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‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ Recap: Teresa Giudice Confronts Melissa Gorga for Not Being ‘Genuine’

Out with the old and in with the new! On the Sunday, July 17, episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, the ladies were in full holiday swing and preparing to ring in 2016. Though things were still unsettled between Jacqueline Laurita and Teresa Giudice, Jacqueline became emotional watching Teresa’s lawyer make a statement upon his client’s safe return home. As the attorney noted that Teresa was “looking forward to a nice, quiet, low-key holiday with her family,” Jacqueline began to cry.

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Despite her outpouring of emotion, however, Jacqueline admitted to newbie Housewife Dolores Catania that she really couldn’t tell if Teresa wanted to be friends or not. “The door was slammed in my face,” Jacqueline recalled with a sigh. Still, she seemed receptive to possibly reopening it — if Teresa was game.

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Teresa Confronts Melissa on Christmas Eve

Like Jacqueline, Melissa Gorga was also working to navigate the waters with Teresa — and when her sister-in-law came over for a Christmas Eve party, the hostess wasn’t sure what to expect. Much to Teresa’s brother’s fear, she followed Melissa into the kitchen to have a chat. Things started out calmly enough as Teresa explained she just wanted to get back to how they were when Melissa and her husband, Joe Gorga, first married. “I know how my brother is. He would love for us to be close,” Teresa said. “I want you to be like my sister.”

Melissa was receptive but noted that she didn’t want Teresa to reach out only for her brother’s sake. “Sometimes I feel like it’s surface,” Melissa added of their relationship. “Like we can’t really get there all the way.” This clearly rubbed Teresa the wrong way.

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“Believe me, if you are genuine, I can feel it,” she snapped, prompting Melissa to say that she loved Teresa like a sister. “Then show it to me,” Teresa said. “I do,” Melissa insisted. That’s when the conversation took a turn as Teresa brought up the christening, when things all started to go wrong.

“That 6-month-old baby is now in kindergarten,” Melissa commented to the camera with a shrug before noting that maybe it was  time for Teresa to let it go. Face-to-face, however, Teresa and Melissa continued to review the various times and ways they had fallen short of having each other’s backs. It got a little heated, but before it boiled over, they shook and made up … much to everyone’s relief.

Joe Doesn’t Want a “Part-Time Wife”

Despite the holiday cheer, there was still tension between Melissa and Joe, however (though for once it had nothing to do with his sister). Seeing Melissa’s storefront coming together, Joe lamented, “I don’t want you to work. I want you home. I didn’t want a part-time wife.”

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Melissa bit her lip, since there were other employees around, but confessed to the camera that her husband was embarrassing her. “I’m like a single parent,” he whined, commenting that his breasts were leaking. It all seemed a little dramatic, but Melissa just rolled her eyes. Still, this looked like it was just the beginning of a point of conflict between them.

Joe Giudice Calls His 14-Year-Old Daughter a “Pain in the Ass”

Both Teresa and Jacqueline hosted parties to ring in the new year. Jacqueline had Kathy Wakile, her husband, Richard Wakile, and her sister Rosie Wakile over, plus Dolores and a few others. Meanwhile, Teresa had 36 of her closest family and friends, including Melissa and Joe. One person who wasn’t excited about Teresa’s holiday bash, however, was her daughter Gia, who was lobbying to go out with friends — which Joe Giudice was not happy about.

“She’s such a little pain in the ass with her and her friends,” Joe snapped. Teresa thought Joe needed to “cool it” a bit, but did try to smooth things over with Gia by encouraging her to be home by midnight. Gia, though, wasn’t having it.

“If she’s not home before New Year’s, there’s going to be a problem,” he said to his wife. “If you weren’t here, she would be staying here. She wouldn’t be going nowhere.” When Teresa tried to parlay that message to their teenage daughter, however, Gia simply screamed that she wasn’t going to be home by midnight and stormed off. “She’s got a lot of f–king balls,” Joe said as Gia slammed the door.

Real Housewives of New Jersey
The ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ season 7 cast, L to R: Dolores Catania, Siggy Flicker, Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga and Jacqueline Laurita.

Teresa Calls Jacqueline

In one of the more bizarre moments of the night, Teresa called Jacqueline to wish her a happy new year. (This was prompted by Dolores leaving Teresa’s party to head to Jacqueline’s soirée, just to be clear.) The call started out OK, with Teresa explaining that it was a new year, so she wanted to start a “new beginning,” which Jacqueline said was a nice thought. But when Teresa realized Jacqueline had her on speakerphone, the ex-con’s tone changed dramatically, and she shifted gears to talking about how many people were at her party. (In other words, how many other people she invited when she hadn’t invited Jacqueline.)

“This was f–king weird,” Jacqueline said when she hung up, noting that Teresa had seemed cold. “I didn’t get a sense of a connection with her at all.” Rosie commented that her new tagline for 2016 was, “I don’t give a s–t about nobody but myself.” Umm … that’s the spirit.

On a bittersweet note, Gia made it home shortly after midnight and gave her dad a huge hug. “I love you,” she said through tears. “You got to do the right thing while I’m not here,” Joe said, referencing his impending imprisonment. Teresa watched them embrace and commented that while it would be hard while Joe was away, the family would stay strong because they had each other.

Tell Us: Do you think Teresa and Jacqueline will make up?

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo Sundays at 8 p.m. ET. 

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