Melissa Gorga is opening up about finally finding peace with her sister-in-law Teresa Giudice after years of family drama. At BravoCon, the Real Housewives of New Jersey star shared that she and her husband Joe Gorga feel a newfound sense of relief now that the family has begun mending their strained relationships.
“I saw my husband’s relief, and for me, that’s the most important thing. It’s the siblings, and it’s the kids, and this trickles down,” Melissa explained on Friday, November 14 to US weekly. “To see the relief in Joe’s eyes and in his face, to me, I’m like, ‘I’m game. Let’s go. Let’s do this.’”
Still, Melissa admitted that diving too deep into past conflicts wasn’t productive. “We can’t really hash it out too deep, because we’ll just keep circling back,” she said. “It’s better to just say, ‘Listen, we’ve all made some mistakes here, and it’s time to move forward.’”
Fans were especially surprised when Teresa praised Melissa during a BravoCon panel, calling her “beautiful” while discussing who consistently delivers strong reunion looks. For a family known for icy tension and headline-making feuds, the compliment didn’t go unnoticed.
“That’s a very sweet thing that she said,” Melissa said when the comment was brought up. “We are trying to move forward and learn about life a little bit.”
According to Melissa, enough time has passed — and enough damage has been done — that everyone involved has had space to think about what truly matters. “This is just going on for too long. Obviously, there’s been some talks and some time for everyone to think about what we’re really doing. It’s time for it to end.”
She also revealed that the real healing couldn’t happen under the pressures of reality TV. “We could never do this on camera. This needed to be done off camera, because it was so long that there was a lot to talk about,” Melissa said. “We would have bored you because there’s a lot.”
With RHONJ currently on pause, Melissa said she respects Bravo’s decision and believes it may actually be helping the family get back on track.
“This is the strangest thing that I’m going to say, but in some way, Bravo has always helped mend our family,” she shared. “There would be times where we were at each other’s throats, and then they would put us on some journey where we were filming, yes, but it was also a healing moment. They have helped us through a lot, believe it or not.”
On Day Three of BravoCon, Melissa spoke to the audience about what the family has experienced and what the future could look like.
“When you hit absolute rock bottom [in family situations]… there is a way back eventually,” she said, acknowledging the “doubt” and “questions” surrounding their reconciliation.
But for Melissa, the turning point was unmistakable. “The relief on my husband’s face when he came home from that conversation is all I needed to see,” she concluded, later adding, “It feels really good.”
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