Getty Andy Cohen poses with Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga.
Andy Cohen said the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” is at a major crossroads.
Just a few weeks after the volatile season 13 reunion taping took place in New York City, the Bravo host made it clear that things aren’t resolved between feuding in-laws Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga and hinted that it may be impossible for them to film together in the future.
So does that mean there will be a major cast shakeup?
Here’s what you need to know:
Andy Cohen Said There’s ‘Several Options’ For RHONJ Season 14
BravoTHE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW JERSEY — Season:13 — Pictured: (l-r) Rachel Fuda, Margaret Josephs, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Teresa Giudice, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral
Cohen opened up about the status of the New Jersey-based Bravo reality show while speaking on his friend Kelly Ripa’s “Let’s Talk Off-Camera” podcast on May 31, 2023.
The 13th season of RHONJ starred Giudice, Gorga, Margaret Josephs, Dolores Catania, Jennifer Aydin, “friend” Jackie Goldschneider, and newcomers Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda. But on Ripa’s podcast, Cohen pointed to the ongoing conflict between Giudice and Gorga and said it’s unclear if both women will return next season – or just one.
“We have to figure out,” Cohen told Ripa. “We’re at a crossroads with Jersey and there are several options because they’re both wildly popular. They’re both really popular and they’ve both been on, I mean you know Melissa’s been on television for 10, 12 years.”
Cohen noted that the sisters-in-law have both been walking around with hurt feelings for years. While the Gorgas’ decision to skip Giudice’s August 2022 wedding to Louie Ruelas was the straw that broke the camel’s back, the beef goes back as far as the Gorgas’ wedding day nearly 20 years ago.
“I think they’re both walking around with the institutional knowledge that they both have and the institutional hurt feelings, especially Teresa,” Cohen said. “Teresa let out at the last reunion that she was mad at Melissa for not changing her wedding date because Teresa was pregnant at her wedding and she was a bridesmaid. She didn’t like how she looked. So this is now going back for 15 years… I mean, she’s clearly not over it.”
“I know that there’s some fatigue about their dispute, but I think what’s interesting about it is they’re both a little right,” Cohen added. “I think they both have really good points and I think that’s why it’s not so clearly cut about whose side to be on.”
Teresa Giudice & Melissa Gorga Have Both Said They’re Not Going Anywhere
Heidi Gutman/Bravo/Charles Sykes/BravoMelissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice at the 2022 BravoCon.
There have been rumors that Giudice said she refuses to film with the Gorgas amid the family’s falling out. In February 2023, former RHONJ star Kim DePaola told the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast that after Giudice’s had lunch with Jacqueline Laurita in Las Vegas, she was told Giudice has vowed to never film with the Gorgas again.
“Teresa basically said, and this is a drop-the-mic moment, ‘I am never going to film with my brother and my sister-in-law again. They are not riding on my coattails ever again,’” DePaola claimed. “She is done.”
DePaola added that the Gorgas are “trying to hold on for dear life” by hanging out with Josephs, Goldschneider, and the RHONJ newcomers, but that their storyline has always been about their feud with Giudice.
Giudice has made it clear that she will be back for season 14 no matter what. In an episode of her “Namaste B$tches” podcast, Giudice said “haters” are planting stories about her stepping down from the show she has been on since 2009. “That’s other Housewives on my TV show putting that out there,” she has. “Of course, I know who it is. So they’re putting that out there because… I know exactly who it is.”
“I started the show,” she added. “I won’t leave until Bravo wants me to leave.”
According to Life & Style, Gorga made similar comments about her future on the Bravo reality show. “I never run away when the going gets tough, that’s not my personality,” she said during a May 2023 episode of her “On Display With Melissa Gorga” podcast. “Our family has been through ups and downs for so many years on this show. I have never left before and I have no intentions on leaving now.”
But the Envy boutique owner did admit she doesn’t know how she will be able to “coexist” with Giudice on the show.