Teresa Giudice had a lot to say about her feud with Joe and Melissa Gorga during a recent appearance on former the Real Housewives of New Jersey producer Carlos King‘s podcast.
After claiming to be “done” talking about her troubled relationship with her sibling and his wife on a number of occasions in recent weeks, Teresa blasted the couple for bringing “darkness” to the show when they joined the cast behind her back for season three in 2011 as Carlos looked back on his first interaction with Melissa.
“I’ve been on Housewives for a long time, and it hasn’t been fun for me. Season one and two, I was just getting my feet wet, and then all the darkness hit,” Teresa recalled on the November 8 episode of Reality With The King.
According to Teresa, fans didn’t get to see the “real, true Teresa” on RHONJ because, “unfortunately, [her] family came on” just as she was getting comfortable with the cameras.
While Teresa and Melissa were previously in a war of words over the circumstances surrounding Melissa’s addition to the cast, Carlos came forward with the truth weeks ago while appearing on Heather McDonald‘s podcast, Juicy Scoop.
“I’m so happy that [Carlos] finally said the truth about how that happened because I’ve been wanting the truth to come out for over 10 years,” Teresa said in response. “I needed someone to validate the truth because it was her word against mine, and that’s why she got away with it all these years.”
Looking back, Teresa said it was Andy Cohen who called her to tell her that both Melissa and her cousin, Kathy Wakile, would be featured on RHONJ season three. However, prior to hearing from Andy, Carlos informed her that Melissa had been messaging him on Facebook.
“I was like, ‘Why is she contacting you? That’s so weird.’ That’s how naive I was. I wasn’t putting two and two together that she was trying to get herself on the show,” Teresa admitted. “And meanwhile, I was telling her everything that was happening on the show. Her and Kathy knew everything.”
Although Teresa was close to both Melissa and Kathy prior to joining the series, she said that once she was cast, “jealousy happened,” and noted that her “sprinkle cookie” feud with Melissa was her sister-in-law’s way of getting herself on the show.”
Speaking of what really went down, Teresa said that when she seemingly shaded Melissa for bringing the cheap dessert to her home, she was actually trying to do Melissa a favor.
“[Joe Giudice]’s whole family [was] over at my house, and Joe’s mother is the one who said, ‘Who brought these cookies?’ She’s like ‘Oh, your sister-in-law.’ And then my mother-in-law’s the one that threw them in the garbage,” Teresa revealed. “So here I am trying to be a good sister-in-law, and I’m telling Melissa… because Joe’s family’s kinda making fun of her because she brought sprinkle cookies in that plastic container instead of going to the bakery and getting real pastries… I’m trying to give her advice, like… ‘Melissa, if you’re gonna play the part, have a nice house, dress nice, dress your kids nice, you gotta bring nice desserts.’”
In his own segment, Carlos reflected on his first communication with Melissa, sharing that Teresa’s sister-in-law sent him a friend request in 2009 or 2010 because “she knew I was a producer” on RHONJ.
“I’m not going to disclose what the messages were because that’s being messy, but Teresa is right… It is true, Teresa did call me because she did receive a phone call that her sister-in-law and brother were doing the show, and she found out from the producers,” he explained. “Teresa was very emotional and nervous because… I felt that [she was] hurt by not knowing about it, and number two, [she was] just like, ‘What is going on?’ You kept saying to me, ‘I don’t want to fight with my family. That’s my family. I don’t want to fight with them.’”
“And I know for a fact that your mom and father, this is not what they want to see,” Carlos added of Teresa and Joe’s late parents.
“Exactly,” Teresa agreed, “And that’s why all these, over the past 10 years, I kept my mouth shut a lot. I could’ve went more crazier than I was because I was like, ‘This is not what my family’s really about and I don’t want to show America this.’”
According to Teresa, she would’ve loved to show what a loving relationship she and Joe once had if he and Melissa had “come on the right way.”
“Me and my brother were best friends growing up. Everyone used to be jealous of our relationship. We just always had respect for each other. My parents always used to tell us, ‘You only have each other, so you should always respect and honor each other,’ which we always did,” she recalled. “Where everything went to sh-t is… My brother and Melissa came on the show to become famous and because they’re getting a nice paycheck.”
Teresa went on to say that she “really didn’t” ruin their family, pointing out that Joe “went crazy” on her on the very first episode of season three before throwing some shade at Kathy.
“I don’t need my cousin to do that to me either,” she added.