Gia Giudice Accuses Bethenny Frankel of Trying to “Gaslight” Her Over Comments on Teresa & Luis’ Tax Liens, Voices Frustration Over Being Associated With Family’s Issues

Gia Giudice is accusing Bethenny Frankel of trying to “gaslight” her by commenting on her family’s finances.

Following the sharing of numerous TikTok videos from the 54-year-old Real Housewives of New York City alum in regard to Teresa Giudice, 52, her troubled past with Joe Giudice, 52, and her $3 million tax debt with Luis Ruelas, 52, the 24-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey star revealed her family was “not happy” with Bethenny’s statements.

While looking back at Teresa’s past appearance on WWHL, in which she confirmed she would not be signing a prenup, and at Gia’s suggestion that she didn’t like that her father had made Teresa sign a prenup years prior, Bethenny had slammed Gia as “ill-advised” and “not educated” on the topic.

“She just doesn’t know. And hopefully she’ll realize when she one day gets married, if that’s something she wants, that it’s about being financially literate,” Bethenny stated earlier this month.

Meanwhile, in a response shared with PEOPLE on April 16, Gia said, “She was honestly trying to gaslight me.”

“I didn’t say half of the things that she made in her statement. I was never recommending financial advice or anything along those lines,” Gia insisted, noting that she was thankful that many, including Jennifer Fessler, 54, and Dolores Catania, 54, stood up for her and her family.

According to Gia, living life in the spotlight is “a lot.”

“I’m obviously associated with what is going on in the public eye. It is my family, but at the end of the day, I am an individual. I obviously take care of everything that’s going on in my life, but overall, my entire family is very responsible. And like I said on my podcast, everything is getting taken care of,” she stated of Teresa and Luis’ tax debt. “But at the end of the day, I will always defend my family whether people like it or not.”

“I’m honestly just over talking about it. There’ll be a new thing next week, and I think she should just leave it at that too. I have three younger sisters who I’m trying to protect as well, and they don’t need to see all of this in the public eye either,” she added of Gabriella Giudice, 21, Milania Giudice, 19, and Audriana Giudice, 15.

Gia then said that while she understands this is “what we signed up for,” there was “no need” for Bethenny to weigh in on the matter.

“If people could refrain from saying things, that’s all I was saying,” she added. “Just treat people the way you would want to be treated. There was no need.”

While Bethenny did share numerous comments about Teresa and Luis, her latest statement, which suggested Gia was offering financial advice on social media, has been confirmed as a fake quote.

“It’s actually a well-written quote because AI wrote it, I just can’t claim it,” Bethenny explained. “It’s not a read I can claim, I didn’t say it. It’s kind of going around and people are reporting on it. I don’t care in this case, I mean, what do I care?”

“I know that she’s an adult, but she’s someone’s kid and that’s weird, and I don’t get into that at all,” she added.