How many times have we heard “family is everything” on Real Housewives of New Jersey? No franchise revolves more around family dynamics than Jersey. Even when it’s ugly. And while the majority of previous family issues have revolved around the grownups, this season featured on famous house daughter getting into the mix. Gia Giudice, daughter of Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice, is now 21. And she’s got a lot to say.
At the start of the season 12, we saw Gia clap back at Uncle Joe Gorga for some unflattering remarks he made about her father. But Gia didn’t just save the drama for her family. She also got involved with the grownups when it came to defending her mother at a charity baseball game. Margaret Josephs, who has been feuding with Tre all season, refused to be an advertisement for Teresa’s new workout leggings. Gia was present in the locker room and snapped at Marge, “You’re all wearing the same thing anyways. We’re all wearing black leggings. She supports you guys with everything.”
Naturally, the rest of the cast of RHONJ has opinions on Gia’s involvement. As reported by E! News, Melissa Gorga and Jackie Goldschneider appeared on an episode of Watch What Happens Live and discussed. Jackie admitted, “It’s really hard. It’s like, are you out of it? Are you in it? And I always want to respect somebody’s children, but then it’s like, if you’re in it.” And Jackie should know. Last season, she made the analogy heard ’round Bravo that mentioned Gia, which resulting in Teresa attacking her all season.
Melissa simply stated, “It makes me uncomfortable.” A sentiment echoed by her husband Joe, who has said he thinks Gia is too young participate in the show. He previously said, “I think she’s just too young right now to get involved. I just want her to go be happy, be a [then-20-year-old] and just go enjoy her life. She’s been through enough sh-t in her life. Just don’t get involved in this stuff.” Melissa added during the same interview with Joe, “Margaret is essentially like a 52-year-old woman. To even try to have a conversation with a 20-year-old is just weird.”
But to host Andy Cohen, this isn’t anything new. He recalled, “If you look back at seasons past, we had Caroline Manzo’s daughter come to the reunion in season three. She really got into it. She was getting into it with Teresa.” He also used Vicki Gunvalson’s daughter Briana Culberson as an example on past seasons of Real Housewives of Orange County. Briana regularly had confessionals and appeared on multiple reunions.
Andy isn’t wrong but years ago, Housewives was very different. For RHOC, which started it all in 2006, the whole premise of the show revolved around the housewives and their families. It wasn’t until closer to season 4 that we saw the women start to shift more towards their friendships. Same with RHONJ, which premiered 3 years later. Now, it’s rare to see a housewife’s child with a confessional, let alone getting involved in arguments with the main cast. Which is personally how I would like it to stay. But plenty on social media disagree with me. And with Gia’s appearance this season, it’s probably something we will be debating for awhile.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK GIA SHOULD BE A BIGGER PART OF RHONJ? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE HOUSEWIVES’ KIDS JOIN THEIR FRANCHISES?
[Photo Credit: Heidi Gutman/Bravo]