Credit: Bravo
Melissa Gorga declined Teresa Giudice‘s invitation to include her 13-year-old son Gino in her and Luis Ruelas‘ wedding because she didn’t want her child used as a prop.
As Jackie Goldschneider agreed that the invite seemed “pawn-ish” and Jennifer Aydin blamed Melissa for their failed reconciliation in Ireland, which fans recently witnessed on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Melissa and Teresa shared their thoughts on their latest drama.
“I think she knew that they were not gonna be into that, and she was gonna use that as like, ‘Well, I asked Gino,’” Jackie suspected of Teresa on the April 25 episode of the RHONJ: After Show. “That would’ve made Melissa and Joe look bad.”
“If your kids are in the wedding but you say, ‘No [we] don’t wanna be in the wedding,’ but you let your kids be in the wedding, it makes you look like you’re being vindictive. It’s a little bit using the kids as pawns-ish to me,” Jackie explained, applauding Melissa and Joe Gorga for being “smart enough” to see what was happening.
Rachel Fuda also doubted Teresa’s intentions.
“I think also at that moment too, she had realized she’s made mistakes, and I don’t think she’s emotionally equipped to say that,” she explained. “So that was like her olive branch cuz I don’t think she can say, ‘I f-cked up.’”
But while Jackie and Rachel were convinced Teresa was up to no good, Danielle Cabral suspected she and Melissa would actually make amends amid their trip across the pond.
“Melisa was very upset and crying and I was like, ‘This could be it. This could me the moment that everybody’s kinda like wanting where they were just gonna hug it out and cry,’” Danielle had thought to herself.
“And whose fault do you think it is that that didn’t happen? I’m just curious,” Jennifer asked in response.
“Melissa doesn’t um… give,” Danielle replied, noting that Melissa should know by now that Teresa is “not gonna be openly warm and fuzzy” even though “her meaning is well.”
“That was a moment that slipped through the cracks,” she added.
Looking back at the moment in her own segment, Teresa said she felt it was the perfect opportunity to welcome her nephew to her wedding party.
“We’re hugging. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is just a beautiful moment,’” she recalled. “And then I was talking to Luis outside. I was like, ‘I want somebody from my family in our wedding.’ I’m like, ‘‘What about if I asked Gino?’”
But right away, Luis told his now-wife, “She’s gonna say no.”
Because Melissa was so emotional, Teresa found herself wondering why she shot down the idea of having Gina on her big day.
“Then why are you crying? Where are those tears coming from?” she asked. “I don’t know where her head’s at because if you’re crying and you want peace, and you want things to be better, if I’m extending an olive branch, you need to take it. That’s how you make things better.”
“I mean, I asked her to be in the wedding. No. I asked Gino. No. I wanna invite your mother. No. Everything’s no,” she continued as Dolores Catania told her “it’s okay” that Melissa declined.
As for Melissa, she said she didn’t like that Gino came “after” Jennifer was added to the bridal party and admitted it “feels a little weird” to consider any member of her family participating in Teresa’s event.
“That’s her godchild too. And it’s weird to me that it’s Gino — it’s still not [Antonio Gorga],” Melissa went on. “I mean, the girl usually picks the girls, and she’s jumping to Gino. She skips right over Antonia. And then I thought to myself two things, ‘Gino’s not gonna be a prop at this point. He’s not gonna be the saving grace to say [she] had someone.’”
“I think she’s starting to realize, ‘Wow, this is a little f-cked up that there’s not one person coming to my wedding that’s my real family,’” she added. “I just think too little too late, and I don’t think I would even feel it watching him do it at that point. It wouldn’t feel right.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 13 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.