Melissa Gorga Says She’ll Never Be Besties with Teresa Giudice

Melissa Gorga is back on the 12th season of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”

“Extra’s” Katie Krause spoke with Gorga about what’s to come on the show, as well as her relationship with sister-in-law Teresa Giudice.

While she calls Teresa “family,” she admitted, “I think that everyone was always rooting for us to be besties, but, and I just hate to let everyone down… but it’s just, it’s not going to happen.”

Gorga acknowledged that they “respect each other,” but they can’t get to that level. She said, “I just feel like I’ve tried for so many years and you know… at some point you have to throw in the towel. You know, at some point you have to say, ‘Okay, we’re not going to be this, but we’re family and we’re going to respect each other.’”

Gorga was initially upset that she wasn’t asked to be a bridesmaid for Teresa’s upcoming wedding to Luis “Louie” Ruelas, but she has “moved on past it.”

She noted, “I didn’t think I would be upset about it, to be honest, until I heard that it was all of her new sister-in-laws plus their husbands, and then she was going to ask Joe and it was like, just me.

“I would never have every one of my sisters and like all of their family and just leave out one part. Like, I just wouldn’t do it,” Melissa elaborated. “So I think it also really insulted Joe because Joe thought, like, ‘Listen, if you can’t stand my wife, which we all, like, have, you know, just to respect him and, and the mother of his children for all these years, and it’s not like there’s like some tumultuous, like, relationship between Joe and I, like, I was a bad wife all these years or something, you know… So he’s a little, he’s like, ‘I would never do that to Luis.’”

Melissa confronted Teresa at the reunion. She shared, “I finally, at the reunion said, like, ‘It’s time to stop faking, It’s time to stop saying, like, family.’ I feel like it was very important to her not to have me in this wedding, and it was so important that she went ahead and said what she’s gonna say… at the reunion, which is we don’t have a relationship. It took this to make that come out of her mouth, because she did not want me in that wedding.”

Despite it all, Melissa wishes nothing but happiness for Teresa.

Referencing Teresa’s daughters Gia, Milania, Audriana, and Gabriella, Melissa added, “I do want the girls to be happy. I want that house to be a happy house. It’s been a long time since she lived in a happy house.”

Melissa has “no idea” how Teresa and Luis are doing, but said, “I think they’re great.”

As for her relationship with Joe, she commented, “Listen, we are a couple who have managed to stay strong on reality TV for 13 years now.”

“I mean we started in 2010 and we’re in 2022, so it’s not easy,” Melissa stressed about living life in front the cameras. “We’re one of the longest-standing reality couples that are still happily married with children that are kind of doing it, you know through the highs, through the lows.”

She added, “Our children are getting older and they’re understanding it now and they’re listening to what, you know, their family is saying and it’s, you know, it’s not easy… We’re just on this show and it’s like, no, we have to, like, fight to keep our marriage and our family intact [and keep] that normal life being on reality TV for this long.”

Even with all the challenges, Melissa hasn’t thought about walking away, saying, “I still enjoy it.”

She commented, “It’s like every year, I’m so grateful and we can’t believe how long this show has been going on [for].

“I mean, I’ve been there for so many years and I couldn’t even believe that this reunion,” Melissa continued. “I was looking at Andy and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been sitting on this couch for 12 years.’ It’s like insanity that it’s like people love it.”

As for what to expect from the rest of the reunions, Melissa commented, “Listen, when you see Andy’s face and I know that image has gone viral and it’s everywhere of him, like freaking out… It’s really, like, he lost it and I’ve never seen him do that… But I think everyone was just like talking over one another… It was raw… He couldn’t get anyone to come full circle and, like, listen to the other person and that’s, like, very frustrating… I was getting frustrated, so I felt his pain when he started yelling.”