Getty Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
The trailer for the upcoming thirteenth season of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” was released on December 21, 2022. In the trailer, fans got a glimpse of Teresa Giudice’s ongoing feud with her brother, Joe Gorga, and his wife, Melissa Gorga. Notably, the Gorgas did not attend Giudice and her husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas’ August 6 wedding.
In the January 12, 2023, “Melissa Gorga on Display” podcast episode “Getting Down to Business w/Joe Gorga”, Melissa Gorga and her husband responded to the trailer. The mother of three addressed Giudice’s comment that Melissa Gorga always wanted to keep Giudice and her brother Joe apart and “she got her wish.”
The podcast host said she found Giudice’s comment to be “pretty disgusting.”
“It was so hard for me to hear those words come out of her mouth saying, like, ‘she finally got what she wanted’ when it’s such a joke to me to hear those words,” the 43-year-old said. “And it was everything opposite of what I’ve always wanted and what I’ve always tried to do.”
Melissa Gorga said RHONJ fans will not fully understand the Gorgas’ relationship dynamic with Giudice until the season 13 finale airs.
“There’s going to be so much that you guys don’t know until the end,” Melissa Gorga said. “The truth really comes out in the very last episode.”
The “On Display” singer said while she “believe[s] in forgiveness,” she’s learned that forgiving someone does not necessarily mean letting the person back in her life.
“It’s sad. Like, I’ll take the apology, but it does not necessarily mean that I’m ever going to let you back in,” she said.
She also alluded to being mistreated by other cast members in season 13.
“I know everyone loves to talk about the RHONJ and the Gorga-Giudice thing, right? But there’s other cast members that you’re going to see this season that I get close to, that I open up to, that I let in again,” she said. “And once again, I get slapped in my face.”
Melissa Gorga also teased viewers that they can expect the Gorgas to “speak [their] minds” in season 13.
“It’s a very different season for us guys, because we have, finally, put on our big girl panties and we’re just done with taking the b*******,” she said. “We don’t hold back this season, we speak our minds. We say our truth more than trying to put a blanket over it. We’re just done with the toxic.”
Melissa Gorga Spoke About Her Feud With Teresa Giudice in October 2022
While speaking to Us Weekly in October 2022 at the 2022 BravoCon, Melissa shared details about her falling out with Giudice. She said several events factored into her and Joe Gorga’s decision to not attend Giudice’s wedding.
“It wasn’t just one event,” the “Rockstar” singer said. “I think I knew certain things that I couldn’t say out loud and then at the finale, they came out and just energies rose. And it would feel really silly to go from that and then within 12 hours to be sitting in a pew. It would just not make any sense for us to even be there.”
Teresa Giudice Discussed Her Issues With the Gorgas in November 2022
Giudice discussed her issues with the Gorgas in an interview with E! News in November 2022, explaining that she’s “really big on loyalty and respect.”
“When you cross that line, it’s hard to come back from that,” the mother of four said. “Especially when it’s done on national TV. I mean, listen, I have friends that would never do some of the stuff that my family has done to me. So, when it’s family it just hurts deeper.”
Melissa Gorga said she finds it “baffling” that Giudice wants to keep bringing up the past after the two talked things out on Christmas Eve 2015, following Giudice’s release from prison.
“Her and I had a talk washing dishes in my kitchen, and I said, ‘Let’s never let anyone get in the way of us again, let’s never do this again.’ You know, I meant that,” the mother of three said. “I’m not going be mad at you in two months for something you did three years ago that we already talked about and that we already cleared up. It’s baffling to me that so many things are getting re-brought up right now, things that were from 10 years ago.”
On the podcast, Joe Gorga said that because his wife was raised in an “amazing family,” it wasn’t in her “bloodstream” to hold grudges.
“What you have taught me being married to you, you have taught me to forgive,” he said.
“But that’s who I am, and I know you’ve watched me do that throughout the years with your family as well,” she replied.
“Oh yeah, you took it on the chin,” he agreed. “You’ve got that good heart, you really do.”
In an interview with ET at Bravo Con 2022, Melissa Gorga said she felt things had gone “too far” with Giudice.
“For Joe and I, it’s just gone too far for us,” she said. “There were a lot of boundaries crossed. And I feel like we’ve tried many times and we feel defeated. There’s times when you just need to throw in the towel.”
In a December 2022 interview with People, Giudice said that going into 2023 she planned to avoid “Toxicity, definitely toxicity.”