Well, well… what have we here. Is it Melissa Gorga appearing on the cover of a tabloid, which she undoubtedly got paid to be on, bashing co-star Teresa Giudice? I mean no big right – except for the fact that we just spent an ENTIRE season of Real Housewives of New Jersey discussing how Teresa was a terrible person for doing just that!
Oh my how the tables have turned. Spin, spin, spin Melissa – gotta get that story out. Now, I fully (and I mean FULLY) expect Teresa to be next with some bigger badder media (Extra?, 20/20? People? OPRAH?) hopping out there to do the same, but I just find it very ironic after all Melissa's lambasting about how Teresa was using her friends and families to make money and get attention. Hypocrite or is Teresa just getting what she deserves?
Me thinks Melissa's real annoyance with tabloid-gate was that no one wanted to put her pretty face on the cover of a magazine. Well, except for that free New Jersey weekly. Lady Gorga, anyone? Anyway, now here she is! She's got a story and now she's got a cover. So let's see what Lady Gorga has to say, shall we.
CLICK CONTINUE READING FOR MELISSA'S TAKE ON STRIPPER-GATE!
First of all let me comment on this whole strippergate to-do. I don't care who caused it (although my money lies squarely on producers collaborating with Kim D), but unless something really gory happens next week all Angelo did was walk up to the table and ask if Melissa remembered him. He didn't out her on anything to her face, didn't say where she may remember him from, said nothing. So. What. I mean why blow it out of proportion – unless one needs a storyline generating copious drama? Well, apparently Melissa feels this "hello" was a set-up and it destroyed her family.
On this Sunday's episode, Angelo forgets to remove his mic (why is he wearing one in the first place, Bravo???) and remarks: "Kim and Teresa want to blow the whistle on Melissa." Teresa flat-out denies she had anything to do with inviting Angelo to the event or his intentions to expose Melissa's past. Angelo, himself, has claimed Teresa was not involved. So who knows… this is all very confusing.
"I guess Angelo's not used to wearing a microphone," Melissa says. "He was hysterically laughing about embarrassing me. You hear it loud and clear."
Melissa insists Teresa is responsible. "My arms were wide open. I put my guard down," Melissa says, still wondering why Teresa would stab her in the back like this when things were good between the families. Which is a question many viewers have. Why indeed, particularly after they "bonded" on the RV trip.
"What Teresa did was like stabbing a knife in my back," Melissa fumes. "It was vindictive and disgusting." As vindictive and disgusting as collaborating with Danielle Staub to expose your SIL on national TV? I think these two sister-in-laws are equal is as equal does in the vindictive and disgusting categories.
Melissa seems to forget all that, claiming she'd "never try to hurt anybody" and has no idea why Teresa would do this after they had come so far as a family.
"Maybe she thought my husband didn't know I worked there," Melissa wonders going over possible reasons. "Maybe she was trying to hurt my marriage. Maybe it will make her happy when everyone is a miserable as Teresa is. That's a sick individual. It's even sicker that she would put this on national TV."
WAIT – back the train up to the station! Girl.. please… You went on a TV show with family drama so deep your husband called his sister "garbage" at his son's christening. On national TV, I might add. Now, not defending anyone here, but these Gorgadice sisters-in-laws define the word hypocrite!
Anyway Melissa is done with Teresa after that. "She fooled me for the last time." Melissa says re-watching it a year later has infuriated her all over again. "It makes me want to stand in front of Teresa and scream at her. It makes my skin crawl." Luckily there's the reunion for that!
Melissa maintains that it was a "complete set-up," citing Teresa's decision to randomly get her hair and makeup done at a new salon. Rumor has it all the ladies were supposed to join her there, but canceled for various reasons. Ahem… producer intervention?
As for why Teresa left the room when Angelo was talking about her alleged stripper past, Melissa claims Teresa just wanted to look good for the viewers. "She never wants to be the one to look bad: She finds soldiers to do her dirty work. She pretends, like, 'No! Please! Don't talk about my family! I don't wanna hear this!' While Kim asks all the questions, then she comes back to get her hair done."
"The acting could not have been worse," Melissa accuses.
Melissa claims another reason she believes in the set-up is that she was warned before the fashion show. Interesting! "Jacqueline [Laurita] told me before the show that somebody – and she wouldn't tell me who – texted her and said 'Somethings going down tonight. I don't know who the target is.' I think it was me," Melissa explains. I think the target could be any number of the women: Teresa, Kim D, Melissa – or Jacqueline!
