Resolving the Bitter Feud: Transforming Toxic Family Dynamics for the Giudices and Gorgas

The drama between Melissa Gorga and the Gorgas and Giudices is once again dominating the storyline on the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

While the Gorgas and Giudices are currently on the outs, Melissa Gorga isn’t putting all the blame on reality TV, noting that their family drama was present long before the cameras ever started rolling on season one of RHONJ.

When asked by E! News if she thinks the Gorga/Giudice family dynamics would be different if she hadn’t joined RHOBH during season three, Melissa says, “No, I don’t.”

“I don’t think it would be much different,” the 43-year-old explained. “There was stuff that happened way before the Housewives of New Jersey even existed. [The] first couple years of my marriage, [Teresa\ was not on the show [and] it was always a little bit of a bumpy ride. I always saw the tension between brother and sister and even with her ex-husband way before The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I kind of entered the family, and it was this way.”

She adds, “It was like a learned behavior. I was ‘Oh, this is how you guys roll’ because I come from a huge family that’s very supportive. This is foreign to me. My sisters, my cousins, my aunts, we’re all very close; we don’t roll this way, so it’s always been very hard for me to comprehend what’s going on here and why it’s been hard for so many years to put a stop to it. I don’t know why they just can’t stop. It just keeps going. It’s always something new, or my sister-in-law is digging up something from thirteen years ago that we’ve already talked about, but she comes back with it, and it’s just a constant need to make us look bad.”

Speaking of her and her husband Joe Gorga‘s current beef with his sister Teresa Giudice, Melissa insists she wants to end the bitter feud once and for all, saying it’s become “toxic” for everyone involved.

“It’s to the point now where it just feels toxic,” the reality star confessed. “I wish her luck; I wish her happiness. I don’t think we’re going to go to lunch together, but I do want her to be happy. I do want the girls to be happy. We just need to be at a place of peace right now.”

“I want to move onward and upward,” Melissa adds. “I am done with the toxic relationship. If we can’t get it together, it’s time to just wish each other well, and that’s it.”

The On Display podcast host then dished on Joe’s recent run-in with Joe Giudice in the Bahamas. Melissa says it’s “sad” that anyone, including her niece Gia Giudice, would believe her husband had ulterior motives for posting the now-viral video of him and Joe Giudice reuniting in the Bahamas last month.

“He showed up to the hotel we were at, we didn’t go look for Joe Giudice,” Melissa told E! News on March 6. “He obviously knew what hotel we were at.”

Melissa said, “Joe Giudice showed up to where we were gambling,” adding that the run-in was completely “unexpected.”

“We were walking into a bar at the same time, and they saw each other,” she continued. “Thank god, the two of them [embraced each other with] open arms and hugged it out. No mention of the past, no mention of Teresa, not even one word. No mention of her new man, zero. The two of them talked about what Joe’s doing for work, [and] that their fathers both passed away. They haven’t seen each other in eight years.”

The mom of three says that despite the bad blood between the Joes and their various “ups and downs” over the years, “My husband let it all go, he saw him, and he felt like he saw family.”

As for the backlash Joe received for posting the encounter on his Instagram page, Melissa said, “Joe’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.”

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Tuesdays at 9 pm on Bravo.

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