Melissa Gorga is clapping back at claims of having no storyline on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
During a new interview, Melissa, who is currently starring in her 10th season of the Bravo show, denied the fan-created idea before addressing her messy feud with Jennifer Aydin and Teresa Giudice‘s allegiance to her. Plus, she admitted that Luis Ruelas, who was recently deemed “aggressive” by the cast, likes to “be in charge.”
“I always think that’s so funny, even Andy Cohen always says it, he’s like, ‘Where did this whole storyline thing come from?'” Melissa told Entertainment Tonight on March 8. “The fans think unless your husband’s cheating on you, or you’re Erika Jayne, or you’re going to jail or you robbed a bank, then you shouldn’t be on the [Real Housewives].”
As Melissa noted, season 12 opened up with Teresa and her daughters talking about her and Joe Gorga.
“So what does that mean? Am I your storyline now?” Melissa wondered. “When you see, like, Jennifer and [Bill Aydin] or Teresa talking about us, does that mean I’m their storyline?”
During the latest episodes, things between Melissa and Jennifer were tense. And at one point, during a group event, they came to blows.
“I argue really well with someone who’s going to reason with me, even if we’re going to yell, but she goes to the ‘la la land’ place when she argues and she does very like, ‘Wah! Wah!’ Like that annoying thing,” Melissa said of her castmate’s style of arguing. “So in my soul, I want to grab her… But in my head I know that is not allowed, that my children are watching, that is not the right thing to do, and that you get fired as soon as you do that.”
“I would never touch her because that’s not my style,” Melissa continued. “I am not trying to play ‘Miss Victim’ or ‘Miss Innocent,’ I wouldn’t have put my hands on her though.”
Although there have been claims that Jennifer has gotten a “bad edit” on recent episodes, Melissa said the thought was “ridiculous.”
“I’m not in there trying to defend it, it’s a show,” Melissa stated. “We filmed it, it was real life, but it happened, we’ve all come to a different place.”
After admitting Teresa will never have her back like she does for her, Melissa spotlighted the friendship between Jennifer and Teresa, particularly in terms of how it related to her own relationship with Jennifer.
“You could see how bad Teresa did not want Jennifer to say that Teresa was on her side,” Melissa noted of Teresa’s stance amid her feud with her co-star. “Teresa kept saying, ‘No, you don’t mean this. You don’t mean any harm, right?’ It was funny to see Teresa almost pushing her and persuading her into wanting to make up with us.”
“I think Teresa was worried that she’s going to look bad if she’s staying friends with Jennifer, while Jennifer’s dragging our name all over the place and treating us like crap, when she’s on the other side asking us to defend her boyfriend,” she added.
After welcoming Luis to the show, Teresa has been highly defensive of her now-fiancé, which Melissa understands.
“She doesn’t want him to be like, ‘Whoa! I’m out of here, this is way too much for me,'” she explained.
However, when it came to the questions she and Margaret Josephs were asking of Luis, Melissa said the two of them simply wanted Luis to address his testosterone-charged video.
“Nobody was [coming for Luis]. We were just like, ‘We’re on a show here, everybody gets the questions, explain this funny video…’ It’s like, what’s the big deal?” she asked.
As for Luis’ personality, Melissa admitted he’s someone who likes to be in charge.
“[Luis] likes to be in charge, definitely,” Melissa agreed. “Secretly, I appreciate that about him. He has done this many times, having conversations with me, Joe and Teresa, he has definitely told [Teresa] to like, ‘Zip it,’ and she listens. And so it’s like, I appreciate him, I appreciate her listening to someone.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 12 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.