Credit: JOHN NACION/startraksphoto, Shutterstock/Debby Wong
Jacqueline Laurita addressed whether Teresa Giudice is truly done with Melissa and Joe Gorga, shared her desire for Melissa to exit the Real Housewives of New Jersey, and claimed Melissa sabotage Teresa’s attempt to reconcile after prison.
The alum, who finally managed to make up with Teresa after a years-long feud, discussed where Teresa stands with Kim DePaola and Danielle Staub. She also addressed her sister-in-law Caroline Manzo potentially suing Bravo after an alleged incident on Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip involving Brandi Glanville.
In an interview with the Behind The Velvet Rope podcast, Jacqueline was asked if she believes Teresa is truly ‘done’ with Joe and Melissa.
“It feels like it’s different this time,” said Jacqueline. “I think once Melissa came in the picture, her life, things started changing in her life … You know, Melissa is definitely not innocent. She’s a little sneaky, sneaky. They both did things to each other. But it’s hard when you’re on a reality show, and you’re fighting on camera with your family. The things that her brother would say behind her back, I couldn’t imagine my brother doing that to me.”
The alum also shared that she’s tired of Melissa and Joe’s drama. “I would rather bleach my asshole than hear about the Melissa drama anymore. I feel like that’s done,” she expressed. “I would love for Melissa and Joe to be off the show and I would love to see Teresa being old Teresa, where she’s not under all that stress and be the fun Teresa that everyone fell in love with from the earlier seasons … I don’t really think Melissa brings anything to the show, to be honest with you.”
When asked what Melissa and Joe might do if they’re fired from the franchise, Jacqueline answered, “I mean, her whole goal was to be famous. So I’m sure she’ll keep trying to do something. I don’t know. I can’t picture them, him going back to doing construction. And she’s working at Envy … I feel like she wants to be famous so bad that she’ll do something, she’ll try to do something else.”
She then addressed Melissa’s recent interview on Watch What Happens Live, where she claimed to feel bad about her past drama with Kathy Wakile and husband Richie. “I think that [Melissa and Joe] are trying to rally their allies. I think that they’re like, ‘What if Teresa makes peace with Kathy? We better make peace with them before Teresa does. Oh, we better get Kim D. on our team before Teresa.’ They’re just like, ‘Oh my God, who else that we screwed up, screwed over is gonna start talking, and we better make amends with all these people, because we can’t have people talking about us and ruining our front,” she said.
Jacqueline claimed Melissa sabotaged her previous attempt to make up with Teresa after the prison sentence.
“When Teresa wanted to make up with me after prison, [Melissa] told me it was all fake, that … her attorney told her that the [production team was] worried that Teresa is on her own island. She’s gotta make up with cast members to be part of the show,” revealed Jacqueline. “So [Melissa] said, she’s gonna make up with you and me, but not Kathy. She’s gonna write us letters, and it is not real. And like, she really hates you.”
She went on to say, “And her brother said, like, believe me, she’s worse than before. She’s more angry than before. And so I didn’t believe it to be true when she wrote the letters about new beginnings. I’m like, off camera, I already knew it was, I felt it was fake. I was told it was fake. That’s why I went to her house. I told production, I wanna go to her house because I wanna feel, I wanna see if she really hates me but it [seemed] sincere and I was like, this is weird. I was told she hates me but she is acting sincere in us making up.”
Addressing the RHUGT allegations, Jacqueline revealed she was planning on being interviewed for Brandi’s podcast, but she canceled when the accusations surfaced.
“I have never met Brandi. I was supposed to do her podcast, but then I kind of canceled it when all that happened, because I just felt funny,” she said. “It would be in bad taste to do it. I’m just waiting to see, you know. I just know that for my sister-in-law it was very traumatic for her, and she’s upset. So, I don’t even know the whole story, so I’m just gonna have to wait for it to come out like everyone else, because I’m not gonna push it.”
Regarding whether Caroline will “sue” Bravo, Jacqueline expressed, “You could legit sue everybody and probably make a lot of money. I mean, I do not know what she is going to do, but I think I want to hear exactly what happened. That whole story and how bad it is.”
When asked if Caroline is staying quiet because she’s suing the network, Jacqueline answered, “Could be. I am trying to picture if I was at the Girls Trip and [Brandi] was, like, trying to do all that to me, I would just be, like, get the f**k off of me. What are you doing? Like what are you doing? I do not know how intense it was. I am a fighter. Especially nowadays. It’s unacceptable.”
According to Jacqueline, Danielle Staub contacted Teresa after her reconciliation with Jacqueline. “After Teresa and I talked, Danielle reached out to her and was like, I think we should sit down and talk. And Teresa was like, no. Been there, done that. She doesn’t want to sit down with Danielle. She already gave her a shot. She put her back on the show,” said Jacqueline, who is “sure” Danielle wanted her own viral moment.
Despite the apparent rejection of Danielle, Jacqueline indicated there’s “hope” for potential “peace” between Teresa and Kim D. “I think she would make up with Kim,” said Jacqueline. “I don’t wanna speak on her behalf … let’s just see what happens.”