Roxanne 
Joe and Melissa Gorga are spilling the secret behind their decades long love story.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey stars stepped out together on May 7 for Vulture’s Inaugural Reality Masterminds Celebration at The Lawn Club in New York City, where they opened up about what has kept their marriage strong after more than two decades together.
And in true Joe Gorga fashion, he could not resist giving a very Joe answer.
“She’s just obsessed with me,” Joe Gorga joked to PEOPLE, before playfully adding of Melissa, “She’s so crazy.”
While Joe Gorga was clearly having fun with the question, he also got serious about what has made their relationship last.
“We have the same goals, we care about family as the center of our universe,” Joe said.
He added, “You got to keep dating, and that’s what we do. We date, we work hard, we play hard.”
Melissa and Joe’s love story dates all the way back to 2002, when the two first met while Melissa was vacationing in Mexico. According to Cosmopolitan, they later crossed paths again at a bar on the Jersey Shore, and from there, sparks flew.
The couple tied the knot in 2004 and have since built a life together both on and off reality television.
Fans have watched Melissa and Joe’s marriage play out for years on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, through family drama, business ventures, parenting moments, and the highs and lows that come with being part of one of Bravo’s most intense franchises.
Despite the chaos around them, Melissa has also credited Joe for making their marriage a priority.
“I do give a lot of the credit to Joe on this,” Melissa previously told PEOPLE in 2024 while reflecting on their 20th wedding anniversary.
She continued, “He is a preacher when it comes to relationships and how they should be handled. He truly believes in compliments and coming home and really having … date nights.”
Melissa added, “I know this sounds so cliché, but we do. We still have date nights. We’ll still go see a movie.”
Joe and Melissa are parents to three children: daughter Antonia, 20, and sons Gino, 18, and Joey, 16.
Their relationship has been a major part of Melissa’s RHONJ journey since she joined the show in Season 3. While the Gorgas have faced plenty of family tension over the years, especially with Joe’s sister Teresa Giudice, Melissa and Joe have remained a united front.
And according to Joe, the formula is simple. Keep dating, keep family first, and apparently, make sure your wife is “obsessed” with you.
