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Teresa Giudice reunited with Joe and Melissa Gorga at BravoCon on Friday, sharing hugs and posing for photos.
Weeks after meeting face-to-face for the first time amid a years-long estrangement, the 53-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her husband, Luis Ruelas, 50, proved they’re in a much better place with Joe, 51, and Melissa, 46, as the latter two opened up about their recent meeting, confirming they’re “working on” mending their relationship and want their family back together.
“Now this is what we call ‘Turning the Tables,'” Hurrdat Entertainment wrote in the caption of a video of Teresa and Luis hugging Joe, giving a nod to Teresa’s podcast of the same name.
Around the same time, in a photo shared by Bravo, Teresa and Melissa were spotted posing with their arms wrapped around each other.
Since arriving in Las Vegas for the fan convention, Teresa and Melissa have spoken to a number of outlets about their recent meeting. And, in one, Melissa revealed she and her sister-in-law are “in a different place than [they] were a couple months ago.”
“We’re working on it,” Melissa confirmed to Extra. “We’re trying to move forward, and we’ve hashed a lot of things out privately without all of this, and I think that’s a good thing. We know that time is sensitive and you don’t want to waste it … You never want it to be a funeral or a wedding, or someone in the hospital. That’s not what we want. So this was more of a natural reason and reaching out for causes that we just want to fix it and we want to get back together and for the kids.”
According to Melissa, she’s “hopeful” that things between her and Teresa will be different this time around.
“I think we’re learning from our mistakes and we’re growing, and I think we all know that we’ve made mistakes, and I think that’s a huge part of it,” she explained.
Moving on to the 15th season of RHONJ, Melissa said she hoped to see new cast members join the show.
“I would love to stay, and I hope I do, but I think we need a little of both. I don’t think it works when they wipe the slate clean. I think [fans] like the familiar faces and we always need some new, fun, crazy, whatever, to jump in, so yeah, I’m excited,” she shared. “I hope it happens soon, though.”
In another interview, after noting that he and Teresa had “spoken,” Joe said he and his sister “need the Bravo family to put us together.”
“There are no more teams because it’s been too long, and it’s sad. It really is,” he stated. “I want her in my life. I want my nieces in my life. We need to be together. We met, and it was really, it was sentimental and it was nice.”
Melissa also spoke to Access Hollywood’s Housewives Nightcap about her and Joe’s meeting with Teresa.
“What we did and what we discussed was private. We definitely didn’t do it in front of any cameras,” Melissa confirmed. “I think there was a lot of hurt there. We’ve had a rough run the past couple of years, but I think we’re exhausted and sometimes you get exhausted of fighting and then you sit back and say, ‘Wait, what am I mad at exactly that has caused this much [drama]?’”
Although Melissa acknowledged that all parties felt that there was “a ton to be upset about,” they also believed it was time to work things out, not only for each other, but for their kids.
“I don’t want to teach my kids to have hate in their hearts or to look at a family member and not speak to them,” Melissa reasoned. “I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable walking past their cousins if they see them down at the Jersey Shore …. we’ve got to man up.”
“We just saw each other in the hallway. We said hello. Everything’s great. I think the hardest is over,” she added.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey has been on pause since August 2024.