Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Bravo
Jennifer Aydin shared details about a scene that was cut from The Real Housewives of New Jersey between her and Melissa and Joe Gorga about their BravoCon fight during a podcast appearance on Tuesday.
While also sharing how she and Melissa Gorga, 45, made amends, slamming Melissa’s friendship with Margaret Josephs, 57, as “strategic,” and shading her “hater,” Tamra Judge, 57, for her treatment of Shannon Beador, 60, Jennifer confirmed that she and the Gorgas did hash out their BravoCon beef for the cameras.
“We did bring it up this season. We did speak about it, but we knew that it wasn’t going to air,” Jennifer explained on the September 24 episode of the AllAboutTRH podcast. “This is not something that happened on the show, and obviously, they’re not happy about it. It’s not a good look for the network, especially in this very sensitive time that we’re living in. I think they just wanted it to go away. They wanted us to squash it, which they did, and they really just wanted us to move on. And it really was a matter of agree to disagree.”
In addition to settling their drama on camera, Jennifer and Melissa also met for lunch, where they talked “in circles about BravoCon” before ultimately getting on the same page.
“I acknowledged what I did: ‘I walked in, you think I was giving you a dirty look. I’ll say I’m sorry for that. I didn’t think I was giving you a dirty look. I was shocked to see you. I looked at you. I walked away. If you received that as a dirty look, I will say I’m sorry.’ And I said I’m sorry, and then she wasn’t taking accountability,” Jennifer recalled. “[But] we squashed it.”
Melissa then invited Jennifer to her housewarming party, which Jennifer was hesitant about at first.
“I told her I’d think about it, and then I sent her a text, and I don’t know if it made it to final cut … I texted her and I said, ‘I think I can be okay with going to your house for your housewarming party, but I need something from Joe, not necessarily an apology because it doesn’t look like I’m gonna get one, but I need some kind of acknowledgment. It’s very overwhelming for me to walk into his home, his sanctuary as a guest, feeling like I’m not wanted. If I’m gonna walk in there with my husband and hold my head up high and swallow the pill that it is so we can move forward, I need something from him,’” she shared. “And she said, ‘You know what, I heard that. Let me get back to you.’”
A short time later, Jennifer received a message from Joe, 50, which read, “You know, we both have different accounts on what happened that night. Life’s too short. Hope to see you at my party,” and they moved on.
As for whether Jennifer really wanted to be friends with Melissa or if she did so for the sake of the show, Jennifer insisted she was “genuinely trying to be her friend.”
“We were in an environment together that we had to be together. I don’t want to be in an environment with somebody that I’m really not getting along. It’s so awkward. It’s so tense,” she explained. “I did genuinely want to get along with Melissa and Joe, just for the sake of being copasetic in the same environment. We’re filming. And I do believe we make great TV when we’re all [getting along].”
Although Jennifer described her friendship with Melissa as “genuine,” she couldn’t say the same for Melissa’s relationship with Margaret.
“I think it’s strategic. I think they will get along for the greater good,” Jennifer admitted, adding that “even [Jackie Goldschneider] said Margaret’s the one you gotta watch out for.”
Moving on to her ongoing feud with Tamra, Jennifer described their relationship as “non-existent” and revealed they have only crossed paths once.
“We were [at BravoCon], saying goodbye to some fans while the cars were coming up, and she kind of came up to me. She was grabbing my a**, trying to make a whole production in front of the fans,” Jennifer shared. “And listen, I was cool with her. I was smiling, but that was literally the only interaction I’ve had with her.”
While Jennifer acknowledged that she has formed some opinions about Tamra as a character on The Real Housewives of Orange County, she said she took what she’s seen on the show with “a grain of salt” because she knows how it can be edited.
“Some of the things that I saw, I wouldn’t do, but again, it was all based on the show, so I never really took it to heart,” she noted.
As for why Tamra came for her, Jennifer assumed she was responding to something she saw on RHONJ — or acting out of her closeness to Melissa and Margaret.
“[Maybe she] just decided to be a hater,” Jennifer guessed. “I tried to ignore it. I didn’t comment. I was away with [Teresa Giudice] and [Luis Ruelas] and their family in Turkey on a beautiful yacht on the day she was talking about me. And even Teresa was like, ‘Don’t even address it. She’s spoken about Luis so many times. Don’t even waste your time on her.’ She’s not on my radar, she’s really not.”
In addition to calling Jennifer the “queen of mean,” Tamra suggested she wouldn’t be asked back to RHONJ for season 15.
“You’re the one who’s mean. You are so mean to Shannon. Where’s your compassion?” Jennifer continued, giving a nod to the way Tamra treated Shannon after her September 2023 DUI arrest. “It could have happened to anybody. She was breaking up with her boyfriend … It’s terrible. She shouldn’t have done it, but what do you want from the woman? Leave her alone. And she’s mean to this [Jennifer Pedranti] woman, [too].”
Also during the podcast interview, Jennifer addressed her relationship with Margaret.
“With Margaret, it’s gotten deep because it’s trickling into Teresa’s family. But even me, with Margaret, she trickled into my family, that f*cking b*tch. I forgive her at this point. I can move on. It’s not like she’s in my life. If I need to be around her, I will be around her. I can appreciate her for the moment, but that’s it,” she stated. “I wouldn’t trust her. I really feel like some of the things she does is really, like, vicious.”
One particular vicious thing Margaret did was label Jennifer a “drug addict,” which is “ridiculous,” according to Jennifer.
“I think she got a lot of heat for calling me a drug addict, and she did apologize to me. She did,” Jennifer confirmed. “I know it’s not true. I would take a sporadic drug test with anybody any day. I live my life in transparency, and I’m not a drug addict, and I don’t lie. I live in my truth. So whether it’s weed or another thing that Margaret outed, or my husband’s infidelity.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey is currently on pause ahead of its 15th season.
