RHONJ 's Teresa Defends Husband Luis' Shocking Attack on Margaret's Son
Originally appeared on E! Online
Teresa Giudice's golden rule has always been never bring up the children.
However, The Real Housewives of New Jersey star defended husband Luis "Louie" Ruelas after he wished suffering on her nemesis Margaret Josephs' family—specifically her adult son, who is not in the public eye—during the Bravo series' season 14 faux reunion episode Aug. 11.
As the deeply divided cast reconvened to watch the Aug. 4 finale episode—in two separate groups, of course—the ladies reacted to comments Ruelas made to Giudice about Josephs before their "last supper."
"Tell her to stay away from our family," he said. "And, you know what? I hope Margaret and her family suffer. I hope her f--king son suffers."
And Josephs did not take the dig lightly.
"I'm horrified," she explained upon seeing the comment for the first time. "I had to make the sign of the cross. That's disgusting."
And even Giudice's closest allies were shocked by Ruelas' harsh words.
"Louie's gonna get a lot of s--t for that, Teresa," Dolores Catania warned her longtime BFF. "For what he said about the son."
But Giudice defended by her man's ill wishes.
And apologize he did—eventually.“The finale was very tough for me to watch and I wanted to address it with you all,” he began his post. “After watching the finale, I was disappointed in my actions in bringing up Margaret Josephs son. The reason he was even brought up was because I have been dealing with being falsely accused of calling [Margaret’s] son at work which is simply not true.”
“For the last year Margaret kept putting this narrative out there that I called her son at work and I have had to deal with it knowing I am being lied on,” he went on to claim. “Still, I know better not to bring someone’s child up and it is something I deeply regret so I do want to apologize and acknowledge that I was wrong.”
“There’s been a lot of toxicity on the show that has affected everyone on the show,” he concluded. “We have been dealing with a lot of frustrating things behind the scenes and it has been very hard for our entire family and my children who have been really impacted by all that’s happened at the hands of certain people. Two wrongs don’t make a right and I deeply regret saying what I said.”
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"I don't care," the 52-year-old—who shares kids Gia, 23, Gabriella, 19, Milania, 18, and Audriana, 14, with ex Joe Guidice—replied. "Listen, my kids suffered! My stepson suffered. My daughters suffered."
But when Catania insisted, "That's wrong," Guidice angrily fired back, "Dolores, please, don't stick up for her."
"Just drop it," Giudice continued. "He was upset. People make mistakes. I know he did not mean to say that. I'll make sure he says sorry."
And apologize he did—eventually.
“The finale was very tough for me to watch and I wanted to address it with you all,” Ruelas shared on his Instagram Stories Aug. 6 two days after the finale aired. “After watching the finale, I was disappointed in my actions in bringing up Margaret Josephs son. The reason he was even brought up was because I have been dealing with being falsely accused of calling her son at work which is simply not true."
"I know better not to bring someone’s child up," he added, "and it is something I deeply regret so I do want to apologize and acknowledge that I was wrong.”
As for what Giudice's estranged sister-in-law Melissa Gorga thought of Ruelas' dark remarks?
She noted during the Aug. 11 episode, "That was one of the lowest lows I've ever seen said on The Housewives of New Jersey."
Keep reading for every shocking moment from RHONJ's season 14 finale that all but proves the Bravo series' current cast can never recover from the drama.
Jennifer Aydin vs. Danielle Cabral
Aydin and Cabral got into a physical fight earlier this season after Aydin accused her costar of taking money from a charity event to repay herself for expenses. They nearly came to blows for a second time during the dinner where Aydin doubled down on her previous allegation by claiming Cabral "can't afford" to host such galas.
"You want my life. I get it," Aydin taunted her. "You get to my house, ‘This is what I want.’"
Cabral fired back, "I want nothing that you have. You have 18 f--king bathrooms. Your house is empty."
Cabral then attacked her costar's marriage to Bill Aydin, adding, "You are sad and I know you cry. I know you cry alone at home. I go home and my husband is waiting for me at the door."
Aydin responded with a biting, "Your husband with the boobs?" which prompted Cabral to toss a pitcher across the table before producers removed her from the room.
