You'd think with Danielle Staub gone, Teresa Guidice's life on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" would take a turn for the better, right?
Well, it's just not so. In fact, things actually appear to be worse. And I'm not even talking about her husband Joe's money problems....
The show's two new "Housewives" happen to be related to Teresa. Melissa Gorga is her sister-in-law (she's married to Teresa's only sibling, younger brother Joe). Kathy Wakile is Teresa's first cousin.
Sadly, Teresa doesn't appear to get along with either of them or her brother.
In the premiere of season three, airing May 16, a full-on brawl actually breaks out during Melissa and Joe's christening party for their son after they exchange nasty words with Teresa.
It wasn't always like this.
Teresa and Joe were once best friends, but the relationship apparently fell part after he married Melissa. What happened isn't clear, but it's very obvious Melissa and Joe are no fans of Teresa's husband, Joe. "It breaks my heart," Teresa told me recently from Chicago, where she was promoting her second cookbook, "Fabulicious! Teresa's Italian Family Cookbook." "That's why you're going to see a totally different side of me this season. It's really sad. I cry a lot on the show and it's very hard for me."
Teresa insists she was excited when Melissa joined the family. She even asked her to be her daughter Gabriella's godmother. "I was really happy for them," Teresa said. "I wanted him to get married so bad. That was his third fiance, so we just wanted him to get married. We always said we wanted our kids to grow up together. And I really wanted her to become the sister I never had."
Well, that didn't happen. In fact, Teresa says, no one from the family told her that Melissa and Kathy had joined the "Housewives" cast. "I didn't find out until I had heard from Bravo," she said. "I got the phone call from Bravo and I was like blown away. I was like, 'Really?' And then that's what made me a little upset because I was like, 'Wow, it would have been nice for my brother to call me or my cousin to call me. It's just weird to me. It really is. Just blows my mind."
The siblings seem to agree on one thing: They try not to discuss the problems with their parents. "What you see is not what our family is really about," Teresa said. "I mean they were straight off the boat and we grew up in a very respectable home. We loved each other so much and it was all about us four—my parents and me and my brother."