‘RHONJ’: How Caroline Manzo Feels About Teresa Giudice’s Feud With Her Brother and Sister-in-Law, Joe and Melissa Gorga
Teresa Giudice has had major beef with her co-stars on The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Aside from her family drama, her longest feud has been with her former pal, Caroline Manzo. The two starred alongside one another for five seasons before Manzo left the show and got her spinoff. Manzo bore witness to the initial fallout between Giudice and her brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Melissa Gorga. She says she’s not stunned by the family’s recent issues.
Caroline Manzo explains the rift between her and Teresa Giudice
Manzo and Giudice were close friends until things were revealed to have fallen apart during the Season 3 reunion. According to Manzo, she was turned off by how Giudice tried to get her and other co-stars to mistreat her family once they joined the show. Giudice also minimized Manzo’s Italian heritage in one of her cookbooks and made comments referencing the choices of Manzo’s children. Manzo was livid.
During a chat with Bravo about her time on the show, Manzo explained that despite how things appeared at the beginning of the show, she and Giudice’s relationship was always a little distant. “I’m a lot older than all of them (Manzo is 11 years older Giudice), and she was friends with all of them [my sister and sister-in-law], and she would come over every now and again to swim in the pool with Gia at the time who was the only child she had – so I knew her very, very casually in that way,” she explained.
She also accuses Giudice of stepping on others in her rise to success. “When it became a competition for her…it was always Teresa, Caroline…I was just doing my own thing, I didn’t care, and until this day, I defy anyone who says I was anything but supportive to her,” she insists.
She says she is not surprised by the fallout between the Giudices and the Gorgas
Manzo claims Giudice later admitted that she felt betrayed by her after she befriended her family. Giudice’s brother, sister-in-law, and cousins joined the cast in the third season. Manzo says Giudice was adamant that she not be friends with them. But Manzo says she quickly learned that Giudice was the problem.
Despite such, Manzo tried to help them mend fences. Giudice even called on her personally for help, but it eventually backfired. In light of the recent estrangement between Giudice and the Gorgas, Manzo says she saw it coming.
“[It’s] inevitable, tragic, sad,” Manzo told Page Six at BravoCon 2022. She says the family is wasting time, especially with being able to have their children have close friendships. “The kids suffer in a very public way,” Manzo added. “And I just think it’s very sad.”
Her own family has been ruined by reality television
Manzo feels sadness for Giudice’s family situation because her own family has been negatively impacted by reality television. She and her sister Dina have been estranged for at least a decade. Manzo warned Giudice the same could happen to her if they continued on the show.
