RHONJ's Melissa Gorga Shares How She Feels About Keeping Distance From Teresa Giudice This Season

It looks like there's still a thorny situation in the Garden State when it comes to Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice's drama.  

Though The Real Housewives of New Jersey stars both appear on the upcoming 14th season, that doesn't mean they've worked through their long-running family feud—with Melissa expressing in one clip how she didn't want to talk about Teresa.

But did she ever worry if this distance could affect her place on the show?

"No, never felt that way," Melissa told E! News' Carolina Bermudez in an exclusive interview. "And I never refused to not speak to her. I just thought it's a dead end. We're not getting anywhere."

Not that she's afraid to have a conversation. "I feel confident enough to be in a room with whoever Bravo is going to put in the room with me and be in my own lane," the Envy founder continued. "I stay in my own lane." (For more with Melissa tune into E! News tonight, May 2 at 11 p.m.)

Instead, Melissa suggested she's just choosing to focus on other things besides the drama with her sister-in-law—including her life with husband Joe Gorga and their kids Antonia, 18; Gino, 16; and Joey, 14.

"Joe and I are a very known couple on the show, and we're a family that can stand on our own without going to the deep, dark place," she shared. "So that's kind of what I value for me and my family on the show." 

And Melissa indicated she's simply not stressing about the rest. "I'm not placing demands on the network or on Bravo, and I think they they're in charge of that," she added. "And they'll decide what's best for everyone. But I'm going to be professional, and I'll work with whoever's in the room."

While fans will have to wait until The Real Housewives of New Jersey premieres May 5 to see what's in store, Melissa felt it brought some welcomed changes.

"It's such a different season and it's refreshing, especially for me," she said. "I just feel there's like a weight lifted off my shoulders not to have that family drama be the center of it all." 

And Melissa and Teresa aren't the only ones coming back this season. Jennifer Aydin, Dolores Catania, Margaret Josephs, Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda are also returning, and Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler are again appearing as friends.

Though the new season hasn't even debuted, Melissa indicated she's already excited about the reunion.

"There's so much that needs to come out, and that's the place to do it," she said. "I mean, there's so many rumors and things going on on social media right now. I don't know if you're seeing it all, but there's a lot of things happening. So can't wait to talk about that."

However, the reunion isn't the only thing Melissa is excited about. She announced earlier this year that she's opened another Envy store in Huntington, Long Island in New York.

"Envy in Huntington has just been such a hit, such a success," she said. "I couldn't be happier with the people coming through, and just the success of having a small business for me is special. It is. And the fact that I grew this company from the ground up, live on television with everyone seeing my struggles as a mom at first trying to breakthrough and having Joe give me some hard times—he doesn't call it crumbs anymore, I can tell you that."

As fans wait for The Real Housewives of New Jersey to premiere, look back at the Giudice and Gorga family drama below.

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family).

Rather than watch Teresa and Luis "Louie" Ruelas tie the knot, Joe and Melissa were spotted having a day at the beach on Aug. 6, 2022, after Joe seemingly shaded his sister's nuptials the night before on Instagram. Sharing a pic with other family members and friends, Joe captioned his Instagram story, "Blood doesn't make you family."

At the time, a source told E! News the couple skipped the wedding following family tensions and a recent argument.

Three days after tying the knot, Louie responded to rumors that Teresa sent her brother and sister-in-law a bill for missing the wedding. "We would never in a million years ask for money from Joe and Melissa—we are not petty," he commented on a fan account Instagram post on Aug. 9. "Joe and Melissa were missed."

On the Aug. 11 episode of her On Display podcast, Melissa said there was a "laundry list of reasons" why she and Joe skipped Teresa's wedding, including a fight that broke out between them while filming RHONJ season 13.

"There was something that went down at the finale of filming," Melissa revealed. "Those exact details, I obviously cannot say today. Anything that we have filmed is something that I am not able to talk about."

The Bravo star also stated that no one knows "the full entire story" of what caused their rift, adding, "There is drips and drabs of it, and that's because the stories that are out there are obviously not coming from my camp. So, pay attention."

Teresa called the whole situation "so sad" while chatting with E! News in September 2022, adding, "It's not how I wanted things to end up."

Despite that, the RHONJ star revealed that she had no plans of making amends with Joe and Melissa, stating, "No, no, no, that's really it. That's it."

When asked whether there's room for reconciliation between him, Melissa and Teresa, Joe told E! News' Erin Lim Rhodes at BravoCon 2022 on Oct. 14, "Well, there's always room. What can I say, I love my sister. I really do."

