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“The thing is, when you’re family, you can work through anything,” Teresa exclusively told Bravo Insider during a RHONJ Season 15 marketing photoshoot. She later added, “Families should always stick together no matter what…But we had a lot of outside people trying to hurt our family, and a lot of outside noise that affected us.”
The arguments over the years have been marked by accusations and rumors, and eventually led to Teresa’s estrangement from her brother, Joe Gorga and his wife Melissa. But now, Teresa promises going into RHONJ Season 15 that things are different, and the family is once again a united front.
“That’s what I want to be: unbreakable. I want everyone to know, like, no matter what you say to me, I’m never going to go against Melissa. Whatever you say to Melissa, she’s never going to go against me. Like, I want people to know that,” Teresa said. “I hate that it took this long, just because we lost a lot of time.”
Melissa shared her hope that their longstanding conflict would inspire other families to reconcile. “I don’t think it could have gotten any worse than Teresa and I were, and we’ve come full circle,” Melissa exclusively told Bravo Insider of where they stand today. “So, let us at least give hope to people out there.”
What was the origin of Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga’s feud?
Melissa and Teresa shed new light on the origins of their feud during The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th. Andy Cohen pulled Teresa and Melissa aside during the Bluestone Manor finale party to address Melissa’s original casting on RHONJ Season 3.
“It seems like the root of everything between you and your brother, between you and Melissa, was the way that this all started on the show,” Andy told Teresa. Teresa confirmed Andy was correct.
“I wish that my brother and Melissa would have just told me, like, ‘Listen, we got interviewed for Housewives.’ And I would have been like, ‘Okay,’” Teresa reflected in an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider. “Like, there was nothing I could have done. It was just, I hated the way it all started. Like, the way it all went about, because we would have worked it out, you know?”
Although Melissa argued that she’d told Teresa she was going to audition ahead of time, Teresa denied this version of events to producers.
“Absolutely not. She did not text me before the audition. No f–kin’ way,” Teresa said during RHUGT: Roaring 20th’s finale. “I got the phone call from Bravo. I never wanted to be on a show with my family. And, you know, I’ve gone through a lot with my family being on the show.”
Despite the disagreement, Andy and Melissa took the opportunity to apologize to Teresa for how the casting all went down.
Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga’s feud history on RHONJ, explained
Teresa and Melissa’s feud history on RHONJ is extensive, and includes sprinkle cookies, demands for public apologies and even wedding drama. Keep reading for more details on their various conflicts over the years.
The Gorga and Giudice families fight during a christening on RHONJ Season 3
Melissa’s introduction to RHONJ Season 3 began with a bang, when her son’s christening party quite literally erupted into a full-on brawl between Joe Gorga and Joe Giudice.
Teresa reflected on the baptism fight to Bravo Insider during the RHONJ Season 15 marketing shoot, and pointed to that as a turning point in her relationship with her brother and Melissa.
“When you don’t start with a strong bond, that’s what happens..like the christening, that was not a strong bond. And so we were broken already from that, and then that’s how it all started,” she said of their feud.
RELATED: Teresa Giudice Drops a Major Hint About Her Dynamic With Melissa on RHONJ Season 15
Sprinkle cookies drive a wedge between Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice in RHONJ Season 3
During RHONJ Season 3, Teresa opened up about why she was angry with Melissa, and in an infamous moment, Teresa revealed that Melissa brought sprinkle cookies to a Christmas Eve gathering, when in fact, Teresa’s favorite cookies were pignolis.
More than a decade after admitting that was part of their feud, Teresa conceded she could forgive Melissa for the cookie transgression on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2023.
Joe Gorga and Joe Giudice brawl in Lake George in RHONJ Season 5
During a cast trip to Lake George during RHONJ Season 5, Joe Gorga and Joe Giudice came to blows after Joe Gorga and Teresa exchanged words.
Teresa Giudice bans Melissa Gorga from visiting her in prison in 2015
Melissa wasn’t approved to visit Teresa in prison during the 11-and-a-half months she served in the Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut for bank, mail, wire, and bankruptcy fraud.
Teresa explained to Andy on WWHL more on the reason why she deliberately kept Melissa off her visitor list. “When I left, obviously, things weren’t the greatest between Melissa and I,” Teresa said, and later added. “I said to [Joe Gorga], ‘I really didn’t want to spend five hours sitting with Melissa and chatting with her in the visiting room.’”
Joe Gorga demands an apology from Joe Giudice at the RHONJ Season 11 reunion
Melissa and Teresa’s feud often extended to their entire family, and their tension was worsened by Joe Gorga bad-mouthing Joe Giudice, and arguing he was the reason Teresa ended up in prison. During the RHONJ Season 11 reunion, Joe Gorga demanded a public apology from his former brother-in-law, and then declared, “Listen, I’m done with Joe Giudice’s name.”
