This season’s Real Housewives of New Jersey continues to toy with the all too familiar side plot: tensions between Teresa Giudice, her brother Joe Gorga and sister-in-law Melissa Gorga. In a textbook, ‘taking a job with a family member’ situation, it’s not surprising to hear that Melissa, 10 seasons later, is still hearing about how they owe Tre for their roles on RHONJ.
RHONJ titans in their own right, Melissa hit back recently on the Mention It All podcast at some of the shadier comments they’ve heard about their casting over the years. She explained, “It Would be crazy to think that [I was the villain of the show]… I was a 31 year old girl with an opportunity, Just like every other person in new jersey at this point.
Melissa said, “I am not even going to lie they’ve hit every girl up in New Jersey. I know people loved to say in the beginning, ‘Oh, it’s because of Teresa or you wouldn’t be here.'”
She continued, “I mean, Do people think that if Teresa wasn’t on the show and Bravo came to interview Joe and I, we wouldn’t have made it onto the show… but all of these other people would have? I just feel like people are so silly when they say sh*t like that.”
If production reached out to every girl in New jersey like Melissa jokes, seems like being married to Teresa’s brother is exactly what gave her the edge. This also explains the arguably larger part the house husbands play in RHONJ compared to other franchises, but we digress…
When the podcast host, proceeded to giddily remind Melissa of Teresa shadily referencing Melissa’s start on the show at the last reunion and Andy [Cohen]’s immediate objection,
Melissa laughed explaining, “No, It’s like forbidden. Everyone at Bravo says [to Teresa], ‘You’re not allowed to say that anymore.’ We are so past that. At this point, I’ve been on the show since Season 3 – and in Season 1 they only did six episodes – so I’m not that many episodes behind whatever she has done. It’s insane!”
RELATED: Melissa Gorga Says Teresa Giudice Should Be Thankful That She And Husband Joe Gorga Are On Real Housewives Of New Jersey
She conceded adding, “Of course, she was here first and I get that, but I feel like that’s the only villain aspect I will get is ‘She came on the show behind my back!’ because she just planted it and planted it and planted it. I don’t think anyone cares anymore, lets be honest, I think everyone’s over that.”
This comes shortly after Melissa explaining on her own podcast On Display, how her and Joe carried the show during Teresa’s prison stint. It feels like Melissa is putting a lot of effort into stepping out of Teresa’s shadow lately.
RELATED: Melissa GorgaHas “No Guilt” About Ending Relationship With Teresa Giudice
With the growing instability for housewives lately (given the complete revamp of Real Housewives of New York City) it’s no surprise some of the ladies are working overtime to legitimize themselves. In this case however, Melissa will have a hard time disassociating herself from her iconic sister in law, and we sympathize… It can’t be easy following that reality gold act.
TELL US- DO YOU THINK MELISSA AND JOE WOULD HAVE EVER BEEN CAST WITHOUT THEIR CONNECTION TO TERESA? ARE YOU SICK OF THE BROTHER SISTER DRAMA ON NEW JERSEY?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