"I feel like we went back to when we first got on the show," he continued. "And we're older now, and it shouldn't be this way, and it saddens me. It really does. And at the point I am in my life, at my age, I don't want this. I really don't want this. So, it's not a good situation."

But as for what it would take to move on from the drama? Joe simply replied, "I don't know."

On Oct. 15, Teresa got emotional when responding to her brother's positive words at BravoCon, telling E! News, "My wedding was really devastating to me that he wasn't there and right now, I'm focusing on my children and my husband. I need time to heal. I'm very heartbroken."

Also at BravoCon, Melissa opened up about their family's current struggles in an interview with E! News on Oct. 16, during which she admitted to feeling "exhausted" by the whole thing.

"There's always highs and lows for us in our relationship," she explained. "I would say right now is definitely one of our lows. We are family and I think right now the family just needs a little time. I think we need time, I don't think anybody is in it right now. I'm listening to her interviews, sounds like she's not in it, not willing to move forward."

The Giudice-Gorga family feud took a turn for the worse after Joe poked fun at Teresa's marriage during a BravoCon episode of Watch What Happens Live. When Melissa was asked whether she thinks her husband's stand-up career or Teresa and Louie's marriage will last longer, Joe got up and responded, "I'm gonna answer the question. My stand-up career, baby!"

Reacting to the comment, Teresa said on the Oct. 25 episode of her Namaste B$tches podcast, "That's not my brother," adding that she doesn't know "what kind of character he's trying to play."

"What he just did at BravoCon, that's very mean-spirited, very sad," the RHONJ star continued, "and I just wish that he would stop talking about us to try to make himself relevant."

Teresa wrapped up her feelings by stating, "This is the last time I'm talking about this because there's gonna be a lot of things addressed, obviously, at the reunion. And then, after that, I'm done."

In December 2022, Melissa told E! News that she was done with all the coverage of their family drama.

"It's upsetting that there's a lot of tit for tat going on," she said at the Villa Azur Grand Opening at Grand Canal Shoppes inside The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas on Dec. 8. "It's starting to feel like people are using things as ways to win the audience over. When I don't, I don't like that. I don't respect that as much."

She went on to applaud Tamra Judge and the cast of The Real Housewives of Orange County for how they manage conflict among the cast.

"That they can get in a knockdown, drag-out fight, but they leave it," Melissa explained. "They leave it there, they leave it at home, and they don't continue the chaos on social media. And I have to say The Real Housewives of New Jersey is not great at that. They really continue the chaos."

Fans got their first glimpse of how the family's drama will play out on the Bravo series in the RHONJ season 13 trailer. And the Dec. 21 sneak peek featured several anger-fueled moments that could be the fight that made Joe and Melissa skip Teresa's wedding—from Joe and Louie arguing at a guy's dinner to Teresa and Melissa yelling at each other at a 1920s party and more.

Perhaps the most intense fight teased comes at the end of the trailer. After Joe yells "f--k you" at Teresa during a fight, Louie threatens to punch his brother-in-law in the face.

"She's always wanted to keep my brother and I apart," Teresa says of Melissa in the trailer. "She got her wish."

Following the intense RHONJ season 13 trailer, rumors began circling online that Teresa wanted to quit the Bravo series because of her conflict with Joe and Melissa.

But Teresa quickly shut those rumors down, clarifying in a December 2022 interview with People, "I would never step away. I started the show," adding, "I'm never going to give that to anyone because I'm the one that started the show."

"Other people are trying to put that out there, like, 'Oh, Teresa wants to leave,'" she continued. "It's so crazy to me how people are trying to plant the seed that Teresa wants to leave the show…the games that people play. No. I started this. I'm not walking away until Bravo wants me to walk away."

On the Dec. 22 episode of her On Display podcast, Melissa revealed how her daughter Antonia, 17, has been handling all the family chaos. And much to the star's surprise, she said her daughter is simply "unfazed" by it all.

"It's so crazy that she is such a drama-free—like she almost giggles at drama, like laughs at me," Melissa explained. "She'll laugh at me and she'll be like, 'Oh Mom, please.' Like, she's unfazed by the fact that even her cousins unfollowed her parents on Instagram. She just is like, 'You know what, Mom? Not your problem, theirs.'"

Melissa also noted that growing up on reality TV may have helped Antonia—as well as her and Joe's sons Gino, 15, and Joey, 12—learn to deal with conflict "in a calm manner."

