Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice are still at odds over what exactly went down with their would-have-been pizza oven business.
After feuding about the failed partnership throughout the 13th season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Melissa accused her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Luis Ruelas, of stealing the idea out from under Joe as Teresa insisted she wasn’t trying to hide anything and claimed she was only doing what Luis told her.
“It was something that he originally said that him and I were gonna do and I said to him, ‘You really should be doing this with Teresa.’ He’s like, ‘You know what, you’re right. My sister could use the money,’” Melissa recalled on the June 13 episode of the RHONJ: After Show. “[So] he invited Teresa to do it with him. He said he’d split it with her 50/50.”
According to Melissa, Joe presented his sister with the idea for Nonno’s Pizza at his house. And, right away, Luis was on board.
“Luis was very gung-ho about it. Luis was like, ‘Oh my God, this is genius. We’re in, 100 percent.’ Mind you, we’ve only met him at this point, two months ago,” Melissa shared.
As Melissa and Joe suspected Luis’ potential marketing skills would be helpful to the business, although they didn’t understand what he did for a living, Luis felt the partnership would be a good idea for Teresa and her daughters.
“That’s why he was all in for it… He thought my brother was helping me out,” Teresa explained, then adding, “I already knew that my brother wasn’t helping out. I’m like, I know my brother wants half of it. He’s not that kind of brother.”
While Teresa told Luis to “put everything in writing,” he didn’t do it because he “trusted” Joe.
As both the ladies disagree about what led the partnership to go south, Melissa claims the deal “went really sour” after Teresa and Luis took steps to start the business without Joe.
“It went really sour. Obviously, they stole the idea,” Melissa proclaimed. “[Luis] started emailing my nephew, who was the one getting them the pizza thing with getting him off the emails. They started to really organize this whole thing behind Joe’s back.”
And then finally, as Melissa recalled, she learned that Teresa had participated in a photoshoot for the pizza ovens.
“I had someone doing my makeup who told me, ‘Oh I saw Teresa last week. [I] did a photoshoot with her and her girls for this pizza thing they’re coming out with.’ I could cry because it’s very depressing to me,” Melissa revealed.
But according to Teresa, she and Luis weren’t trying to do anything behind the Gorgas’ backs.
“We weren’t trying to hide anything cuz obviously, they found out from the photographer,” she explained, placing the blame on Luis. “Luis was executing it. And that’s the thing: I was only doing what Luis told me to do.”
Looking back, Melissa said that despite the idea for the pizza ovens coming from Joe, Luis not only “stole” the idea, but actually offered them just 5 percent of the company after putting up the first $100,000 without their knowledge.
“Luis [is] like, ‘Listen, just give it to your sister. She needs the money. We’ll give you 5 percent,’” Melissa revealed. “We’re like, ‘You can’t offer 5 percent. If you take the deal, we’re suing you at this point.’”
After Luis put up the first $100,000, Melissa claims Teresa asked, “Since you’re putting the money up, why does my brother have to be involved?,” not realizing that there was more money needed to continue to the business.
“The only time I got involved was when my brother said he wanted half and I was like, ‘Well, why do you want half if you didn’t put half the money in?’” Teresa stated. “You want half? No problem. You need to give Luis half the money and then we’re gonna launch this and you get half and we get half.”
As Teresa assumed she and Luis were the new owners of the business, Melissa said everything was done behind her and Joe’s back — with no chance at them being involved.
“Nobody was keeping us in the loop. He just did it and then that’s their way of twisting it to be like,’Well we put the money up,’” Melissa suspected. “We didn’t even know it was time to put money up because you guys went, took the idea and f-cking flew with it.”
Speaking of Joe’s apparent claims to Luis, Teresa said her brother told her then-boyfriend that he didn’t have to put out any money because he’s famous.
“My brother, he said, ‘I’m a celebrity. I don’t have to put money out,’” she alleged, noting that Luis was down $270,000 at that point and could’ve told her he wanted “nothing to do with [her].”
“He’s like, ‘Don’t worry about it. I’m a grown man. I made the mistake. Let’s just move on.’ And we did,” she confessed.
Meanwhile, Melissa warned of impending karma.
“It’s not f-cking about money. This is not about money. We could’ve put up the money. ‘My boyfriend’s so good cuz look, now he lost all of that money.’ That’s right. Karma’s a b-tch,” she declared. “You should’ve did the right.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14 has reportedly been put on “pause” as casting decisions are considered.