Never a dull moment. Joe Gorga notably walked off the set of The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 12 reunion while his sister, Teresa Giudice, was in the hot seat.
“Andy Cohen asked me a question and I gave my answer,” the Standing Strong author, 49, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, April 27, while discussing the current season of RHONJ. “So, when I gave my answer, my brother’s like, ‘There you go putting me down.’ And I’m like, ‘First of all, I would never put my brother down. I love my brother.’”
During a trailer for the upcoming three-part reunion — which dropped earlier this week — Teresa and Joe, 42, had a tense encounter when the Missouri native, 53, asked her about where they stood. “You gotta stop putting me down,” Joe told his sister before storming off the set, after calling her a moron. “Act like a sister,” he added.
“He’s my only sibling. I absolutely adore him. Like, he’s my baby brother [and] no matter what, I’ll always take the fall for him [because] I’m the older sister,” the Celebrity Apprentice alum told Us on Wednesday. “I’ll take the blame. I don’t care. Blame it on me. … Andy asked me a question, I answered the question. It was my opinion and he didn’t like my answer.”
Teresa — who got engaged to boyfriend Luis “Louie” Ruelas in October 2021 — teased that fans will see the remainder of the conversation during the reunion special, which airs Tuesday, May 3.
Teresa Giudice and Joe Gorga. MediaPunch/Shutterstock; Kristina Bumphrey/Shutterstock
“I’m not trying to put my brother down,” she insisted. “That’s just how I feel and how I felt like my answer goes the same for Luis. … So, you’ll see it play out on the show.”
Elsewhere in the reunion trailer, Teresa and Melissa Gorga — who married the New Jersey native’s brother in August 2004 — discussed her wedding party plans and the family’s role. (The Turning the Tables author previously made headlines when she said that Melissa, 43, would not be a bridesmaid.)
“Listen, I never wanna fight with him on TV and what he said that hurts my feelings,” Teresa told Us, claiming she had no idea what Joe quipped before watching the promo footage. “It’s just very sad [and] I know my parents wouldn’t like for him to be saying that. I don’t know how he would like it if [his sons] Gino and Joey would say that to [his daughter] Antonia, like, that’s something you don’t say, but it’s OK, I don’t care. I’ll take all the bullets you want.”
The Bravo star — who shares four daughters with ex-husband Joe Giudice — noted her disappointment that her brother and sister-in-law didn’t defend her romance with Luis, 46, after their costars publicly criticized his intentions.
“[Joe] and Melissa are buddy-buddy with Margaret [Josephs] and Joseph [Benigno, who] are blasting my boyfriend, you know? Like I wanted my brother and Melissa to set them straight all season long and they didn’t because that’s their friends,” Teresa recalled to Us. “So going forward, like, even Melissa texted me, ‘Just don’t get mad at me [at] whatever Margaret says about you … [and] I won’t get mad at you about Jennifer [Aydin].’ I’m like, ‘No problem.’”
After a season of intense drama, the New Jersey housewives are set to recap it all during the reunion special, which was filmed in April.
“I’ve never seen [Andy] so frustrated, agitated. It’s the longest reunion I’ve ever had. I think that he’s ever had, we went way over,” Margaret, 55, exclusively told Us earlier this month. “It’s crazy, it was draining, exhausting, fights exploded with people you would never think they would explode with. … Usually, [at] reunions we have a lot of resolve, but this reunion, there was a lot of people going away still agitated, new people fighting. So, there’s no resolve this season.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
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