Joe Giudice revealed the moment he knew his 20-year marriage to Teresa Giudice was over after she refused to let him share her bed when she and their daughters visited him in Italy.
“My ‘AHA moment!’” he captioned a clip from the upcoming finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey that shows the couple, both 47, talking uncomfortably as Teresa tells him she doesn’t want him to spend the night with her, despite them being separated for four years while Joe was in prison, serving time for fraud.
“That was my moment of insight. I felt rejected,” he continued in his Instagram post on Saturday, February 22. “This is the first time while filming a scene, I had severe anxiety and grief. I was [locked] up for four years, any human would have a psychological impact of prison life. This was the moment, I knew deep in my heart she was being difficult with me for a reason. My wife has never said no to sleeping with me. I had to walk away. I don’t have resentment against her (her emotions are justified). it was off guard should have been private.”
Referring to their four daughters — Gia, 19, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10 — the businessman added, “I realized I must be responsible for only my kids that’s what matters. I want to provide, encourage, embrace them with my love in limited time together.”
Teresa and Joe, who is living in his native Italy while he waits on a verdict in his appeal against his deportation, announced their separation in December 2019.
In the clip from the season 10 finale, which airs on Bravo on Wednesday, February 26, Joe and Teresa are talking as she and the girls settle into their hotel in Sala Consilina, Italy, for the night.
As the cookbook author unpacks, she asks him, “Are you sleeping here tonight? Do you want to stay with the girls?”
“The beds are little,” he responds.
“Were you expecting to sleep with me?” Teresa replies.
“I mean, we got 20 years in our marriage,” Joe says.
“We haven’t been together in almost four years, so it’s like kinda weird, right?” Teresa counters. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s been a long time, you know? You need to, like, slow it down.”
As Joe puts on his jacket and leaves, he says, “Listen, by the end of this trip, things could change. Who the hell knows?”
In the February 12 episode of RHONJ, Teresa insinuated that Joe had cheated on her, despite his denials. “I have a lot of resentment,” she said. “I was, like, the perfect, perfect f—king wife.”
The season 10 finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo on Wednesday, February 26 at 8 p.m. ET.
