The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice tries her best to be a “cool mom” for her daughters, but there are a few rules she refuses to budge on.
“My parents were off the boat, very Italian, very strict,” Giudice, 51, exclusively told Us Weekly in the latest installment of “Mama Knows Best” while promoting her Giudice Girls x Shein collection with eldest daughter Gia, 22. “I wanted to go to FIT and my dad wouldn’t let me … I didn’t want to be like that with [my kids].”
Along with Gia, Teresa shares daughters Gabriella, 19, Milania, 17, and Audriana, 14, with ex-husband Joe Giudice. The girls have grown up in the Bravo spotlight, but Teresa has still urged them to follow their own dreams.
“The best advice that I’ve gotten from my mom during college and post-college is honestly to do everything that she has never done,” Gia told Us. “She always said, ‘Make sure you girls travel [and] experience everything.’”
Gia graduated from Rutgers University earlier this year. Her mother, meanwhile, attended Berkeley College in New Jersey — just 10 minutes away from the house she grew up in. “I never went away to college, so I wanted them to have that experience,” Teresa shared.
However, Teresa’s relaxed parenting philosophy didn’t spare Gia from some rules that weren’t extended to her younger sisters later on — a plight older siblings know all too well. “I did start out [more strict] with Gia, she never had a sleepover,” Teresa told Us.
Gia “would get mad” when her siblings were able to have friends spend the night.. “I was like, ‘Why are they allowed?’” she recalled.
Teresa explained that her perspective on sleepovers shifted “when all of the legal stuff happened between Joe and I,” referencing the time she and Joe spent in jail after pleading guilty to fraud in 2014.
The Giudice household also has some rules about dating. “They can’t bring their boyfriends in their rooms, obviously” Teresa told Us. “And they can’t sleep over.”
Gia has picked up some tips from her mother about dating — and it seems like the lessons stuck. “The best advice my mom has given me about dating is for one, for me to always be happy in the relationship, and two is to keep my standards very high,” Gia said.
The Giudice girls are no strangers to being in front of the cameras, with most of their lives being documented on RHONJ — including Audriana’s birth. In 2021, a video of Gia singing the “sad song” she wrote and performed about her family’s drama on the reality series took TikTok by storm.
While Teresa may be the star of the series, her kids often help keep her calm when filming RHONJ. “I give my mom advice,” Gia told Us. “Me and Gabrielle are, like, the voice of reason.”
Reality TV fame aside, Teresa just wants what is best for her girls. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret, or ask me first and I’ll tell you yes or no,” she jokingly told Gia. “I’m the coolest mom.”
The Giudice Girls x Shein collection features Teresa alongside Gia, Milania and Audriana all dressed up for the holiday season. The 100-piece collection includes two-piece blouse sets with skirts and pants, bodycon dresses and silky pajamas in sizes up to 5X.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
