Teresa Giudice Sells Stories to the Tabloids But Denies It; Melissa Gorga Claims Teresa Called Antonia ‘Ugly’ and Wrote a “Whole Lying Blog About My Daughter”

“I used to always cover up for her—I’ve kept a lot of secrets. Not anymore.  When she stops telling lies about me, I’ll stop telling the truth about her.” – Melissa Gorga on Teresa Guiduce, October 1, 2012, Us Weekly

On the August 26, 2012 episode of RHONJ, Joe Giudice admitted to Chris Laurita that Teresa gets paid to give stories to In Touch:

“They write the bull (bleep), and we make the money,” Joe tells Chris Laurita.

“They came to us.”

Chris: “So you put it out.”

Joe: “So what?”

Chris tells Joe that he and Jacqueline were approached by a magazine to dish dirt on Teresa for $50,000, and they refused.

Joe: “You’re a moron.”

The following in a recap by Vulture of when Caroline called out Teresa (for the second time) in season 4 for a having a deal with the tabloids, which in listed on page 17 in the federal indictment handed down on July 29, 2013:

Tre: I love you.

Caroline: You’re lying.

Tre: I’m not lying.

Caroline: You have a seven-cover deal.

Tre: You’re lying.

Caroline: You’re lying.

Tre: I’m not lying.

Caroline: You are lying to my face right now.

At which point Caroline calls Tre a “fraud” and a “disgrace.” We find out over on the men’s side that Teresa planted a (false) story in a July In Touch about possibly having a baby boy. We learn from Juicy that Teresa did get paid for the tabloid stories. Joe Guidice’s attitude is more or less “So what? Your wives would do it too.” We also learn here that Jacqueline was offered $50,000 by a magazine to write a story about Tre and turned it down. We also learn that Juicy Joe called Chris Laurita “shady” to some businessman and they fight for two seconds but then make up. They all kiss each other. More than they need to, really.

Tre turns down a bend in the road and resorts to Ophelia-style non-sequiturs when Caroline says to her face that she used to tell her to stop hanging out with the rest of the women to prove her friendship: “Just because your family has problems,” Tre blurts out. Irrelevant?

Manzo sick burn: “Hanging out with your family was the biggest blessing because all the things that didn’t make sense began to make sense.” Oww.

Eventually, Joe Guidice yells “Caroline!” from across the room, and Chris Manzo poises for attack (“If he fucking hurts my mother, I’ll fucking jump across the room and hit that motherfucker.”)

Albert Manzo does not seem to belong on this show, and not only because his flesh is not the sickly orange of a hormone-grown low-end grocery carrot: “I usually just sit in the back and pretend to be sleeping or not paying attention.” Eventually, Lauren comes to her mom’s aid.

At one point Teresa grabs Kathy’s face for emphasis.

“I don’t even know how to lie,” Tre says, and everyone basically snarfs. At least, I snarfed. This fight about old shit has actually been going on for half an hour now, and my brain cells are depleting worse than if I hooked myself up to an IV of 151 rum.

“He was an instigur.” Tre says at one point. Pauses, thinks. “He was an instigator.”

Finally Juicy Joe puts an end to all of this by announcing he has important business to attend to and the Giudices must depart. Tre shrieks something intellegible.

“She’s such a piece of shit,” says Lauren. “Why did you two start talking?” Melissa asks Caroline, incredulous. “Don’t talk!” Melissa wins for the only sane line uttered this week.

Like that moment in Fatal Attraction when the erstwhile-drowned Glenn Close springs up from the full bathtub, Tre pops back in for one final round of brief crazy, then she leaves. Joe Gorga says that he’ll continue to try to support Tre emotionally, blood being thicker than water and all, and the Gorgas prepare to leave as well.

The funniest thing about the Kathy face-grabbing incident is that every time Kathy says that she didn’t like it, Tre does it again. Caroline cries in an empty room. Yahtzee.

