Teresa Giudice Reveals Why She Forgave Jackie Goldschneider & Not Margaret Josephs

Heavy/Bravo/Peacock Jackie Goldschneider. Teresa Giudice, Margaret Josephs of RHONJ.

Teresa Giudice set the record straight on why she was able to forgive Jackie Goldschneider and not Margaret Josephs in the aftermath of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” season 14 finale.

On an August 2024 episode of her podcast, “Turning the Tables,” Giudice reiterated that Goldschneider wanted information to protect herself, whereas Josephs had no reason to talk to Reiser.

During the season 14 finale luncheon filmed at Rails Steakhouse, Josephs dropped the bombshell that Goldschneider previously invited Louis Ruelas’s ex-fiancée, Vanessa Reiser, over to her house to get dirt on Ruelas. The secret meeting took place behind Giudice’s back in 2021. Giudice married Ruelas in 2022.

During the finale, Josephs also admitted that she spoke to Reiser, but insisted she did not leak negative stories about Ruelas to bloggers.

Teresa Giudice Said She ‘Never Did Anything’ to Margaret Josephs

On her podcast, Giudice explained her stance on the situation. “I understand why Jackie did what she did,” Giudice said. “She did that because she was hurt by what I did to her. She was that I told her that I heard this rumor about her husband. So, I get it when you punch someone, they’re going to punch you back.”

Giudice was referring to a time when things weren’t good between her and Goldschneider. In 2021, Giudice repeated a rumor that Goldschneider’s husband, Evan, cheated on her with a woman at his gym.

On her podcast, Giudice continued, “So she ended up meeting with two people…one person [who has] been harassing our life for the past four years. And so I guess Jackie felt the need to meet with them. She told me exactly. She’s like, ‘I met with them, so I had something in my back pocket just in case you came forward and said other things.’”

Giudice admitted that she made a veiled threat during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live”  that upset Goldschneider. In 2021,  Giudice told host Andy Cohen that she could pull “receipts” on who told her about the alleged affair. She later apologized and reconciled with the Goldschneiders.

“I said something on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ which triggered her, so she’s like that’s why she met with them and had them at her house,” Giudice explained on her podcast. “And then so she’s like, ‘I just met with them, but I didn’t tell anybody I met with them.’ I guess she listened to whatever they had to say and she’s like, ‘I just kept it in my back pocket.’ Just in case if I came forward and said anything else.”

“And I was just like, ‘Okay.’ I was like ‘I get it,’ and that’s why I totally understand,” Guidice added. “But she never even told her cast members that she was hanging out with at the time that she met with them. …She didn’t tell a soul. And obviously, she never did any with the information.”

Guidice insisted she “wasn’t trying to hurt Jackie” with the gossip about her husband but noted they also “weren’t friends at the time.” But she defended Goldschneider’s decision to have “something in her back pocket” in case she needed it against her—unlike Josephs.

Refusing to mention Josephs by name, Giudice continued, “That’s the difference between Jackie and this other person is because Jackie, I get it. She was hurt, she hurt me back because I hurt her. This other person I never did anything to her. Never. I thought we were friends. Like I thought we were friends, so that’s why I couldn’t believe it.”

Jackie Goldschneider Said She & Teresa Hurt Each Other ‘Many Times’

Goldscheider has admitted that the road to her now-close friendship with Giudice was not easy. During an episode of her newly launched podcast, “Just Jackie,”  she reflected on her years-long feud with the RHONJ OG.

“We have just both hurt each other so many times,” Goldschneider said of her and Giudice. “We’ve been vicious to each other for so many years, and yet we chose to forgive each other and to move forward. …It felt right.”

“Teresa and I got together with our husbands, we talked about it off camera,” Goldscheider said. “We apologized to each other for it, we apologized to each other’s husbands, and we decided to move forward. We have a really nice friendship that continues to grow off-camera.”