeymoon may be over for Luann D’Agostino and her husband of seven months, Tom, but the reality star says she’s fighting to save her marriage.

“Tom and I are in love, and marriage takes work,” D’Agostino said in a statement to PEOPLE. “We are working on this together.”

Rumors began swirling on Monday that the Real Housewives of New York star and her businessman spouse — who raised eyebrows with their whirlwind courtship last year — have hit a rough patch just halfway into their first year of marriage.

“They have hit a major rough patch,” a source close to the Housewives confirms to PEOPLE. “This was going on before the wedding, and she was too embarrassed to call it off, so she tuned out what a lot of people were saying.”

Add the source, “She had confided in friends that she knew something was up and that it didn’t gel — but she had to put on a good face to avoid embarrassment. Everyone gave it six months.”

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News of fierce fighting and a cycle of breakups-then-makeups, originally reported by Page Six, comes as speculation about the strength of the couple’s union continues to be questioned on RHONY.

In a recent clip filmed in January, Tom compared himself to “a dog with a collar” just weeks after the couple’s lavish, three-day wedding in Miami.

Indeed, the former lifelong bachelor struggled to adjust to life as a fiancé, and it was revealed by RHONY star Bethenny Frankel on the show that he had cheated on Luann after the couple had a bitter fight at New York’s Regency Hotel — just days before their engagement party.

In the wake of the revelation, Luann, 52, admitted she had struggled with the betrayal but had ultimately found forgiveness for Tom, 50.

“It felt like someone ripped my heart out of my chest,” she told PEOPLE in December. “[But] I’m not going to let a stupid kiss ruin the rest of my life.”

FROM PEN: Highlights of Luann & Tom D’Agostino Jr.’s Wedding

And life seemed to be smooth sailing (often literally ) as of last month, when she told PEOPLE: “Married life is so blissful. I’ve had the best few months of my life. … Marriage has just been in amazing adventure. We travel together and join each other for work all the time and are inseparable and hardly apart.”

Of her cast mates’ speculation that there might be friction with her new husband, Luann added, “The other women are just drumming up drama, and I wish they could find their own happiness.”

The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.

• With reporting by LIZ McNEIL