Heavy/NBCUniversal The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast members
Teresa Giudice hit back at the rumor that began circulating after the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” reunion that her husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas tried to date “Real Housewives of Miami” star Alexia Nepola first.
While speaking with Page Six at BravoCon 2023, Giudice blamed her estranged sister-in-law Melissa Gorga for starting the rumor. “My sister-in-law put it out there,” Giudice said. “She’s the one that started it.”
Giudice said she and her husband are close with Alexia Nepola and her husband Todd and have gone on double dates and traveled together. Ruelas shared that it was “just a rumor” and “there’s no truth behind that at all.”
At the RHONJ season 13 reunion, Gorga claimed that Ruelas knew who Giudice was before they met and knew Nepola too. “He knew who you were when he met you, Gorga said. “He knows Alexia too… It was before he met you.”
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Alexia Nepola Denied the Rumor During a Recent Appearance on ‘Watch What Happens Live’
Nepola recently spoke about the rumor when she joined Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” on November 1. A caller to the program asked her about it and she confirmed that they met each other before Ruelas met Giudice but Ruelas wasn’t trying to date her and she was with her husband Todd Nepola the whole time.
“We [first met] each other in Barcelona — but I was with Todd — before [Luis] was with Teresa,” Nepola explained, as she was there was “absolutely no” truth to the rumor. “We were just talking, we were staying in the same hotel, and he was just being nice and friendly,” she added. “I get a lot of attention because of my kids.” In fact, Nepola explained that they both spoke about raising their children as they could relate to each other’s situations.
Ruelas has a son who has autism, while Nepola has been open on RHOM about raising her son Frankie, who suffered permanent brain damage after a near-fatal car accident at 13 years old.
“For whatever reason, we saw each other again in some other country that we were traveling [to],” she then added. “I was with Todd the entire time,” she added in response to Cohen’s surprised reaction. “Todd saw the whole thing so it wasn’t like he was hitting on me, he was just talking to me.”
“Why does anybody wanna make it more than what it is?” she added. “People are suspecting like, he had an agenda and he knew who [Teresa] was.” Nepola said she probably thought Ruelas did know who Giudice was because she’s well-known, but said she didn’t believe he had an agenda about meeting her.
Alexia Nepola & Teresa Giudice Partied Together at BravoCon 2023
Giudice, Ruelas and Alexia Nepola are good friends and they didn’t let the rumors bother them as the reality stars partied together at Delilah in Las Vegas after the first day of BravoCon.
Heavy was on site and reported that Giudice, Ruelas and Nepola were joined by Giudice’s RHONJ co-stars Jennifer and Bill Aydin, “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Meredith Marks, and Nepola’s RHOM co-star Lisa Hochstein. The reality stars stayed at the lounge until just before closing.
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