Melissa admits she did recognize Angelo, but "couldn't place him because he worked the day shift and I worked the night shift at Lookers." She thought the mic pack was a dead giveaway that something was odd. I agree! Very shady.
Melissa said her first inkling that Teresa was involved was after Angelo left the table. "We went to the bathroom and she started to get dramatic, insisting, 'That guy said you worked for him!'" Melissa was surprised Teresa did not defend her if she knew Angelo may be up to something. Even though nothing happened…
"She told me her heart was pounding. You know why her heart was pounding? Not because she was nervous I was going to be 'exposed.' That would have been her dream come true. Her heart was pounding from guilt."
Even more suspect for Melissa is that she claims Teresa had broached the subject with her before the Posche Fashion Show! "A few weeks before we went to Napa, she said, 'Someone called me and said you were a dancer, but I called another friend and they said you were just a bartender.'" Teresa has admitted this happened both in the show and in interviews and her blog.
"I go, 'Why are you calling people about that?'" Melissa wondered. "She was digging because she was dying to hear that I was a stripper." Hey – who wouldn't want to know?! Melissa further claims Lookers isn't even a strip club, but a "bikini bar."
"Even Caroline [Manzo] and Jacqueline later admitted to me that in the past, Teresa tried to get them to call me out and say I was a stripper. But they wouldn't"
Melissa cites Teresa's on-going friendship with Kim D as another reason she believes Teresa was in on the set-up. "Teresa has been tweeting photos with Kim D. Shouldn't Teresa be mad at her for setting up her brother's wife?" I couldn't agree more, Melissa!
After the incident Melissa says she and husband Joe Gorga were "broken-hearted" over Teresa's betrayal. "I was crying," she reveals. Joe "teared up and he said 'I don't know what's happened to Teresa.' He was beside himself."
After the Posche Fashion Show Teresa "texted me two days later and said 'I didn't set you up.' I never answered."
Melissa says in an effort to make things better for the kids she went to Gia and Milania's joint-birthday party in January. A rumored argument took place. After repeatedly denying that anything happened at the party, Melissa now reveals an incident occurred. "I didn't have any intention of making up but I went for my kids," Melissa shares.
"At the end of the night, I had my son Joey in my arms and Teresa grabbed my arm and twisted it as hard as she could and said 'You're so fake!'"
"I said, 'Get your hands off of me! There are kids everywhere!'" Melissa left immediately after that. "If Teresa could have ripped my face off she probably would. She was so pissed I even came: She wasn't able to go to the press and say 'Look at my sister-in-law. She's not even coming to the kids birthday parties.'"
Melissa also claims Teresa has been trying to sabotage her career. "I had some club appearances booked and she called the owner and said 'Don't give her another appearance. Don't pay her!'"
"The owner called me up and was like, 'Teresa is literally screaming at me.' She's trying to hurt us as much as she can financially," Melissa insists.
Melissa says after all of these incidents she is done trying to have a relationship with Teresa. "If she admitted she set me up I would hear her out," Melissa says, "But if I forgave her, who's to say she wouldn't strike again?"
"Why should I trust her? I'm not going to take the chance of letting her hurt me. If I have to live without her in my life to keep my family healthy and keep the poison out then that's what I have to do. I'm officially done."
Melissa assures us Joe is equally distraught and doesn't think he can forgive his sister. "He's so sick and tired of her bashing us. It breaks my heart."
With season four officially over and the reunion filmed, all eyes are on Season 5. Melissa says she's not sure how she'll handle filming with Teresa. "It's going to be difficult," she says. "I'm seriously not ready." Well, one of you could, you know, quit!
Well, with all of that said and done, I have to agree with Lauren on this one and I think what she had to say was perfect.
In a statement to Us Weekly, Teresa still denies any responsibility for the set -up. "This is disheartening," she says. "I'll always love my brother and his family."
These ladies of New Jersey need to stop. Hopefully the rumors of a cast shake-up are true because I'm sick of each and every last one of them except for Milania!
TELL US – DOES MELISSA'S ARTICLE CLEAR THINGS UP FOR YOU? DID TERESA SET HER UP? IS SHE A HYPOCRITE FOR GOING TO THE TABLOIDS?
