‘RHONJ’: Is Teresa Giudice Reality TV’s Ultimate Mean Girl?
Reality TV typically has one star who behaves in a “mean girl” fashion. That translates to a female who engages in bullying or relational aggression, a type of indirect bullying. On the Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Giudice is that woman. But has the RHONJ star taken the crown as the genre’s ultimate mean girl?
Teresa Giudice’s behavior would make ‘Mean Girls’ Regina George stand up and take notice
In the feature film and Broadway play Mean Girls, Regina George was the most admired and feared young woman at her high school. Her cutting remarks and backhanded compliments were legendary.
On RHONJ, Teresa Giudice typically behaves the same way. And it’s unbecoming for a grown woman.
After raising four daughters, enduring a prison sentence, and experiencing several on-camera heartbreaks, Teresa should know better. However, she continues to act out against other women in the group by employing mean-girl tactics that cut to the bone.
She typically talks over others and makes rude comments about other women. She gossips and breaks trust with other castmates. And the crew’s not immune, as Teresa has flipped them off and thrown a drink at them.
Margaret Josephs, Teresa’s RHONJ castmate and arch nemesis, discussed their conflict on Access Hollywood’s Housewives Nightcap. “She means nothing in my life. Really means nothing in my life,” Margaret said.
“She was humble, sweet, and kind. The person she is today, I would never want to know,” she concluded. [Teresa] is not the person I met, and maybe this was the real her all along.”
Anderson Cooper once called ‘RHONJ’ star Teresa Giudice out for her mean behavior
In a 2012 interview on the daytime talk series Anderson, host Anderson Cooper welcomed Teresa Giudice as a guest. Teresa maintained that she was not the person portrayed in the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
“I’m not that person,” she admitted. “But you have to understand at the reunion show, I had four women attacking me. I did nothing to any of them.”
Cooper then asked Teresa about her remarks about castmate Caroline Manzo during the RHONJ Season 4 reunion. “You don’t need to say, no matter who’s attacking you, that they have three rolls of fat” on their stomach the newsman stated.
Teresa tried to defend herself by flipping the switch. “You know what she said to me?” she responded.
Cooper cut the reality star off and said, “I don’t care. You’re not 12 years old.”
He added, “I’m sure you’re a good person.” However, Cooper explained, “I get attacked online all the time. All day long.”
Teresa defended herself, saying, “I don’t always go back at people. I had to keep defending myself, and I’m tired of it.”
Teresa Giudice and Jennifer Aydin’s behavior is abrasive and mean during ‘RHONJ’ Season 14
Teresa Giudice found the perfect foil in castmate Jennifer Aydin. Together, they try to tag team against the other women.
Teresa, 51, and Jennifer, 47, started a new round of feuds during Season 14’s premiere episode. The women spread gossip regarding rumors they read on social media about co-star Rachel Fuda’s husband, John Fuda.
Rachel, in turn, told Entertainment Tonight that Teresa and Jennifer tag-teamed against Margaret Josephs during her first season on the Bravo series. “I understand where they’re coming from—and they’re validated in their feelings—but it just felt a little mean girl,” Rachel said.
“It felt like a little aggressive at that moment … it just didn’t feel appropriate at that point. I wasn’t at that point in my friendship with Teresa or Jennifer yet, and it was not for my benefit; I think it was for theirs.”
“I think I’m a little more classier– actually, I know I’m a little bit more classier, a lot more classier, than Jennifer Aydin,” Rachel continued. “So, I’m not going to stoop to her level and fight the way she fights. I have class, a lot more sophistication than she does and I have a better heart than she does.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo.
