12
Credit: Instagram
Melissa Gorga is perfectly fine continuing to keep her distance from her sister-in-law, Teresa Giudice.
After remaining completely estranged for the entirety of The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14, Melissa, 45, said her relationship with Teresa, 51, isn’t worth fighting for as she teased a “dirty” finale, accused Teresa of a takedown plot against Margaret Josephs, 57, and shared her thoughts on Jennifer Aydin, 47, and Jackie Goldschneider, 47.
“I fought for so many years for other people. I, honestly — more than even myself — I fought for the family and for my husband and my kids, and I realized that it’s not worth fighting for, and I’m actually not doing them any favors,” Melissa admitted during a May 2 interview with Entertainment Tonight.
As if Melissa wasn’t already sure that being done with Teresa was in her best interest, she said that season 14 “puts a cork in” whatever chance was left.
“I think the finale is so dirty and just not good,” she teased. “It’s just a big no-no what happened.”
In a sneak peek at this week’s premiere, Teresa and Luis Ruelas, 50, were seen informing Dolores Catania, 53, and her boyfriend, Paul “Paulie” Connell, that, according to Frank Catania, 59, Margaret had attempted to rally the cast to take down Luis at the season 13 reunion. But, according to Melissa, pre-reunion meetings are not out of the ordinary.
“It’s totally normal,” she explained. “We had investigators investigating us! Of course, we’re gonna sit around and be like, ‘What are we doing with this guy?’ It’s actually extremely normal for Housewives … to get together with a couple of girls that you’re close to, just on a Friday night, and be like, ‘So what about this reunion?’ It wasn’t such, like, a planned event. Like, it’s just so crazy, you know, for her to make it sound that way. It’s just another one of those not-so-true things that she just spits out into the world to try to make it look like something it’s not.”
Melissa even suggested that Teresa has attempted to stage her own takedown.
“[She’s] asked me to join!” Melissa alleged. “They’ve literally called me to ask me to turn on Margaret at a reunion to keep the show about family. They are the biggest mechanical thing going on behind the scenes, and I was never a part of it. I said, ‘Absolutely not.’”
Now that her ongoing feud with Teresa is no longer at the center of the show, Melissa has been able to get closer to Dolores, Margaret, and Rachel Fuda, 33.
“Being on these shows, you need to trust your friends,” she noted. “It’s huge that I trust them.”
Melissa even tried to bond with Jennifer, although she’s understandably pumped the breaks on that relationship after learning that Jennifer was allegedly behind a number of story leaks in recent years.
“I’m embarrassed for some people right now, what’s going on with social media,” Melissa said of the shocking news. “It’s getting pretty embarrassing out there. They’re getting called out a lot, on a lot of stuff. They tried to hurt us, and … they were really down and dirty behind the scenes.”
Along with Jennifer, Teresa was also called out for planting negative stories about certain members of the show.
“[Jennifer] and I did make steps forward,” Melissa continued. “We truly did, and I was really trying to just move forward and separate her relationship with Teresa, and just have a relationship between her and I. But now, I’m reading all these things on social that are coming out, and I’m like, wow. Like, oh my God! Like, let me just protect myself here.”
“It’s never a good thing to go down the path,” she added. “I do want to give a message to the fans to keep it light, right? To just enjoy. I feel like, praise the ones you love, but let’s not bash the ones you hate. I have always kept that mentality with any fan account that has embraced me or embraced my family.”
One of the more surprising dynamic shifts that occurred amid filming on season 14 was Melissa and Margaret’s falling out with Jackie, whom they’d previously been close with.
“Margaret, she does her little play on words; she can be a little harsh at times,” Melissa said of Margaret, slamming Jackie as the “Judas” of their cast. “I think it’s Jackie’s choice, but I do think it’s weak. I think it’s weak. I think [it] doesn’t make a lot of sense. If you watch like the beginning of the season to the end of the season, it’s just random.”
After suggesting the series “friend” may have made nice with Teresa for more screen time, Melissa reflected on their past friendship.
“I just always thought so much of her,” Melissa recalled. “I really liked her, and I really, like, kinda grabbed her when she came in, agreed with the things she said. She always had my back, because she agreed with me — not to be any type of soldier, because she truly agreed with everything that I said and did — and so, her and I had a great relationship. And this is just so out of character for her, and just feels a little forced.”
Although Jennifer Fessler, 53, also seemed to join Team Teresa and Jennifer during filming on the upcoming episodes, Melissa hinted that wasn’t the case.
“Fessler is very tight with Margaret,” she stated. “Very, very tight with Margaret. I think that she was hearing the other side out, and she doesn’t have any hate for them, and she talks to them, but I think her and Margaret are the best of friends.”
As for Danielle Cabral, 38, it’s safe to say that she and Jennifer Aydin are no longer friends — especially after their September 2023 altercation.
“That’s Danielle’s story to tell, but I do think that she saw a lot of down, dirty — as she would call it — dirrrrrty, and she hits the nail on the head with that, and I think it was very uncomfortable for her,” Melissa suspected of what drove Danielle away from Jennifer and Teresa. “She started to feel the ick with things they would say to her, and do and demand, and … she was like, ‘These people are so dirty.’ Like, ‘I literally can’t do it.’”
Regarding the future of the show, which Andy Cohen, 55, said was “probably not” sustainable with her and Teresa estranged, Melissa said that whatever Bravo decides to do “is fine with [her].”
“I don’t make demands. I come to work,” she added.
Live Viewing Thread – This is also the live viewing thread for the RHONJ season 14 premiere! So please feel free to chat and comment below as the episode airs on Bravo at 8/7c.
