Havy/Getty Melissa Gorga.
Melissa Gorga will soon have a new neighbor, and it’s a person that Bravo fans know well.
During a June 20, 2024 appearance on “Jeff Lewis Live,” the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star revealed that her husband Joe Gorga’s estranged cousin, Kathy Wakile, bought a lot across from her custom-built Franklin Lakes, New Jersey mansion.
Wakile was a full-time cast member on RHONJ during seasons three through five. Her sister Rosie Pierri also appeared as a “friend” and “guest” for several seasons. Wakile and Pierri had a falling out with Teresa Giudice and the Gorgas while filming the Bravo reality show.
Here’s what you need to know:
Melissa Gorga is Considering Paving the Way For a Reconciliation
GettyKathy and Richie Wakile: Melissa and Joe Gorga
During her interview with Lewis, Melissa Gorga was asked if she is on speaking terms with Wakile and her husband Richie.
“I have a funny story for you actually about that,” Gorga replied. “She…her and Richie just bought the lot on my street across the street from me and they are building a house diagonal from me across the street on my street, literally.”
“It’s funny everyone moves to my street,” she added. “Like, I lived on the other street first also and then, you know, my sister-in-law [Giudice] moved onto the street. And then now I’m on this street and now Kathy’s moving across the street.”
Gorga admitted that she hopes her husband runs into his cousin in the neighborhood. “Like I secretly hope Joe and Kathy are walking down the street one day and like bump into each other. Because at the end of the day Kathy’s a good person,” she said. “And I do think that he regrets it. You know, he did what he had to do at the time to back his sister up. But I really think he enjoyed Kathy. Kathy was a good cousin to him.”
Gorga noted that her family misses both Wakile and Pierri. She said she looks forward to her husband’s cousin living across the street from him. She also laughed off the fact that Wakile actually outbid her husband Joe for the property, which is located right on the lake in their pricey neighborhood. Gorga revealed that after Joe’s full price offer was rejected he learned that Wakile who had already been working with the realtor to get the lot.
Gorga told Lewis that she is considering facilitating a reconciliation between the cousins once Wakile moves in. “I’m going to do it because it is what I want for [Joe] and I think deep down inside he wants it too,” she said. “It’s not even like it’s a distant cousin you know, it’s a first cousin and her mother’s still here and doing well. So I just, it’s you know, Joe’s aunt I don’t know, that’s sad to me,” Gorga added.
Kathy Wakile Felt Like She Was Put in the Middle of a Family Feud
GetyNEW YORK, NY – APRIL 03: (L-R) Melissa Gorga, Jacqueline Laurita, Caroline Manzo, Kathy Wakile, and Teresa Giudice of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ attend the 2013 Bravo New York Upfront in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images)
Teresa Giudice long held a grudge about her brother and cousins joining RHONJ. According to People, Giudice’s aunt (Wakile and Pierri’s mother) even spoke out about her past legal troubles on camera.
“It’s sad that people, that your family, come on the show and do things and do nasty things for money and fame,” Giudice told The Daily Dish in 2016. “They put our family through the mud. It’s disgraceful.”
The RHONJ OG also addressed the family feud at BravoCon in 2019. “My family came on the show behind my back, and that was the worst thing that could have ever happened to me,” she said, 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.”
In an interview with Bravo TV for “Life After Bravo,” Wakile said she never thought she’d get thrust into a family feud with her cousins.
“I thought, ‘Sure, well, we may have some words, but we’ll be able to resolve it,’” Wakile said. “We never really had a real disagreement before. I never went on thinking that I was going to be like, on a side, you know? It was never supposed to be a side because we were one family.”
Despite the bad blood, in a 2021 interview with Us, Wakile said she‘s “open” to a reconciliation with her estranged cousins. “My door is always open, you know, I never closed doors, but, who knows,” she said. “I hope that everybody’s doing well.”
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