Credit: Paul Emmans/NANCY RIVERA/INSTARimages
Joe Giudice is officially moving on!
A month after the former Real Housewives of New Jersey star finalized his divorce from his ex Teresa Giudice, he’s announcing that he’s in the early romantic stages of dating a special someone.
“I’m actually seeing a lawyer, yeah,” Joe said during an interview on The Wendy Williams Show on October 9. “[She’s] helping me out a lot out here, it’s good because I got a lot of things going on out here and she’s putting a lot of deals together for me. We’ve been seeing each other.”
He added, “I wouldn’t say we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, but we’re hanging out a lot.”
In terms of why things didn’t work out with Teresa, Joe explained that the distance was ultimately the deciding factor, noting that the split wasn’t exactly “by choice” and that they “fought and fought” about the situation.
“The distance. How it’s going to work? I’m over here, she’s over there? You know what I mean. There’s no way it’s going to work no matter where I’m at,” he shared. “She’s in Jersey and I’m somewhere else. What am I going to do? Pull the kids out of Jersey and bring them over here? Just won’t work.”
As RHONJ fans are aware, Joe is currently living in Italy with his family after being released last year from a correctional facility following a 41-month prison sentence for fraud. He was immediately sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement post-release, and then deported to Italy, causing host Wendy to wonder if he could ever return to the U.S. to live.
“First I got to get permission to come back so once I get permission to come back… you know I want to be able to come visit whenever I want,” Joe explained regarding his legal situation. “I don’t know if I want to live there again. But, I want to be able to come visit my mother, brother, sister, my kids, my nieces, I got everybody there, friends, I grew up there.”
The 48-year-old also confirmed that he hasn’t seen Teresa or any of his four daughters in 10 months since they came to visit last year.
“We talk every day,” Joe stated, even noting that he had a call with Milania later that day. “I was watching them play soccer yesterday through the phone. So, good thing for the phones. But it’s better to be there in person, but what are you going to do at this point. Right now, I wouldn’t be able to come there anyway.”
When it comes to their divorce, Wendy asked Joe if he would be getting fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of their Jersey mansion, which Teresa recently listed for $2.5 million.
“No no no, I gave her [that]. I signed everything off to her,” shared Joe.
For the time being, Joe is currently keeping busy with his YouTube series ‘This Old Villa‘ which documents his journey to renovate an old villa that once belonged to Teresa’s father.