Credit: Astrid Putarz/Bravo
Melissa Gorga only revealed how he and his wife Joe Gorga have managed to stay married amidst the active drama of Real Housewives of New Jersey.
While promoting the 13th season with his co-stars Dolores Catania and Margaret Josephs at Sherri ShepherdLast week’s talk, Melissa shared the secrets of her marriage while also discussing her family feud with Joe. Theresa Judgeshows the dynamic between them is not only “so sad,” but “super toxic.”
“We’re done. It’s crazy that we’ve gotten this far,” Melissa admitted of her and Joe on the February 2 episode of Sherri.
According to Melissa, she and Joe kept their relationship under control by drowning out “the voice”.
“There’s a lot of noise out there. There’s social. There’s people trying to destroy you. [But] our priorities are correct,” he explained. “We are about our children at the end of the day. We are about our family at the end of the day and we both really stick to it. We keep our feet on the ground.”
“It’s work, it’s fun, but at the end of the day we don’t care about anything but our kids and our relationship,” she added.
As for the years of drama with Teresa, Melissa said it was “very sad.”
“It’s one of those things that no one would ever want,” she continued, noting that “everyone will understand why” she and Joe chose to leave Teresa and Luis Ruelas‘ August 2022 wedding, which will be shown in a special event after RHONJ season 13 is over.
“I really did the best thing for my family at that time. Sometimes you have to say, ‘Enough,'” Melissa said. “It’s sad. It’s a sad situation. I always put my best foot forward. But you know what? Sometimes when things happen super, super toxic, hard to keep fighting that battle, [especially] if you fight alone and unilaterally.”
Melissa then said she knew she needed to focus on her husband and children.
“It cannot be one-sided and selfish,” he noted. “I had to open my eyes and say, ‘You know what? What’s going to be good for our quality of life? And how toxic can you get something to ask for?’ So we have to do what we have to do,” he said. “[I] didn’t want to do it, but I think we made the right decision for our family.
Also in SherriMargaret opens up about her decision to attend Teresa and Luis’ wedding, despite her friendship with Melissa and Joe.
“It’s very difficult for me, because Melissa is one of my best friends in the world, to go to the wedding because I know it’s so painful that I do the best for both parties,” he revealed. “I said, ‘I can’t dance all night knowing my other friends are sick.’ That’s why we stayed for a while [and] respect … I want to watch them get married and I’m just like, ‘I can’t dance and feel happy.'”
“It’s a bittersweet moment and it’s really difficult. It’s emotional. I want nothing more than to see this family heal and recover,” he added.
Regarding her own relationship with Teresa, Margaret says that the two of them made mistakes at the beginning of the season.
“We said we’re going to take baby steps and I want to make sure we’re sincere,” he said.
Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.