Real Housewives of New Jersey star Melissa Gorga is opening up about the new season of the show, how she knew about Jennifer Aydin’s husband’s affair for years, and the current state of her and husband Joe Gorga‘s marriage.
Speaking with Us Weekly’s Getting Real with the Housewives podcast, Melissa shared that this season is all about relationships and the breaking down of walls.
“It’s a big season of relationships. There’s a lot of walls that are knocked down,” Melissa said. “Certain people that you thought had certain relationships probably did not and that explains why they act up so much.”
Speaking of relationships, in the final minutes of the explosive season 12 premiere of RHONJ, Margaret Josephs outed Jennifer’s husband Bill’s 10-year-old affair.
Apparently, Jennifer thought that no one knew of the affair that she discovered while pregnant. She had not even told her parents. However, Melissa is revealing people had been talking about it for years, and Margaret had finally hit her breaking point.
“I feel like people were talking about this for years,” she said. “But we were all very good people and even though, you know, she was saying what she was saying about other people’s marriages and she was really pinning Margaret [Josephs] up against a wall with saying she was a cheater, and she left her husband. It took everything in Margaret not to always say like, ‘OK, so what’s Bill?’ and I think finally it just came out and here we are.”
Melissa went on to say that she’s happy that Jennifer was able to own up to the affair as it could go on to help families in similar situations. However, Melissa admittedly said she wasn’t sure she would have been able to do the same thing if she were in the same position.
“I thought it was great that she admitted it. It happens in a lot of households and happens in a lot of families. I think it could be very relatable for a lot of women out there going through that,” Melissa explained. “I was happy that she owned it and said, ‘You know what? You’re right. Yes, this is what happened.’”
“I can’t say what I would’ve done because when you’re pregnant and you’re having newborns and babies and little ones, you do want to forgive,” Melissa continued. “I would say you’d forgive more than she would right now. I would say I’d probably forgive more when I was 30 and had a baby, but if you did that to me now, I might be like, ‘I gotta walk.’ I think that’s very normal. It’s unfortunate, but I think it’s just how life goes.”
As for her and hubby Joe’s relationship status, Melissa says she believes they are in a good place after last season and that the pandemic really helped to bring out their real feelings.
“I think we’re doing great,” she said. “The pandemic was a little rough. I think it brought out a lot of real feelings. But the pandemic was like were just sitting on the couch looking at each other and I’m like ‘I gotta lot to say!’ and he’s like ‘So do I!’ We’re so much better now, it was probably good for us to talk it through.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.