What started as a lighthearted mother-daughter moment quickly turned into a full-blown parenting scandal — Bravo-style.
During Episode 3 of Next Gen NYC, Teresa Giudice made what she clearly thought was a “funny mom cameo” by FaceTiming her daughter Gia in the middle of a pool party she was hosting for her castmates at the family’s New Jersey home. But it wasn’t just a quick check-in. Teresa, who was not physically present at the party, proudly revealed she had been watching the entire event unfold through the home’s security cameras — in real time.
"I was watching you guys through the cameras," Teresa said with a smirk as she dialed into Gia’s party while Gia was making pizzas with Ariana Biermann and Hudson McLeroy. Gia laughed it off at the moment, replying, “You're a weirdo,” but what fans saw was something far more alarming than a quirky mom moment.
In the days following the episode’s airing, Bravo fans erupted on social media, accusing Teresa of taking “helicopter parenting to a dystopian level.” What she tried to play off as maternal instinct was quickly reframed by viewers as invasive, obsessive, and, to some, downright creepy.
“She installed cameras just to call her adult daughter while she's at a party she’s hosting for a TV show? That’s not funny. That’s control,” one Reddit user wrote, in a thread that quickly gained thousands of upvotes.
Others pointed out the irony of Teresa’s micromanaging, given that Gia is a 24-year-old Rutgers graduate with a full-time job and her own Bravo paycheck. “Gia’s not 16. She’s the only one on that show acting like a real adult. Teresa’s FaceTime was so out of line,” tweeted one longtime RHONJ viewer.
The backlash only grew worse after Teresa attempted to laugh off the moment in a now-deleted Instagram Story. Posting a boomerang of the camera app open on her phone with the caption “#MomEyesEverywhere 👀🍕,” Teresa seemingly doubled down on her actions, prompting fans to accuse her of being out of touch with boundaries and exploiting her daughter's independence for clout.
Behind the scenes, a production source told DailyMail+ that Teresa’s decision to reference the footage on-camera was “entirely unscripted” and that Bravo editors were “shocked she said it out loud.” According to the source, several Next Gen NYC cast members — particularly Ava Dash and Charlie Zakkour — were “uncomfortable” after learning Teresa had been watching them through the cameras without their knowledge.
Gia has yet to comment publicly, but insiders say she was “embarrassed and upset” that her mother turned a private party moment into a surveillance spectacle. While she initially brushed off the FaceTime on camera, one insider noted, “She wasn’t thrilled. She wants to be seen as her own person, not just a Housewife’s daughter being monitored like a child.”
As Next Gen NYC continues to gain traction as the new generation’s answer to Housewives, this latest incident might serve as a cautionary tale: even off-camera parenting habits can become storyline fuel — especially when mom still thinks she’s the main character.
And if there’s one thing Bravo fans have made clear, it’s this: the cameras might be rolling, but not all surveillance is welcome.
