Joe Gorga stormed offset in the middle of the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion.
An insider tells Reality Blurb Joe declared he “quit” the Bravo reality series amid a conversation about his relationship with niece, Gia Giudice, 21, who he feuded with throughout season 12 due to the things he had said about Gia’s father and his ex-brother-in-law, Joe Giudice.
Joe was “so upset over the family drama with Gia” that he stormed off the set after host Andy Cohen “wouldn’t let up” on the questions about his feud with Gia, a reliable source revealed to Reality Blurb on April 9.
Following his exit from the set, Andy begged Teresa Giudice to go after her brother.
And while Teresa did as requested, having gone to speak to Joe behind-the-scenes, it isn’t known whether the conversation they had with one another was filmed or not. That said, the source did claim that Joe did not ultimately quit RHONJ.
News of Joe’s storm-off comes just days after former cast member Kim DePaola appeared on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast, where she shared the news of his set exit.
“[Joe] storms off the stage [during the reunion]. He storms off, and Andy makes Teresa go chasing after him,” Kim revealed at the time. “I heard it was ugly. Like, really bad. Really bad,” she shared. “Joe Gorga is really over it. He just really is over it.”
According to Kim, the incident “worried” Andy, who reportedly said, “We can’t lose this guy.”
“I guess something must have happened that Andy felt Teresa needed to go get him,” she said of the “ugly reunion,” noting that she doesn’t think Joe is “leaving the show for good.”
Margaret Josephs also spoke to Page Six about the reunion’s walk-off, saying viewers will be “shocked to know who it is” earlier this week.
While appearing on Melissa Pfeister’s Side Piece podcast in March, Joe admitted that he was “shocked” by his on-screen drama with Gia and revealed that he didn’t film for some time due to their upsetting encounter and actually considered leaving the show entirely.
“I’ll deal with my sister. I’ll deal with my brother-in-law. I’ll deal with all that nonsense, right? But not my niece. You know what that did to me?” he said. “I wasn’t filming after that. I didn’t film for, I don’t think I filmed for a month. Three weeks. I was quitting…. I was like, ‘I’m not doing this. I’m not going to sit on the show and argue with my nieces now.”
As for where they stand today, Joe said, “We’re okay. I mean, listen. Is it okay? I mean, deep down inside you look at ’em like, ‘do you really feel that way?’”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 12 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.