Getty RHONJ sisters Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri
Joe Giudice teased that he may meet up with his ex-wife Teresa’s estranged cousins, despite the fact that she has written them off for good.
In a June 5, 2023 interview on the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast, the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star’s ex-husband revealed that he recently heard from Teresa’s cousins, Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri, and they caught up – and made possible plans to get together.
The Giudice patriarch is living in the Bahamas after being deported from the United States in 2018.
Here’s what you need to know:
Joe Giudice Said Rosie Pierri & Kathy Wakile Called Him on Facetime
While speaking with Yontef, Giudice revealed that his relationship with his ex-wife’s family dates back to his childhood in New Jersey.” “I’ve known this family …since we were kids,” Giudice said. “I’ve known Rosie since she was a kid. We were all kids. I mean, we all grew up in Patterson. My parents knew their family, their mothers and fathers. They all hung out at one point.”
He noted that Kathy Wakile’s husband, Richie, reached out to him seven years ago when he was released from federal prison after serving time for wire, mail, and bankruptcy fraud. At the time, Kathy did not want to speak to him, but Giudice said things have changed.
“As a matter of fact, they just called me,” he added. “I just spoke to Rosie a couple days ago. She was down in Florida with Richie, and I actually saw Kathy, and she came out and said hello as well. So, I mean, what am I gonna do? I mean, I am not gonna talk to them over a show? I mean, come on.”
“They called me on FaceTime,” Giudice added. “So they were in Florida because Richie’s got a place there in Florida, I think Fort Lauderdale, and they just called to say hello. And Rosie was saying hello.”
Giudice clarified that he never had anything against his ex-wife’s cousins and that he was often put in the middle of their drama. He also dished that during his recent call with them, they even talked about coming to the Bahamas to see him.
“They were talking about it,” he said. “I mean look, if they come, I’ll have a drink with them and hang out. …I mean, why not? I’ve always been friends with them. I’ve known them forever …Whatever happened on the show happened …it’s not a big deal.”
Giudice added that amid her feud with her brother, Joe Gorga, his ex-wife really has no family aside from her four daughters and her new husband, Louis Ruelas’, family.
“I mean, her mother and father died,” he said. “As far as siblings, what does she got? She’s got her brother, you know what I mean? She doesn’t talk to her cousins. … I mean when we were together, we had a huge family. You know what I mean?”
Teresa Giudice’s Feud With Her Cousins Kathy Wakile & Rosie Pierri Started When They Joined RHONJ in 2011
Bravo / YouTubeTeresa Giudice
Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri first appeared as “guests” on RHONJ more than a decade ago, where they were introduced as the cousins of Teresa Guidice and Joe Gorga. Wakile later scored a full-time role on the show while Pierri appeared sporadically as a friend. But Teresa Giudice held a grudge about her cousins joining the show, just as she did with her brother and sister-in-law, Melissa.
“My family came on the show behind my back, and that was the worst thing that could have ever happened to me,” Giudice said at BravoCon in 2019, per Us Weekly. “That’s why I don’t speak to Kathy anymore. I’ll never speak to her or Rosie ever again because I don’t want family like that.”
According to People, the family’s personal drama intensified when Wakile called Teresa’s father “a coward” and her mother “a f***ing liar” during the RHONJ season 4 reunion. Wakile and Pierri’s mother, Maria, also spoke out about Teresa’s legal troubles on camera.
Teresa ultimately told her cousins she wanted to “cut the cancer” out of her life as she parted ways with them. “There was a time when I had a relationship with Kathy and Rosie. They haven’t treated me well and I don’t want that around,” Teresa said in a confessional.
Teresa accused her cousins of coming on the show and doing “nasty things for money and fame.” “They put our family through the mud,” she told The Daily Dish in 2016. “It’s disgraceful.”
In a 2021 interview with Us Weekly, Wakile said she‘s “open” to a reconciliation with her estranged cousin. “My door is always open, you know, I never closed doors, but, who knows,” she said, “I hope that everybody’s doing well. You only wish the best for people.”
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