Both sides are hurting. Danielle Cabral stepped into some family drama during her first season on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
The new reality star understands Teresa Giudice and Joe Gorga and Melissa Gorga’s ongoing drama all too well as the newbie is estranged from her own brother.
“It was very hard because I was living through them, kind of what I was experiencing,” Danielle, 37, said during an exclusive interview on Us Weekly’s “Getting Real with the Housewives” podcast on Thursday, February 23. “I felt like I could be a mediator and genuinely my goal was to try to say like, ‘Hey, your sister loves you. Hey, your brother loves you. Let’s fix this.’ I really, really wanted that to happen.”
She added, “At the end of the day, I still see just two siblings that love each other and just stuff happens and it’s sad. I thought I could help, I tried to help.”
Teresa, 50, has publicly feuded with her brother, 43, for several years on RHONJ, with Gia Giudice alluding on the Tuesday, February 21, episode that her uncle and Melissa, 43, weren’t there for them when her father, Joe Giudice, was in jail.
However, during the same episode, Joe admitted to Teresa’s husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas, that he didn’t want to mend things with his sister because he was afraid of getting hurt again.
“I’m here to listen to Teresa, she tells me everything and when I talk to Teresa, it’s a lot of hurt and pain. What’s funny is it doesn’t usually always come out like that on the show because you see anger, but there’s pain underlying in there,” Danielle explained to Us. “I never want to take a side because there’s two sides that are hurting and everybody has their right to their own feelings.”
As far as a reconciliation in the future between the siblings, the Bravo star is hopeful that this family can get back on track.
“You always hope, but at some point, you have to protect yourself. At some point, you need to protect your own heart and if that is causing you pain, which trickles down into being the best wife you can be, the best mother you can be to your, to your family, you have to remove yourself and take a breather,” Danielle admitted to Us. “I hope that’s what they both do and you never know.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Tuesdays on Bravo at 9 p.m. ET.