"I think she's also watched certain situations and things that I've been through too, and how I handle them and the calmness in the room instead of the chaotic-ness," Melissa said, "and I think she's learned from that. And it could also just be her personality."

During the season 13 finale, which aired May 17, it was revealed that Teresa and Louie secretly met with Joe to tell him about the cheating rumor about Melissa a friend of Margaret Josephs had started. Melissa slammed the "baseless rumor" and confronted Teresa about trying to ruin her marriage.

"How dare you tell my husband that I would cheat on him!" she said. "Pretty f--ked up sister-in-law I have, isn't it?"

The rumor was the last straw for the Gorgas, who didn't not attend Teresa's wedding on the series.

During part one of the RHONJ reunion May 30, Teresa made a bombshell accusation about her 2015 prison sentence for fraud relating to Melissa and Joe.

"Jacqueline [Laurita] told me so much s--t that you and my brother were doing," Teresa said before bringing up her and ex-husband Joe Giudice's own prison sentence. "Joe's ex-partner, he didn't go to jail because he outed me. They were hanging out with him and they were speaking with him."

Melissa denied ever talking to the former business associate. "I didn't even know Joe Giudice's ex-partner," she stated. "This is like [when you said] Caroline Manzo put you in jail."

Teresa replied, "I take that back. I think you did." 

During the RHONJ reunion, Teresa said she wants her brother and sister-in-law out of her life forever, declaring, "I can't wait to never f--king look at your face again after today."

Melissa's response to Tre seemingly wanting her off the Bravo series? "Why, where you going?" she asked, to which Teresa replied, "You're leaving."

During the June 13 reunion episode, Joe alleged that Teresa's daughter Gia Giudice said her uncle could "do better" than Melissa. So Teresa called her eldest daughter up to tell her side of the story.

"I called him regarding the wedding saying that he should do the right thing," Gia said, "that Nonna and Nonno are looking down on them and my mom wanted him to walk her down the aisle. I never told him that he could do better than my aunt Melissa. And it's sad, zio Joe, that you're trying to call me a liar."

Overcome with anger, Teresa then stormed off set. "You're f--king disgusting. Disgusting!" she ranted. "This is not how I would raise my children, ever! You should be ashamed of yourself. And don't come following me!"

Heard of Bo Dietl? Tha famed private investigator became a hot topic on the reunion after Margaret Josephs, Joe Gorga, Frank Catania and John Fuda accused Louie of hiring him to dig up dirt on the cast.

Louie fiercely denied hiring him and, after the reunion concluded, Andy revealed Bo actually texted him about the drama.

"I just want to say on his behalf, he said, 'I never did any investigations on the cast of the Housewives of New Jersey,'" Andy shared on the June 14 episode of his SiriusXM radio show Andy Cohen Live. "'I never said that I didn't do any other investigations for Louie.'"

After three reunion episodes with constant fighting between Teresa and Melissa, the feuding family members decided to go their separate ways after season 13.

In a heartbreaking conclusion, Joe delivered a parting message to his sister. 

"You know what the best thing to do is?" he proposed. "Forget about me, I will forget about you. That's it. Do your thing, leave me alone, leave everybody alone, live your f--king lives."

As for Melissa, she shared, "I definitely feel the hate, right, you see it. It's clear that I can never please her, I never could from day one. No matter what I did it was wrong and, obviously, some things never change. I do love you, no matter what you think. I worry about you and I'll go with the flow with whatever the family decides to do."

Rachel Fuda and Margaret—who has a long history of feuding with Teresa—ended the season team Melissa, especially after the Bo Dietl of it all.

Margaret slammed Louie repeatedly during the reunion and claimed he called her son's work to harass him (which Louie denied) while Rachel's husband John alleged Louie hired the P.I. to contact his ex-wife to stir up drama (which he also denied).

As Teresa's longtime BFF, Dolores Catania continued to straddle the fence between blind loyalty and questioning some of Teresa's more serious claims—especially the accusation that the Gorgas were responsible for her prison sentence.

"It's hard to believe," Dolores told Andy. "Do I think that a brother could do that to a sister? No."

But Dolores didn't hold ill will towards Melissa either. "It's time for them to part ways now because it's just toxic for both of them," she added, "and they're both hurt."

Jennifer Aydin—who also helped spreading the Melissa cheating rumor—remains 100-percent #TeamTeresa.