Andy Cohen claims Teresa Giudice nearly agreed to welcome Caroline Manzo back to The Real Housewives of New Jersey ahead of its currently airing 13th season.
In his just-released book, the Watch What Happens Live host explained what happened after he turned down Teresa’s offer to officiate her and Luis Ruelas‘ August 2022 wedding, spoke of her impending exit from the series, and looked back on Real Housewives of New York City alum Ramona Singer‘s invitation leak.
After revealing that he returned home one evening to a box from Teresa and Luis, which he “assumed would be a baby gift” for his one-year-old daughter, Lucy, Andy wrote in The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up that it was actually “a big box of fresh flowers with a Lucite invitation to their wedding.”
And while he enjoyed the gesture privately, he recalled Ramona sharing the unique invite on her Instagram Story.
“Ramona posted an unboxing of Teresa’s wedding invite and revealed the location and showed the entire invite,” he shared.
Looking back at the taping of the season 12 reunion, which featured major tension between Teresa and her only sibling, brother Joe Gorga, Andy said filming “kept going and going and going.”
“There were quick pit stops for dead-end flights, followed by volcanic cacophonies erupting randomly, completely beyond my control,” he described. “Teresa and I were walking back from her side spat with her brother in the dressing room, and we had a frank moment about how much longer she can stay on this show and feel like it’s healthy for her.”
According to Andy, Teresa seemed “over it” at the taping.
“She seems over it now, and has for a while. She looked a little misty-eyed having the conversation. I said she might decide to leave and come back in a few years. Hard to get off a train, whether or not you really wanna be on,” he reasoned.
As for Teresa’s apparent change of heart about filming with Caroline, Andy revealed she seemed open to the idea during a phone conversation before the start of production on season 13.
“Spoke to Teresa on the way home from the beach. She was more receptive to the idea of Caroline coming back than I’d imagined,” he noted.
Meanwhile, during a separate chat with Caroline, she expressed her frustrations with Teresa.
“She is ACTIVATED about Teresa and feels a ‘moral obligation to tell this woman that she can’t get away with her stuff,'” he shared. “I know we won’t be able to make a deal with her; the gap between her expectations and our reality is too wide. But I think it would be an incredible moment in what could be Teresa’s last season, not to mention a major confrontation eight years in coming.”
Although Andy initially felt that Teresa “would be okay” with the idea of a potential Caroline return, he ultimately felt like an “idiot” for the assumption. And after declining the “sweet” offer to serve as her wedding officiant, Andy got his answer.
“I told her I can’t officiate the wedding … She needs an officiant now. I suggested [Dina Manzo], since it should be someone close to the couple, and she would come up with a great service,” he explained.
And after turning Teresa down, he learned she would not be filming with her former castmate.
“Teresa called on Friday to say she didn’t agree to filming with Caroline on RHONJ. I guess I took our quick conversation last week as a yes, but she heard it totally differently,” he suspected.
Then, after encouraging Teresa to allow executives to go through the process of trying to get Caroline back on the show, even though he didn’t think they’d be able to make a deal, Andy got his answer from Caroline.
“We can’t make a deal with Caroline, so that’s that,” he confirmed.
