The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Melissa Gorga sympathizes with Teresa and Joe Giudice after all that unfolded in the couple’s explosive tell-all interview with Andy Cohen.
“I thought it must be so difficult to see your husband for the first time through a TV screen, I really did,” Gorga, 40, told Us Weekly exclusively at the Last Christmas premiere at New York City’s AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 on Tuesday, October 29. “My heart breaks for them. You can feel that it was a little uncomfortable and I’m hoping the best for them, I really am. It’s sad. They’re going to see each other soon, so they’ll figure it out.”
The Love Italian Style author noted that Teresa and Joe, both 47, have “spent a lot of time apart and they probably don’t know each other anymore.” She suggested that “they need to decide if they want to know each other anymore.”
Gorga is still hoping that the longtime loves are able to work out their marriage for the sake of their four daughters: Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 13, and Audriana, 10.
“I hope they do, but I understand if they don’t because it’s a very far distance,” she continued. “So, if they don’t, I completely understand that and I respect the family’s decision.”
Teresa and Joe held nothing back when they joined Cohen, 51, for their sit-down discussion on Sunday, October 27. Among the major revelations to surface during the special, Teresa admitted that she was nervous to come face-to-face with her husband of 20 years following his deportation to Italy.
“I’ve definitely changed. I’m sure he has too. But now, like, the way I’m seeing him speak, like, he looks like he’s changed … in a good way,” Teresa explained. Later in the interview, she noted that they’re “both two different people now.” While Teresa said she does “love him as a person,” she is unsure of how she will feel seeing Joe in person post-prison.
The couple, who wed in 1999, also appeared to discuss their marriage as if it had ended. “If we stay together, we stay together. If we don’t, we don’t,” Joe said of a possible separation. “We’ll see.”
After Teresa completed 11 months of jail time in December 2015, Joe served a 41-month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey. He completed his stint behind bars in March of this year, and was immediately placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody thereafter.
The European-born star was ordered by a judge to report back to his native Italy, which Joe later appealed. He then requested to be deported to his home country while he waits for the verdict on his appeal.
Joe flew back to Italy on October 11. The Giudice family’s attorney, James Leonard, confirmed to Us at the time that Joe “spoke to Teresa and Gia from the plane and he is extremely happy to be released, more than words can describe.” Leonard reiterated that the newly freed man is “still fighting” to return to the United States.
With reporting by Nicki Gostin
