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Melissa Gorga Previews "A Big Year of Change" for Her Family in Season 12 of RHONJ
The RHONJ cast member opens up about her daughter Antonia's growing pains and her husband Joe's relationship with his nieces.
Times are changing, and that is definitely the case for Melissa Gorga and her family. As Season 12 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey plays out, Melissa will take viewers inside her latest life journey as she deals with her kids getting older and her family making moves. And it's not all smooth sailing, as she recently shared in an interview with Bravo Insider.
"You’ll see that it’s [the move to a new home] a little rough on Antonia. There’s a lot going on with Antonia because she’s pulled out of her high school, and she tore her ACL and she can’t cheer and she needs to be in rehabilitation. And it’s not easy pulling a teenager out of their high school, and there’s a lot of new stuff going on. She also turns her Sweet 16 this year. So I just feel like for me, it’s a lot," Melissa said. "It’s a big year of change, and moving and starting over and just trying new things."
But if anyone can handle those kinds of growing pains, it's Melissa's daughter. "I do [see myself in her]. She’s tough. She’s definitely an opinionated [person], a tough cookie, which I love," Melissa said. "But also I struggle with going head-to-head with her a lot, and I think she knows how to push my buttons. I think we have, like, a real mother-daughter relationship — and I am her mother before I am her friend, so we bump heads sometimes. But at the end of the day, I think she knows that I am always doing what’s best for her."
In addition to dealing with changes at home, Melissa's husband, Joe Gorga, is facing tension with nieces Gia, Gabriella, Milania, and Audriana. The issues stem from comments Joe previously made about their dad and Teresa Giudice's ex-husband, Joe Giudice. Now, the Gorga-Giudices are trying to find their footing again with one another during the current season of RHONJ.
"I mean, listen, that’s always rough ‘cause he loves his nieces so much, and I think the world knows that, so, you know, I don’t think I have to say too much about that. I think it’s very obvious on Joe’s face how much he loves them, and he gets put in a very hard position," Melissa shared her take on the situation between her husband and his nieces. "He just can’t win when it’s like, he really doesn’t do anything at all to antagonize their father, and it’s just, he’s just not gonna win that conversation. So I think he just stays quiet and lets them say what they need to say."
In the first few episodes during the current season of RHONJ, as well as during a recent Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen episode, Teresa and Gia addressed the ups and downs their family has experienced as of late. Teresa noted in the RHONJ Season 12 premiere that she and her brother "made peace with it," regarding their own previous issues, but her daughters have been struggling along the way, even as they work their way toward getting to a better place with some assistance from Teresa's now-fiancé Luis "Louie" Ruelas.
In the end, Melissa noted in her recent conversation with Bravo Insider that her husband is "great at dealing with it." "Listen, he’s very patient when it comes to family," she continued. "He’s a family guy, and that’s honestly all that matters to him, so he’s a gem."
Want more RHONJ? New episodes air every Tuesday at 8/7c or catch up on the Bravo app.
