The ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ star opens up to ET about her relationship with her sister-in-law. Plus, get a reunion sneak peek!
Melissa Gorga says she’s done with Real Housewives of New Jersey co-star Teresa Giudice’s “double standards.”
“I think this is just from growth and it could come with age, but I'm done with the double standards,” Melissa tells ET. “It's like, you're gonna back Jennifer [Aydin] up, she's gonna break a glass in my face and that's gonna be fine, but Jackie [Goldscheider] can't say one thing [about Teresa]? Like, I'm done with that. So I'm now calling Teresa out on anything she says to me that's a double standard, because I'm not here for it any longer, I've outgrown that.”
“There was a lot of things that I was insulted about that she talked about, family things also,” Melissa notes. “I'm like, if we’re gonna lay it all out there, then it's not gonna be a double standard. I'm also gonna lay it all out there.”
It’s a realization Melissa came to while filming the Real Housewives of New Jersey season nine reunion, which got heated fast between she and her sister-in-law.
“Something about Teresa and reunions she gets crazy, like somebody amps her up or gives her like a little special pill or something!” Melissa spills.
“Teresa was, like, I don't know, she slept on the wrong side of the bed the night before,” co-star Margaret Josephs adds. ET caught up with the reality stars over coffee at Sarabeth’s Tribeca in New York City.
“I'm a different person now and I don't take any crap from anybody any more, not even my own husband,” Melissa adds.
“Melissa totally is a grown woman, comes into her own, says exactly what she feels and I love that, and that's why I think we relate so well to each other,” Margaret notes. “We can say what we mean and then move on from it. Melissa is not a grudge holder, which I love.”
Melissa admits that filming the reunions, where the ‘Wives rehash everything that came up over the season can be “brutal,” but she says it’s no excuse for mean behavior. On part one of the reunion, viewers saw Teresa tell host Andy Cohen she no longer wanted to speak to her sister-in-law before chiding Melissa for using one her catchphrases, “Thank you, Jesus!”
That feuding continues in part two, as the issue of double standards and hurt feelings over not considering each other “true sisters” bubble to the surface. Check out ET’s exclusive sneak peek here:
When Andy asks Teresa how she feels about Melissa’s search for the “long-lost sister” a psychic told her about, Teresa admits she’s a little offended by it.
“She has a sister right here,” Teresa says. “Just saying, you have a sister-in-law here that you should treat more like a sister, and I feel like you don’t.”
“I don’t treat you like a sister?” Melissa asks back, just as offended by what Teresa is saying. That’s when Teresa tells Melissa, “I mean, you always seem to side up with other people that are against me.”
“Tell me I’m not crazy, or this girl just started with my out of nowhere?” Melissa asks the group. “As I’m sitting here talking about my father and my sister. Teresa! You always start. Why do you do this?”
“Teresa is very offended,” Margaret remarks to ET. “Very, very offended. She's more sensitive than she's normally been.”
“I was in shock half the time,” Melissa says, referencing the so-called bombs Teresa dropped on her during the 12-hour taping. “I was like, 'Wait. What's happening? We just ate pasta together like two days ago.’”
Melissa clarifies to ET that the psychic told her that her third sister is her father’s child, instantly shutting down speculation that maybe the medium was referencing her sister-in-law.
“Everyone keeps saying that to me!” she exclaims. “Like, where you getting this from? It's my dad having another child is what they said.”
Still, Melissa is adamant that she thinks of Teresa as a sister, and says they’re good, even after their reunion blowout.
“The truth is, [Teresa and I] are family,” she adds. “We do have kids that love each other, we do love each other, we care about each other. Do we agree on everything? No, but do I think we're gonna be in each others lives forever? Yes.”
“Yeah, you have to get involved and the truth is they are gonna be together for life,” Margaret chimes in, in agreement. “So, they have no choice but to work it out.”
“I think the show sometimes helps us, because I get so frustrated with her sometimes and I'm sure vice versa, that I want to be like, 'I don't want to call her again for like a year!'” Melissa shares. “But like, no, we have to go on vacation together soon, so it's like, we're gonna talk, which makes it better, as hard as this is to comprehend. It actually helps.”
Part two of The Real Housewives of New Jersey season nine reunion airs Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo. The reunion concludes next Wednesday, Mar. 6.
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