A complicated history. Teresa Giudice‘s daughters were once close to their uncle Joe Gorga and his wife, Melissa Gorga, but the siblings’ ongoing feud has seemingly caused tension among the younger generation.
Viewers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey first caught a glimpse of the way Teresa and Joe’s bickering affected the children back in season 3, which aired in 2011. In one now-famous episode, Teresa’s eldest daughter, Gia, sang a song about her mom’s feud with Joe during a birthday party for Milania.
The Turning the Tables author shares Gia (born in 2001), Gabriella (born in 2004), Milania (born in 2006) and Audriana (born in 2009) with ex-husband Joe Giudice, whom she divorced in 2020. Melissa and Joe, meanwhile, are the parents of daughter Antonia (born in 2005) and sons Gino (born in 2007) and Joey (born in 2010).
“Gia’s hurting. She knows what’s going on,” Joe Gorga said in a confessional interview after Gia sang “Waking Up in the Morning,” which has since become a TikTok meme. “She’s hurting the way I’m hurting. And hopefully, this can wake everybody up.”
Melissa, for her part, said she was “brokenhearted” after watching her niece break down in tears while performing. “It was the saddest thing,” the Love Italian Style author told the cameras. “First of all, she shouldn’t even know too much about the whole situation. And if she does know too much, she definitely shouldn’t be sitting home and writing songs about it.”
While Teresa and the Gorgas have smoothed things over several times in the past, their 2022 feud may be the one that ends their relationship for good. The trouble began when Melissa revealed in March 2022 that her sister-in-law hadn’t asked her to be a bridesmaid in her then-upcoming wedding to Luis “Louie” Ruelas.
“Is it, like, a no-fam wedding other than the four daughters, her four beautiful daughters, and like a couple of her friends? I think if that’s the case then that makes perfect sense,” the “Rockstar” songstress said during an episode of her “On Display” podcast at the time. “I mean, if she’s having Louie’s sisters then I guess that makes perfect sense for Teresa.”
When the wedding rolled around in August 2022, however, tensions had escalated thanks to a behind-the-scenes fight filmed for season 13 of RHONJ — and the Gorgas ultimately didn’t attend the ceremony.
“From day one with all the wedding drama, I was told on national TV I wasn’t gonna be a part of it,” Melissa exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2022. “I was told we are not close. I was told all of these things. So, when you draw the line in the sand, well then, I have to stand behind the line. And then don’t be upset when we’re behind the line because you drew it.”
That same month, Gia revealed that the drama had diminished her relationship with her Zio Joe. “I texted him for his birthday,” the influencer told Us, adding that they chat “for, like, respect” on holidays.
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Keep scrolling to see what the Gorgas and Teresa’s daughters have said about their relationship over the years:
