And off he goes. Joe Giudice shared an emotional goodbye with his wife, Teresa Giudice, before reporting to the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey on Wednesday, March 23.
“Joe Giudice surrendered himself to the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix today at 12 p.m. to begin serving his sentence,” the Giudice family attorney, James J. Leonard Jr., tells Us Weekly in a statement. “His brother, his sister and several other members of the Giudice family, as well as myself, were present when he turned himself in to the prison, including Teresa. It was obviously a very emotional day, but this is a very strong family with a tremendous support system and they will get through this, just as they did when Teresa was away.”
The patriarch of the family wore dark jeans and a white T-shirt as he made his way to the facility. Teresa, visibly upset, wore a black top, jacket and sunglasses. The pair, both 43, held hands and shared a kiss and a hug prior to Joe’s incarceration.
Teresa will remain at the couple’s Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, mansion as Joe serves his 41-month sentence for fraud. The Turning the Tables author will look after their four daughters — Gia, 15, Gabriella, 11, Milania, 10, and Audriana, 6 — like Joe did last year while Teresa was in prison.
As previously reported, the RHONJ vet was released from Connecticut’s Danbury Federal Correctional Institution after 11 months in late December following her own stint for fraud.
Earlier this month, Teresa — who told Us she and Joe don’t speak of their legal woes in front of their children — revealed to Us what the couple’s brief three-month reunion has been like. “He’s been all over me since I got home. Joe wants to be together and cuddle all the time,” she told Us at a meet-and-greet event at Mount Airy Casino and Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on March 5.
Teresa and Joe may still get to cuddle. Back in February, she told Us that the pair “definitely made out” when she was at Danbury. “[Joe] was only allowed to come every other weekend, and every time he came to see me, our daughters were always there,” she said at Us‘ NYC headquarters. “The last 15 minutes, then our daughters would leave and then we would have only 15 minutes alone time.”