Melissa Gorga vs. Teresa Giudice
Following Cabral's outburst, Giudice chastised her two castmates—a reaction Gorga deemed hypocritical given Giudice's table-flipping past.
"Cut it out? You’re the queen of this s--t!" Gorga told her estranged sister-in-law. "They learned from the best, white trash!"
The dig resulted in half a dozen "f--k yous" from Giudice, who also fired back with, "My brother married a whore!"
Jennifer Fessler Walks Out
With the first two interactions resulting in utter chaos, Fessler had had enough of the volatility.
"You guys, I’m going," she announced before leaving the eatery early. "I can’t mediate this. You guys have gotten used to this level of disgusting. I’m not used to it. I don’t want to be around this, it’s f--king gross."
In a confessional, Fessler, who cohosted the attempted peacemaking gathering with Catania, lamented, "In my world, you smash glass or you break bread. They don’t really go together, right? Lunch is over."
Teresa Giudice vs. Rachel Fuda
Giudice didn’t just exchange words with her sister-in-law as she Fuda remained at odds after Giudice accused her husband John Fuda of being a drug dealer earlier this season.
"It’s not your f--king place to talk about my f--king husband," Fuda yelled at her nemesis. "Stop talking about my f--king husband!"
Mocking Fuda, Giudice replied with half a dozen f-words, only infuriating her more. So, she went after Giudice's alleged cosmetic procedures.
"Keep my mother f--king husband’s name out of your fat, f--king hotdog-lipped mouth," Fuda fired back. "You’re a-- needs to be checked!"
Giudice's reply? "She’s a joke."
Margaret Josephs vs. Teresa Giudice
Giudice's rage was later redirected at Josephs, whom shw previously claimed had tried to dig up dirt on her husband by talking to his ex-wife Marisa Ruelas—with whom he's been battling in court since their contentious breakup.
While Josephs insisted she was never in contact with his ex until 2022, she declared she never leaked anything about Ruelas to the press. But Giudice didn't believe it.
"Margaret, all she does is lie through her teeth," she claimed in a confessional. "We had proof that she was talking to this individual, that’s why we subpoenaed her and she never showed up in court. And if she was telling the truth, she would have no problem to show up and say I wasn’t speaking to this person."
Giudice then unleashed a tirade at her costar, calling Josephs “full of s--t” and a “disgusting pig” before slamming her husband Joe Benigno's profession as a plumber.
The Shocking Jackie Goldschneider Revelation
But the bombshell Josephs dropped next shocked everyone in the room. She accused Goldschneider—who did a 180 this season by befriending her former enemy—of having Ruelas' ex at her house in 2021 right before that cringe video of him was leaked online.
After Goldschneider initially denied it, Gorga warned, "Admit that if it’s true, because I’m sure there’s proof."
And Goldscneider did, in fact, admit the claim was true. Even more jaw-dropping was that Giudice didn't care about her friend's betrayal and continued to harp on Josephs.
"I met with her," Goldschneider told Giudice, referencing the ex-wife. "We hated each other, you went after my husband. But you know what? I’m glad that you know because I was always nervous that you were going to find out."
And after Giudice started a cheating rumor about Goldschneider's husband Evan Goldschneider, she totally understood her motives.
"I’m not surprised that Jackie talked to this person," Giudice said in a confessional. "I get why she did it because she thinks I was trying to hurt her with the Evan rumor which, swear on my kids, I was not trying to hurt her."
No Path Forward
After the disastrously failed attempts at mending their friendships, the cast came to terms with the fact that there was no moving forward as a group.
"Today’s meeting was a complete failure," Gorga reflected in a confessional. "Pretty much everybody’s walking out the same way they walked in. Zero resolution."
And Catania was in a complete state of mourning. "Family is everything, but this group is no longer a family," a defeated Catania shared in a confessional. "How did it all come to this? It came out of really just people don’t know how to stop hating. It just built up and everybody just cuts so deep. It’s toxic. I look at this sit-down like a death."
With a flashback montage of the cast's happier times played, it all but confirmed the chapter is closed on the current cast of Garden State Housewives.
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