During an appearance on Kelly Ripa‘s podcast on Wednesday, Teresa, 52, spoke of her Bravo future as she confirmed she would never again film with her sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga, 45, slammed their family feud as “disgraceful,” and shared how she shielded her late parents from pain.
“I would hope not,” Teresa said on the July 31 episode of Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa after being asked if Bravo would move forward without her. “They all saw how happy I was and they all tried to sabotage my happiness.”
When asked if she would be open to filming with Melissa again, Teresa responded “never again” before going on to explain her reasoning.
“To me, family is so sacred. I’m all about the Godfather movie. You never go against the family. I live by that. I’m a loyal person. [But] I did forgive [Melissa and Joe Gorga] because my parents were around and I didn’t want to hurt my parents,” she explained.
As fans well know, Teresa has long claimed that Melissa and Joe joined RHONJ behind her back for season three. And while Melissa has suggested otherwise, Teresa credits the betrayal to jealousy.
“[They were] a little jealous, about that I was on the show and they weren’t. This was my thing,” she explained. “It would’ve been so beautiful for us to be a united front and to show America and to show the world that, instead of fighting. To me, this is disgraceful. I tell my daughters, I beg my daughters, I’m like, ‘Please always get along … That’s the only thing I only ask for. I want yous four to always love each other and if somebody has something more than the other, you guys enjoy it. You should all be happy for each other and lift each other up.’ That’s how I look at things.”
As she and her husband, Luis Ruelas, 50, prepare to celebrate their two-year wedding anniversary, Teresa says the two of them are “amazing,” despite the “outside noise.”
“It’s been a lot. We’ve been through a lot of heartache with my cast members trying to hurt Luis and I and it really affected our family. It’s hard to come back from that,” she noted, insisting that despite claims of working with bloggers to slander her co-stars, she’s “all about telling the truth.”
“I’m very transparent. I’m not calculated. I’m not strategic. I’m real,” she declared.
Continuing on about Melissa and how she joined the show, Teresa suggested she once teamed up with Danielle Staub, 62, to spread a false rumor about her not visiting her nephew in the hospital after his birth.
“Danielle told me she was speaking to her afterward, after she quit the show. I said, ‘Why didn’t you ever come forward and say the truth.’ She’s like, ‘I didn’t want to be the one to ruin your family,’” Teresa revealed.
While Teresa went years not watching the show, she said she’s able to watch it now “and not feel anything” for her brother and his wife. She’s also started watching past seasons.
“I started seeing what my brother and what his wife was saying about me on national TV. God was with me because there was a reason why I didn’t watch those seasons [when my parents were still alive],” she shared. “If I would’ve watched those seasons, it would’ve been so ugly between me and my brother and my parents would’ve had to witness that.”
“I spared my parents any pain. When they passed away, we were fine,” she noted.
Teresa went on to suggest that she wouldn’t have been against Melissa and Joe joining the show if they’d come to her first.
“I would’ve said, ‘Alright, good luck,’ like I tell everybody else,” she stated, adding that it was her family who pursued their roles on Bravo.
“My family made the push … [And] Danielle was speaking to my sister-in-law,” she explained.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14 concludes Sunday, August 4, at 8/7c with the highly-anticipated finale episode on Bravo.
