Jacqueline Laurita revealed the last time she talked to Caroline Manzo and addressed Teresa Giudice and Joe Gorga‘s ongoing feud during a podcast appearance on Tuesday.
While also sharing her thoughts on whether Caroline, 63, and Teresa, 52, will ever reconcile, revealing where husband Chris Laurita stands with his sister, Dina Manzo, 52, and reacting to Tommy Manzo‘s assault conviction, the 54-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey alum confirmed she spoke with Caroline in July.
“The last time I talked to Caroline and [Caroline’s daughter Lauren Manzo], they FaceTimed me actually the day that [former president Donald Trump] was shot. We were FaceTiming and then that happened and then we had to hang up. But I haven’t talked to them since then,” Jacqueline shared on the September 10 episode of the AllAboutTRH podcast.
As for what Joe, 50, did wrong in terms of his falling out with Teresa, Jacqueline suggested it was his behavior on RHONJ that drove a wedge between them.
“I think from watching the show like you were saying how Chris didn’t get involved — watching the show you can see for the most part Joe was throwing his sister under the bus every chance possible like he should have stayed out of it and talked to [Melissa Gorga] about it off camera to not respect disrespect Melissa but he would also join in talking about her [and] that’s where he went wrong,” she stated. “Even from the first day of filming you know at the christening, you know, even though Teresa was so angry at them for coming on the show the way they did you know behind her back and then everything she was just going to go on pretending like everything was great between them and you know she put her arms around her brother, asked him what he was doing and then that first day of filming, he called her out on camera.”
According to Jacqueline, there was a time when Joe had Teresa’s back, but it was a long time ago — before Melissa had a say.
“It’s been 7 years since I’ve been on the show and 7 seasons… I’ve been so emotionally removed from the show for 7 years… I think that when they were younger, yes. I think they were very close. I think that he took a lot of slack from his wife if he had Teresa’s back over hers,” she noted. “Melissa demanded his full support and since she’s the one that goes to bed with him at night, that’s who he cares the most about making happy.”
Looking back at a moment in which she and Melissa, 45, were on good terms, Jacqueline said Melissa encouraged Joe to stand up to Teresa.
“I remember sometimes when they would be at our house and she would say like, ‘Joe, you have to say this to your sister. You’re the one that has to speak up. If I say it, I look bad.’ She would encourage Joe to kind of say some of the things she wanted him to say. I think he was caught in a bad situation cause he goes home with his wife but then that’s his sister too,” she shared.
While there isn’t much hope for a reconciliation between Teresa and Joe, Jacqueline believes there’s a slight possibility that Teresa could one day make up with Caroline.
“Could they? Sure. [But] I don’t think either of them care enough about having a friendship with each other to make the effort. I think Teresa has always been more Dina’s friend. But I feel like if Caroline and Teresa ran into each other and started talking, I think they’d be fine,” she suspected. “I think there’s just like indifferent.”
Regarding where Chris stands with Dina, Jacqueline confirmed they are “fine.”
“Chris has kept in touch with Dina here and there. I remember when we lived in Vegas, he had met her for dinner. He stayed in her house one night when [they] used to live in San Juan Capistrano,” she revealed.
Jacqueline also reacted to the recent guilty verdict against Tommy, who was accused of hiring mobster John Perna to attack Dina’s current husband, Dave Cantin.
“We didn’t know who was behind it at the time you know, um, we were glad to hear that they didn’t strike Dina but you could tell she was really traumatized for witnessing her husband being beaten with a bat and then the fear of them both being tied up not knowing if they were gonna die in that moment,” Jacqueline said. “I’m glad they know who was finally behind it I mean we kind of suspected it but to me it was just it was so shocking and disturbing that even he could do that to someone that he loved.”
“I’m just glad that he’s going to get what he deserves and hopefully Dina can find some peace in that and she’s able to heal from the trauma of it all because that’s not something you get over that quick,” she added.
