Totally lost. Melissa Gorga opened up about the complicated nature of her feud with Teresa Giudice — and the surprise of hearing Luis Ruelas call husband Joe Gorga a “good guy.”
“It’s very confusing,” Melissa, 43, told Page Six on Thursday, December 8, referencing her and Joe’s months-long feud with the Standing Strong author, 50, and her husband, 47. “There are a lot of ups and downs and a lot of inconsistencies, so we’re wondering as much as you are.”
Joe, for his part, admitted that while Luis’ complimentary words were “real nice,” his kindness is a blessing and a curse.
“I am a good guy. Too good! That’s the problem!” he quipped.
Last month, Luis made an appearance on his wife’s podcast, “Namaste B$tches,” saying, “Joe, at the core, really, your brother, honestly, at the core… your brother really is a good human being.”
The Digital Media Solutions founder reminisced about being introduced to the Bravo couple, telling Teresa that he had “no complaints at all” when they first met.
“I met Joe through coincidence with Teresa and it was very humbling and settling,” he gushed. “The first moment I met Joe, I would even say both of us became very vulnerable within the first 10 minutes of the conversation.”
He continued, “He talked about my work as a man, working through s—t and all that stuff, like, you just like open up to him. Joe’s the kind of guy you can do that to, or with.”
Joe and Melissa have had a notoriously rocky relationship with the cookbook author and viewers have watched as the trio tried to mend their broken dynamic on The Real Housewives of New Jersey over the years. After seemingly getting to a better place in the last few seasons, however, the situation regressed amid rumors of cheating allegations.
In August, Us Weekly confirmed that speculation about Joe and Melissa’s marriage is what ultimately led to their latest feud. “One of the secrets was Melissa making out with this guy while she was on a press tour in the city,” a source exclusively told Us about the alleged gossip being spread about the Envy owner at the time. “This ‘rumor’ was something that Teresa had known about for over a year and had been pushing for it to come out. Finally, the finale was perfect timing.”
A second insider noted how “blindsided” Melissa felt by her sister-in-law’s behavior, saying, “Teresa may not forgive Joe after this and vice versa.”
That same month, the couple revealed they wouldn’t be attending Teresa and Luis’ nuptials.
“Obviously, we did not attend your sister’s wedding. We have a laundry list right of reasons in our heads [of] why and I will let all my listeners know this — obviously, there was something that went down at the finale of filming Real Housewives of New Jersey,” Melissa shared during an episode of her “On Display” podcast. “Those exact details, I obviously cannot say today. Anything that we have filmed is something that I am not able to talk about.”
She later addressed dealing with the cheating allegations. “There’s a lot of rumors that come out about me, and you know what? We just keep hitting ’em, swatting ’em like flies, [and] they just keep coming,” she told Us in August.
BravoCon in October offered a glimpse into the severity of the group’s fractured dynamic, with the cast panels being broken into two sections to keep things civil among the group.
While at the NYC event, Teresa said it was “devastating” not to have Melissa and Joe at her wedding amid the ongoing drama.
“That’s my only family. So, what do you think? I mean, the day before [our wedding], I was in tears ‘cause I just found out,” she revealed to Us. “It was heartbreaking [because] it’s my only family, and Luis was hurting for me. My children were hurting. But then [on] that day, that day was our day.”
