Teresa Giudice Shuts Down Speculation She's Exiting 'RHONJ' Amid Joe & Melissa Gorga Feud: 'I Started The Show!'
Teresa Giudice will be keeping her title as Queen B of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
The original cast member of the hit Bravo series shut down rumors she may be leaving the show amid her tumultuous feud with her brother, Joe Gorga, and sister-in-law Melissa Gorga.
"I would never step away. I started the show," Giudice, 50, made clear during a recent interview. "I'm never going to give that to anyone because I'm the one that started the show."
The Dancing With the Stars alum has been a main cast member since its launch in 2009, and when Giudice was sentenced to 11 months in prison for fraud, the reality series went on hiatus until she returned.
"Other people are trying to put that out there, like, 'Oh, Teresa wants to leave," the Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip star continued. "It's so crazy to me how people are trying to plant the seed that Teresa wants to leave the show…the games that people play. No. I started this. I'm not walking away until Bravo wants me to walk away."
- 'A Knife Right Through My Heart': Teresa Giudice Watching Past Seasons Of 'RHONJ' For The First Time Amid Feud With Joe & Melissa Gorga
- Still At War: Teresa Giudice Won't Reconcile With Brother Joe Because She Needs 'To Heal Herself,' Be Around 'People That Are Happy For Me'
- Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice Both Want Their Own Spinoff Show After Feuding on ‘RHONJ,’ Source Reveals
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Giudice's long-standing rift with the Gorgas dates back to when the couple joined the franchise during the third season in 2011 — a move the mother-of-four deeply resented. Despite spending years trying to mend fences, tensions between the three came to a head just before Giudice's August wedding to Luis Ruelas.
"Since my family came on the show, it was very hard for me to enjoy being on TV," she admitted.
"Here I am, just getting my feet wet, enjoying it and then bam. I get knocked, really stabbed in the heart with my family coming on the show behind my back," Giudice noted. "It was very sad because I felt like my dream kind of got shattered."
Despite being the star of the series for 13 seasons, the Standing Strong author recently admitted she's been watching past episodes for the first time and has felt heartbroken by the things her family members have said behind her back.
“Good thing I didn’t watch it back then, because now I’m seeing what my brother and my sister-in-law was saying about me back then, oh my God. It was like a knife right through my heart. I think I would’ve reacted differently if I would’ve watched the show,” she revealed.
People conducted the interview with Giudice.