Getty Melissa Gorga
Jennifer Aydin hit back at critics after “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” castmates and viewers called her and Teresa Giudice out for meeting with Laura, the former best friend of co-star Margaret Josephs. Laura claimed that Josephs had dug up dirt on the RHONJ cast members, including an accusation that Melissa Gorga cheated on Joe Gorga.
However, Aydin said she and Giudice, Melissa Gorga’s sister-in-law, weren’t intending to get Gorga involved and her intention had been to expose Josephs. “Unfortunately, Melissa happened to be the collateral damage in this,” Aydin told ET on February 28. She criticized what she said was a double standard and asked, “Why am I held to another standard? Why do I have to be holier than thou when they all tried to crucify me last year?”
Aydin said she was just the messenger in the whole situation and clarified that she doesn’t know if she believes the rumor about Gorga. “That was never the goal, to hurt Melissa,” Aydin said. “I feel sad, but listen: Ultimately, I don’t know this rumor to be true. Melissa should just be like, ‘You know, it’s not true. I don’t care what this person says…’ and brush it off.”
In fact, Aydin added that Gorga should be confronting Josephs about having had that conversation with her now ex-friend Laura.
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Jennifer Aydin Said the Meeting Wasn’t About Melissa Gorga But Showed a Pattern of Behavior in Margaret Josephs
The full impact of Aydin’s conversation with Josephs’s former friend hasn’t yet aired on RHONJ but it was a big factor in the publicized fallout between Giudice and the Gorgas. While speaking with ET, Aydin defended her decision to meet Josephs’ former friend by pointing out that Josephs was the one who revealed in season 12 that Aydin’s husband, Dr. Bill Aydin, had had an affair many years prior.
As viewers know, the topic of Bill Aydin’s past infidelity was one of the main storylines in season 12 and was the source of many fresh issues and tension in their marriage as well as a great source of tension between Aydin and Josephs.
“I mean, she repeated multiple times how much she loves my husband, and she likes Bill, and Bill’s a great guy… yet she didn’t care that this was ultimately his secret and him that you were embarrassing, not me,” Aydin said. She also argued that most of her castmates defended Josephs last season in their fight and they “kinda sat there last year telling me that I kinda got what I deserved.”
The mother of five added that all the cast members are the same and should be treated equally. “You don’t have to say you’re better than me, you don’t have to say I’m a hypocrite,” she argued, “we’ve all been hypocrites at times. This was never about Melissa. This showed a pattern. This showed a pattern.” In fact, Aydin said this was Josephs’ third time stirring the pot in that way.
Jennifer Aydin Said She Wanted Her RHONJ Co-Stars to Stop Trusting Margaret Josephs
Aydin said the latest drama involving the Gorgas was Josephs’ third time stirring the pot as she claimed her co-star was the first one to question the faithfulness of Jackie Goldschneider’s husband Evan in the past, in addition to revealing Dr. Bill Aydin’s affair.
“It’s always coming from Margaret,” Aydin told ET. “I just wanted [my castmates] to realize like, this is your friend. Maybe you should have a talk with your friend and tell her to stop saying these things to her friends.”
Aydin argued that even if she or Giudice had kept the information to themselves, the information was eventually going to come out because Josephs’ friend was “very adamant about getting her message across.” She said the lesson for her co-stars should be to “tread lightly around her, and not be so open and trusting.”
“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” airs on Bravo on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times.
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