Getty Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice in June 2022.
“Real Housewives of New Jersey” personality Melissa Gorga and her husband, Joe Gorga, began starring on the Bravo series during its third season. According to Page Six, Teresa Giudice claimed that her brother and sister-in-law got on RHONJ without informing her. Melissa, however, has maintained she did not go behind Giudice’s back to become a Bravo star.
While recording the December 31, 2022 episode of the “Behind The Velvet Rope” podcast, hosted by David Yontef, former RHONJ personality Kim DePaola weighed in on the matter. She claimed that Melissa has not been truthful about her RHONJ casting.
“Melissa, lying, lying, lying, ‘they knew – Teresa knew I was coming on the show. Teresa knew’ — no she did not. Stop it,” stated DePaola. “She should come out and say ‘listen, I will do whatever I d*** well please. I wanted to be on the show, they got me on the show, I’m on the show, f*** you Teresa, I’m on the show,’ but instead, oh no ‘she knew,’ no she did not.”
DePaola then claimed that Giudice had called her in distress before filming RHONJ season 3, episode 1.
“I was on the phone with [Giudice] the night before the christening, she was freaking out. Freaking out. She did not know, so stop,” said the 61-year-old.
Teresa Giudice Spoke About Melissa Gorga in November 2022
Giudice appeared on a November 2022 episode of former RHONJ producer Carlos King’s podcast, “Reality with The King.” During the podcast episode, King acknowledged that he informed Giudice that Melissa had messaged him on social media before she was cast on RHONJ.
“Like I remember in season 2, you kept telling me, you’re like, ‘Your sister-in-law keeps DMing me’ and I was like — or was it Facebook or DM that she kept contacting you, Facebook, because this was Facebook time, and you’re like, ‘She keeps contacting me.’ And I was like, ‘Why is she contacting you? That’s so weird.’ I didn’t even back then, that’s how naive I was, I wasn’t putting two and two together that she was trying to get herself on the show,” said Giudice.
The mother of four went on to say that Melissa was privy to information about the RHONJ cast before she joined the Bravo franchise.
“I was telling her everything that was happening on the show. She knew everything about Danielle [Staub],” stated the reality television personality.
Melissa Gorga Claimed She Did Not Get on RHONJ Behind Teresa Giudice’s Back at the 2022 BravoCon
The Gorgas answered fan questions at a panel during the 2022 BravoCon, which was held the weekend of October 14, 2022. During the panel, an audience member asked Melissa, “Why did [she] join the show knowing that it would likely intensify and worsen the conflict already in [her] family?” The mother of three replied that “the getting on behind the back thing is 100 percent false and untrue.” She asserted that Bravo producers “approached [her] to join” the series.
“I took an opportunity, I auditioned,” said Melissa.
She then asserted that “no one owns ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey.’”
“You can’t let anyone tell you what to do or claim you, you have to live for you, you have to take — and I didn’t come to argue with anybody,” stated the 43-year-old.
The thirteenth season of RHONJ will premiere on February 7, 2023.