‘RHONJ’: Teresa Giudice Says Melissa Gorga Plotted to Get on Show By Contacting Show Producers
The Real Housewives of New Jersey has always been a show centered on family. And unfortunately, fans have watched the Manzo and Giudice/Gorga family break apart throughout their time on the show. Teresa Giudice blames the show for the issues in her family, claiming her brother and sister-in-law – Joe and Melissa Gorga – joined the show behind her back. It’s a claim they deny, but a former show producer collaborates Giudice’s story. Furthermore, he confirms Giudice’s recent revelation that before joining the show, Melissa began plotting to be cast by reaching out to him on social media.
Teresa Giudice has been adamant that her family joined ‘RHONJ’ without her knowledge
Giudice has been on the show since Season 1. She’s the only original housewife who remains on the cast. She says filming the first two seasons were fun for her, but once her family joined the show and their relationships fell apart, things took a dark turn.
According to Giudice, she had no idea her brother and sister-in-law would be cast. She shares the same sentiments about her cousins, who also joined the show. While she admits her family had ups and downs, she says airing their dirty laundry on television caused a permanent strain.
The Gorgas continue to deny that Giudice was in the dark about their casting. Her sister-in-law says she was approached by producers and auditioned for a spot, with Giudice in the know from the start. Giudice says she has remained silent out of respect for her parents, but she’s ready for the world to know the truth.
The ‘RHONJ’ OG says Melissa Gorga plotted to join the show by contacting producers on social media
Guidice insists she’s never told the full story about learning how her family would be joining the show. In a recent appearance on the Reality With the King podcast, she spoke with a former producer of the show and revealed Andy Cohen called her and told her that her family was cast on the show.
While reflecting on the whole ordeal, she says there were early signs that Gorga wanted to be on the show, but she never directly told her. Instead, Giudice says Carlos King gave her a heads up that Gorga began to contact him. She explained:
I remember in Season 2, you kept telling me, ‘Your sister-in-law keeps DMing me.’ It was Facebook or [Instagram] DM that she kept contacting you. And you’re like, ‘She keeps contacting me.’ And I was like, ‘Why is she contacting you? That’s so weird.’ And 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. Meanwhile, I was telling her everything that was happening on the show. She knew everything about Danielle. Her and Kathy [Wakile] knew everything that was going on because I was speaking to them. And then, once I got on the TV show, that’s when I got really busy. And then my family would be like, ‘What happened to Teresa?’ Because I wasn’t around as much as I was. And then that’s when all this jealousy happened.
Carlos King previously confirmed that Teresa Giudice was unaware her family was joining the show
King was a producer on the first two seasons of the show. The Gorgas joined the cast in season 3, along with their cousins Kathy and Rosie Wakile. At the time, the Gorgas alleged they were estranged from Giudice, which she denies. Kathy admits she didn’t tell Giudice she was joining the show.
King says Giudice is telling the truth, noting he witnessed everything firsthand. He explained in a previous episode of his Reality With the King podcast:
When they were asked to be part of New Jersey Housewives, they never told Teresa. Teresa found out through a producer. And she called me and asked me my opinion and the one thing I’ll say is Teresa wasn’t hurt that she didn’t know from her brother and sister, she was hurt because she knew ‘This relationship that I have with Melissa and Joe is very sensitive’ – and she knew in that moment she called me that their relationship will never be the same because it will all air out on the show, and it’s unfortunate because I do believe, in my opinion, that the dynamic of them being on the show together affected their relationship.
Gorga has denied Giudice didn’t know she was joining the show. Giudice didn’t want her on the show from the start and tried to ice her out from the group.
