If viewers thought Teresa Giudice had been attacked enough on the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion's first installment, they best think again, as the mom of four was raked over the coals once more in Sunday's part two.
On Sunday's show, Giudice came under fire largely for incidents involving her family, including hubby Joe and daughters Gia, Gabriella, Milania and Adriana. Recalling this season's infamous christening scuffle, the women discussed the fact that Giudice left daughter Audriana alone while punches were being thrown.
"No mom wants to be attacked on their child," said Giudice, who slammed her cousin Kathy Wakile for ducking out of the party, not knowing she was tending to Audriana at the time. "If she was a good cousin, she wouldn't have said that to me," Giudice said, taking issue with Wakile's comment that Audriana was "unattended."
Giudice's reply didn't sit well with mother of three Caroline Manzo. "She took your child out of danger," Manzo shot back. "She's a good cousin because she did what I would want somebody to do."
The women also came to blows over the heartfelt song Gia Giudice sang at a family birthday party, urging her mother and uncle Joe Gorga to reconcile.
When Manzo told Giudice she should have taken her 10-year-old into another room to sing the song in private, Giudice argued she tried to keep the dialogue open with her daughter. "I asked her, 'Gia, do you see Mommy trying? Do you think I should do more?' She's like, 'No, Mommy, I see that you're trying. I just wish Joe would try back,'" Giudice recalled.
"What you did to that child with that song was wrong," Manzo sniped. Wakile took a bit more tact: "Knowing that this song was something that could be potentially emotional, singing it on national TV, don't you think that you could have proofread it first?" she asked Giudice.
"She wanted to surprise me…I thought it would open my brother's eyes," Giudice replied.
Countered Manzo: "You used your child as a tool!" The conversation took a wild turn when Giudice took quite an effort to explain how 'real' she is.
As Giudice went on, Manzo offered a be all, end all statement: "I could choose to be in the tabloids, but I choose to be a mother to my children," she sniped.