Teresa Giudice doesn’t ask Melissa Gorga to be a bridesmaid in her wedding
In March 2022, as Teresa was planning her wedding to Luis “Louie” Ruelas, she shared on WWHL that she planned to have eight bridesmaids, but Melissa would not be included.
Melissa responded to the slight on her podcast On Display. “Yes, I watched Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and I did find out on TV that I’m not gonna be in Teresa’s wedding and I’m not a bridesmaid, which I’m okay with, I’m fine with,” she said. “I understand, to each their own.”
Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice are not on speaking terms after filming the RHONJ Season 12 reunion
Melissa shared she and Teresa were no longer on speaking terms following the RHONJ Season 12 reunion taping when she appeared on WWHL in April 2022. She later agreed with an audience poll that she and Joe were only invited to Teresa and Luis’s wedding as an “obligation.”
Melissa and Joe Gorga skip Teresa Giudice’s wedding to Luis Ruelas in August 2022
Joe and Melissa decided not to attend Teresa and Luis’s wedding in August 2022, after Luis met with Joe to confront him about a rumor that Melissa was cheating on him. The confrontation played out on RHONJ Season 13, and led to Teresa and Joe’s estrangement after the reunion.
Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice address their estrangement at BravoCon 2022
Teresa, Melissa and Joe didn’t hold back about their family estrangement while at BravoCon 2022. During two separate panels, the brother and sister each blamed the other for their problems.
“I’m just hearing in the press that she says there’s no fixing our relationship,” Joe said, adding that “whatever [Teresa] says goes,” since she’s the eldest sibling.
For her part, Teresa said, “Family shouldn’t be acting this way. Right now, I just got married, I’m focusing on my children, I’m focusing on my husband.” She added, “This is not how I was raised. What’s going on is disgusting, it really is.”
Andy Cohen addresses “hate” between Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga during RHONJ Season 13 reunion
Tensions between Melissa and Teresa became so unbearable during the RHONJ Season 13 reunion, Andy admitted he almost walked off the set during taping.
“I’ve got to tell you, the level — I won’t even say vitriol, I will just say hate — between Teresa and Melissa, it’s… I mean, the gloves are off,” he said in an April 2023 episode of his SiriusXM show, Radio Andy. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And the way the two of them were going back and forth, it was that thing of neither wanted the other to have the last word in any petty fight.”
RELATED: Why Melissa “Wouldn’t Take Anything Back” on RHONJ: “I Fight for My Family” (EXCLUSIVE)
Where did Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga leave off after RHONJ Season 14?
The RHONJ Season 14 finale, which aired in August 2024, solidified Teresa and her family’s estrangement from Melissa, Joe and their children.
Dolores Catania attempted to gather the cast to hash out their issues in a fittingly named “last supper,” and it was Teresa and Melissa’s first interaction of the season. Despite Dolores’ efforts, arguments ensued, and the group left off on even worse terms, with Melissa seemingly acknowledging her relationship with Teresa was over.
“I’ve learned — and it might’ve taken me into my 40s to learn — that if someone doesn’t wish you well and someone doesn’t clap for you or want the best for you, then it’s time to remove them from your life. And I’m okay with that,” Melissa said at the time to Bravo Insider.
She doubled down on the “Off The Rails” special episode that aired after the Season 14 finale in lieu of a reunion. “There’s a lot of memories, good and bad. This [show] has been a part of my life since 2010. There’s just so many emotions when you watch it all, but what I see there is done,” Melissa said, and then declared, “My relationship with my husband’s family, it’s over.”
How did Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga and Joe Gorga reunite at BravoCon 2025?
More than a year after declaring their relationships over, Teresa, Melissa and Joe decided to reconcile, and made the announcement during BravoCon 2025. “We spoke. Yes,” Joe confirmed during the Jersey Boys panel, and added, “There are no more teams because it’s been too long, and it’s sad. It really is.”
“I want her in my life. I want my nieces in my life,” he concluded. “We need to be together. We met, and it was really sentimental, and it was nice.”
Teresa agreed that the families were trying to work it out. “Things are, you know, in a good place,” she said during the Reunion Round-Up panel. “I talked to my brother, first because I thought that was only right. He was really happy to see me. I was happy to see him.”
“I want him in my life. I want his wife in my life, my sister-in-law, my niece, and nephews in my life,” she continued. “Like, that’s the most important thing.”
As you wait for RHONJ Season 15’s December premiere, learn all of Andy’s thoughts on why now felt like the right time for RHONJ’s return with Melissa and Teresa.
