Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo
Melissa Gorga appeared on Sunday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live, where she reacted to Kathy Wakile dissing her on an episode of Andy Cohen‘s late-night show earlier this month.
While also shading a number of her current Real Housewives of New Jersey co-stars, including Jennifer Aydin, 47, Jackie Goldschenider, 47, and Jennifer Fessler, 53, reacting to Teresa Giudice‘s “big reveal,” and applauding Margaret Josephs‘ floral funeral arrangement, Melissa, 45, teased the upcoming finale episode and shared her thoughts on Kathy’s unwillingness to reconcile with her and Joe Gorga.
“I was a little shocked that she had a little shade to her answer as opposed to being a little bit more optimistic. What I said on [Jeff Lewis Live] was very nice, and it was like, ‘Hey. You’re gonna live across the street. Hopefully, the two cousins can connect,’” Melissa recalled on the July 28 episode of WWHL. “She said, ‘Oh that’s convenient.’ Well yeah, it is convenient. You’re gonna live across the street.”
“It just seemed like she was trying to throw shade when there was no need,” Melissa added.
Andy, 56, then asked her about Aydin continuing to mention cheating rumors after apologizing for doing so in the past.
“It just goes to show you she’s so phony. It’s so phony,” Melissa stated. “She sits down and she tries to have a conversation like she wants to move forward all the time, and no matter what she does, she has to shade Envy. Like the fact that she threw shade at Envy and the fashion show, it’s like, what happened to women supporting women, rooting for girls who are doing things, creating small businesses? I was a young girl when I created that business and it turned into what it is today. I just think she’s so phony in so many aspects, and everything she does is for the show and not real.”
Melissa also looked back at Sunday’s episode of RHONJ, which saw Margaret, 57, sending flowers to Teresa, 52, and her attorney, James J. Leonard, Jr., as they accused her of communicating with Luis Ruelas‘ ex.
“Oh my God. That was savage amazingness. I mean, that’s home you play Housewife,” Melissa stated of the arrangement, which served as a funeral for Teresa and James’ “dignity.”
Although Teresa had previously signaled her and Luis’ vindication, her “big reveal” wasn’t as impactful as she might have hoped.
“It was like, whomp, whomp, whomp,” Melissa shared.
Then, as Andy suggested the audience already knew Margaret and the ex had been in touch, Melissa pointed out that Teresa and Luis “had meetings with everyone under the sun, including Bo Dietl, this investigator.”
“There’s not one [ex], there’s multiple, and they would all love to speak to all of us 24 hours a day if they could,” Melissa continued. “They all have things to say, and if you want to listen to them, it’s very easy to listen to them.”
While the RHONJ reunion was canceled weeks ago, Melissa was able to share the questions she would’ve asked each cast member on WWHL.
“Why are you such an a**hole?” she revealed as her question to Aydin.
“Why are you such a traitor?” Melissa wondered of Jackie.
She also shaded Fessler, asking, ”Why do you say one thing on the phone and another thing when we’re in person?”
As for Dolores Catania, 53, Melissa said she wanted to know when her co-star was going to “stop playing Switzerland.”
Of the group trip she and her castmates were supposed to take to the Berkshires before the home where they were to stay burned down, Melissa admitted to feeling the trip would have been “pointless.”
“I knew where we were at in this group … I knew it was gonna be a waste of time, so good, we saved time with that. I mean, it’s very sad that the house burned down,” she said.
Then, when she was asked about the rumor that 60-year-old Real Housewives of New York City alum Ramona Singer had hooked up with The Valley‘s Jax Taylor, 45, Melissa confessed to suspecting it was true.
“I think I would believe that. Ramona? I’ve been out where she is, and yes, I believe that could be very true. Back in the day, Ramona gets hers. And with Jax, I could see that, totally,” she revealed.
Moving on to Teresa’s friendship with Jackie, Melissa said she was not surprised to see Teresa speaking of using Jackie for information about Margaret.
“We all know that. I’m surprised that Jackie’s not more annoyed at seeing that,” she stated.
Another fan wanted to know if Melissa felt that Joe and Teresa would reconcile if they left RHONJ.
“No,” she bluntly replied.
Looking ahead to the potential 15th season, Melissa said she was convinced that a reboot was looming.
“[It’s] time for a change. I do think the change kind of means some people are gonna go, maybe everyone’s gonna go. So I think we’re all just trying to do our best to try and figure out what’s gonna happen and realize that it is realistic that things might change,” she explained.
Although Melissa and other cast members may not appear in the new season, there are still a few episodes left of RHONJ, including next week’s highly-anticipated finale.
“I thought it was very sad at points, I thought it was crazy at points. I thought there was things said that I was in shock,” Melissa teased. “When you think the worst has gotten said, you have not seen anything yet.”
Melissa then revealed her rose and thorn of season 14.
“How free I feel and how I don’t feel the pressure anymore to accept things that I never thought were right or to keep moving forward with something that was at a complete dead in, having zero guilt anymore and knowing I’ve done the right thing for as long as I could is definitely my rose,” she revealed. “I don’t think it’s a thorn, but I think watching Antonia going to college and knowing that life is changing that way for me is huge when I used to see her as a four-year-old on the show.”
Later, on the WWHL: After Show, a fan asked Melissa if she knew Chanel Ayan, 46, before the Real Housewives of Dubai cast member accused her of buying followers.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever met her. I think I might have met her one time at BravoCon, like in passing,” Melissa replied, admitting to suspecting it was Chanel’s friendship with Teresa that prompted the diss.
“She went to my sister-in-law’s wedding. She’s good friends with my sister-in-law. I don’t know. Out of nowhere, she tweeted, ‘How does Melissa Gorga have more followers than all the housewives … She must buy fake followers.’ I guess than everyone on my cast, then she said than Kenya Moore, which I do. I’m very good at marketing. I’m good on social. I’m good on Instagram.”
“You’ve also been on Jersey for 12 years,” Andy added. Melissa then corrected, “I’ve been on 14 years. 2010. It’s 2024.”
“And also the ratings for [RHONJ] have been huge,” Andy further noted.
“Exactly,” Melissa replied. “I’ve been on probably five years longer than Kenya. And Kenya, by the way, and I know this because we were on [Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip] together, Kenya, she doesn’t post. I have a store that everyone buys for me. I’m very active on social media. So proceeding that, the same day, Teresa posted her photo and said, ‘I love you so much.’ It’s stupid. I don’t get it. She’s such a beautiful girl. This isn’t the first time she’s said something about me, which is weird.”
As the show concluded, Andy asked Joe how he felt about season 14 “being the end of this chapter of [RHONJ].”
“I’ve tried so long, and does it hurt? It hurts. But at this point, what are we gonna do?” he wondered. “There’s a time that you have to just let go and that’s it, and I’ve gotta worry about my wife, my kids, my happiness, and that’s it.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14 airs Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo.
