Jacqueline Laurita claims it was Melissa and Joe Gorga who caused tension between her and Teresa Giudice years ago.
While appearing on Wednesday’s episode of Teresa’s podcast, the 54-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey alum looked back on her past drama with Teresa, 52, spoke of their reunion in Las Vegas, and addressed how the infamous “reality curse” impacts relationships.
“We rekindled our friendship. I went out to Vegas and I was missing her. We just picked up right where we left off,” Teresa revealed on the June 19 episode of Turning the Tables.
According to Jacqueline, she believes that she and Teresa never would have had a falling out if it wasn’t for RHONJ.
“I had people in my ear… When [Teresa’s] family came on the show I knew how bad that was bothering her, and she almost wanted to quit the show because of it, and in my head, I’m like, ‘If I get them to make up and they’re fine, then it’ll be fine to film,’ because it was like, ‘I gotta film with these people now? I don’t want to be fighting with them either. But if I could get everybody good, then we can all film together and it’ll be safe and they won’t be after her,’” Jacqueline explained.
While Jacqueline had good intentions in wanting to smooth things over with Teresa and Melissa, 45, she recalled Teresa becoming “uncomfortable” with the scenario.
“[Teresa] kind of pulled away from me a little bit, and then I’ve got them in my ear … My husband said it at the last reunion how like Melissa and Joe kind of turned us against Teresa,” she alleged. “They were kind of manipulated by telling us things, it was like making me feel bad for her about things, and then they would tell me things that maybe you were saying behind my back. You and I never had a problem, and then I was like, ‘Is she saying these things? She did pull away a little bit?’ And over time, you distanced yourself more and we got pulled apart for a lot of reasons.“
As Teresa reflected on the time when she and Jacqueline grew apart, she explained that she distanced herself from Jacqueline because she felt she should’ve known better when it came to the Gorgas.
“We were so close and you knew what was going on there…. And I don’t like to fight. That’s why I distanced myself because I was like, ‘Jacqueline should really know,’” she explained.
While Jacqueline stated that she could “care less” to talk to Melissa prior to her joining the show amid season three, she noted that the series presented a “problem” for her dynamic with Teresa.
“We should’ve talked about it more, but we just didn’t … We were on a show together, unfortunately, not by my decision, you know?” Teresa noted.
“It’s really hard to maintain a friendship and a relationship when you’re filming a show together that’s constantly being just a lot of pressure,” Jacqueline agreed. “Plus I went through a lot with Nicholas being diagnosed, and I was not in a good headspace.”
Jacqueline went on to say that she and Teresa became so distanced from one another that she felt “rejected.”
“I felt like, ‘She doesn’t like me so now I don’t like her.’ It was stupid,” Jacqueline admitted. “That was my way of dealing with it. If I stayed angry at her then I wouldn’t be as hurt and then when she finally reached out to me, it’s like, I’m not on the show anymore, I don’t have to deal with the pressures of pitting us against each other and all this stuff and I was able to let down my walls.”
While Jacqueline admittedly didn’t know what to expect when she and Teresa reunited in Las Vegas, she confessed to being “curious” before admitting that they picked up right where they left off.
“It was just us. It felt comfortable right away. To me, it just felt good and it felt sincere. You could feel that it was real. I let go of anything in the past at that point because the show kind of puts different pressures on you. To me, it was like a relief, a total relief. I felt really good about it,” Jacqueline noted. “[And] Melissa was out of my life so that made it easier.”
As RHONJ fans may recall, Jacqueline and Teresa met in Las Vegas with their husbands, Chris Laurita, 54, and Luis Ruelas, 50, respectively.
“It was beautiful. I think we were there for like, three hours,” Teresa revealed.
“Five hours,” Jacqueline corrected. “We would’ve stayed longer, but you had to get to the concert.”
Teresa said that during their meeting, Jacqueline told her a lot of things that she already knew about her family.
“To hear it, and I know Jacqueline. She doesn’t lie. To tell me all this stuff that I had to hear was like ‘Oh my God,’” she admitted. “[But] I’m glad we rekindled our friendship.”
As for her thoughts on the reality curse, Jacqueline made it clear it was real.
“I feel like the show is a curse in a lot of ways. I’ve seen over the years like with marriages and businesses and friendships, it’s just done a lot of harm but at the same time, you’re offered other opportunities. There’s definitely a big plus and a big minus that come with it,” she explained.
During the early moments of their friendship, Jacqueline said that amid their seven-year friendship, the two of them “never got in one argument.”
“We would talk on the phone for hours… Our husbands knew that we were always on the phone,” Teresa recalled.
Also on the podcast, Jacqueline shared that when it comes to the downside of fame, she suffers from social anxiety due to her time on RHONJ.
“I was very extroverted and liked to go out a lot until the show, and then I became so introverted, and so like, I had social anxiety after I did the show and I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything, I literally avoided going out,” she explained. “It just happened, It was really bad until I moved here. Now we go out all the time … When you go out you feel like you’re in a fishbowl and everyone’s staring at you. It’s very uncomfortable.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14 airs Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo.
