Teresa Giudice was a big fan of prison cuisine.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 51, opened up about her prison experience on the Wednesday, January 17, episode of the “Hollywood Raw” podcast and admitted that “the food was really good.”
“I actually cooked there also because I’m a cook — I’m a three-time New York Times best-selling author, three of my cookbooks,” she added, explaining that she would often help prepare meals — like her specialty, chicken stir fry — for 200 other inmates.
Teresa also dished on her favorite breakfast item in prison. “I’m telling you the food was so good and what was my favorite was when I first got there, they had banana nut muffins,” she recalled. “I would have a banana nut muffin every morning and then they ended up running out of them and I was so mad.”
Additionally, the reality star shared that there were “a lot of cool people” she met during her sentence and that she is still in contact with her former cellmate. “My roommate was a politician, there were doctors and lawyers, and there were a lot of cool people there,” she said.
Despite her time served, Teresa insisted that she “did nothing wrong” and that she the judge wanted to “make an example out of me.”
“This judge thought she knew me because of what my castmates were saying about me,” she continued. “I wasn’t trying to keep up with the Joneses. If anything, my cast members were trying to keep up with me.”
Teresa and her ex-husband, Joe Giudice, both served time in prison after being convicted on fraud charges in 2015. That year, Teresa spent 11 months at Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut and was released in December 2015. After serving his three-year sentence, Joe was released in 2019 and deported to Italy. The couple divorced in 2020.
In November 2018, Teresa shared how her and Joe’s prison time impacted their four daughters, Gia, Gabriella, Melania and Audriana. “The girls are really upset. You know, it’s hard for them,” Teresa said in a Good Morning America interview. “Adults can handle anything. It’s hard for children to go through this. They’re asking themselves, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Like, ‘I want my daddy to come home.’”
The Celebrity Apprentice alum has since shared advice with fellow reality stars facing prison time, including Todd Chrisley and his wife, Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison. (In September 2023, Todd’s sentence was reduced by two years and Julie’s was reduced by 14 months.)
“Stand strong for their family and manifest while being in prison what they want when they come out,” Teresa told TMZ in December 2022. “And just to be strong for their children.”
