Teresa Giudice and Caroline Manzo won’t be calling a truce anytime soon. Despite reuniting in January to shoot a Super Bowl commercial for Sabra Hummus that aired last month, the ladies remain on bad terms.
Giudice, 47, spoke about working with her former Real Housewives of New Jersey costar during the second part of the RHONJ reunion that aired on Wednesday, March 11. The Standing Strong author made it clear she was against the idea of joining forces with Manzo, 58, from the start.
“I was like, ‘Are you f–king kidding me?’” she told reunion host Andy Cohen. I was just like, ‘Ugh.’ And then I figured it was a great opportunity.”
Cohen, 51, hypothesized that a hefty paycheck persuaded Giudice to get involved. “You made them back up the dumbstruck of money?” he wondered.
“Yes,” the RHONJ star answered with a laugh. “Of course.”
According to Giudice, Manzo was the one who got the ball rolling with the ad by reaching out to her lawyer, who then encouraged the trio to have a phone call. The conversation, Giudice said, turned ugly pretty quickly. “We got on the phone, three-way, and then we start talking and then we get into it.”
Added the Fabellini creator: “This is what [Manzo] said, ‘When we see each other, we are going to sit down and talk.’”
Though Cohen assumed the pair began arguing over claims Giudice made in October 2019 alleging that the Manzo’d With Children alum was responsible for Teresa and her estranged husband Joe Giudice’s time behind bars, the Turning the Tables author said the fight stemmed from even earlier drama. “We didn’t even talk about that. She didn’t even bring that up.”
When Teresa’s RHONJ costar Dolores Catania wondered what got “heated” between the pair, the mother of four explained: “We were just talking about the season. I said, ‘I’ll be honest with you, I think you’re a f–king sh–ty person.’”
Teresa went on to say that her dislike of Manzo had to do with the fact that the Let Me Tell You Something author befriended her sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga, and cousin Kathy Wakile when they joined the RHONJ cast in 2010. “It was all of them against me, and I just thought she was a sh–ty person for doing that,” Teresa explained.
Still, despite years of tension, Teresa noted the pair were able to move past the drama in order to shoot the Sabra ad, which featured them sitting next to one another and eating hummus in virtual silence. “I said ‘Let’s just go do our job and be done with it. And that’s what we did.’”
Cohen then asked Teresa if she still believes Manzo was the “rat” responsible for putting her and Joe, 47, in jail. “I don’t know if she would,” Teresa dished. “But I feel like things that she said contributed to [it.]”
In 2015, Teresa served a little over 11 months in prison for fraud. Her now-estranged spouse started his 41-month sentence for the same crimes in March 2016 and was transferred to ICE custody three years later. He now resides in his native Italy, where he is currently waiting to find out whether or not he will be allowed back into the United States.