Teresa has adamantly denied being paid by the tabloids for stories, even writing a blog about “how it works.” In her June 12, 2012 blog, Cover Girl, Teresa said that she got paid for the photo shot and nothing else:

Here’s the deal though: you’re only ever paid for photographs. The magazine has to pay for photos no matter what: either they do a photo shoot with you, or they pay for shots from a professional photographer who just happened to catch you walking down the street, or god forbid, the paparazzi. Here’s how I feel about that: if the magazine is going to run a story about you anyway and you have no control about what the story will be, what will be on the cover, even how they might twist your own quotes or use ugly pictures of you, why not get paid for a professional photo shoot? I love, love, love photographs… especially of me and my girls. You’ve seen my Christmas cards; I go over the top with photographs. Now suddenly magazines are offering to give me gorgeous photos (that I get to keep) and they’ll pay me. If I say no, they’re going to do the story anyway, but the photos will probably not be pretty, like the recent cover of US Weekly with my arms crossed when I look all mad. Who wants that?

So Jacqueline and I were all excited to have beautiful shots of us and our babies in In Touch and get paid for them! And that one actually was a pretty nice story, no drama or crazy cover tags. But maybe that’s because we never made it to the cover. We got bumped for a story about Brat Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. No need to have a dramatic cover sentence for us because we weren’t the cover.

It’s weird how it works: you don’t always get paid even for photo shoots. People magazine doesn’t pay for instance (unless you’re Brad Pitt I’m guessing). But when I was asked to pose for a photo shoot with my girls in their playroom, for back-to-school clothes with Alex McCord and her boys, and with my girls for Halloween in People magazine, I did them all for free because I love taking pictures! You don’t have any say about the photos of course, and they can still pick a bad one, but I still think taking pictures is fun, especially when I get to keep them for free.

At some point the photos of me and my kids must have been selling well because I started to get asked more often, and started to appear on covers I was never asked about at all. And of course, the stories about me got crazier. To date, I’ve been on the cover of over 25 magazines. That’s just crazy to me; I know actors and models would kill for that much exposure. But I didn’t ask for it. They put me on the cover because apparently magazines sell really well when I’m on them. I’m not sure if that’s flattering or not since the stories aren’t typically very flattering.

The truth is Jacqueline and Caroline aren’t on the covers of magazines every week presumably because it wouldn’t make the magazine sell. They aren’t missing from the magazines because they take some high road and say no. They aren’t wanted. I’m not saying being wanted is better or somehow desirable because in most cases it isn’t, but to say that I have any control over it is false. And they know it.

So on this episode they were all acting so shocked at the story they said I put out. First of all, they know I didn’t put it out. Yes, for that one I posed for the photos rather than have random street shots of me used. And I wanted some photos of me and Gabriella since she’s so quiet and not on the show a lot. During the shoot they asked me some questions, and I answered them. Some of them, not even all of them. And I didn’t say anything bad about anyone.

[…]

So now you know how it works. I never did. I do get paid for photo shoots sometimes, sometimes I do them and don’t get paid, but I like pictures. And here’s another thing: if they pay you for the shoot, they shoot a million pictures in tons of different clothes so they can spread them out and use them in several different magazines without having to pay you again. I think I’ve only ever done 4 or 5 photo shoots that they’ve used in the over 20 covers (I can’t even count how many times I’ve appeared in the magazines. I don’t even read them anymore…) And I do say no A LOT. I’m busy, it’s not a lot of money, and I don’t need it.

Regardless of the photos, I can’t control what’s on the cover or when, and I usually hate what they say. Even though I love the picture of my wedding vow renewals with Joe, they wrote right over my wedding dress: “Despite Joe’s drunken bullying, Teresa refuses to leave him.” Did I put that out there? Of course not.

In her June 12, 2012 blog, A Real ‘Rockstar’, Melissa criticized Teresa for the In Touch magazine article featured on season 4 episode 7:

“I guess in her mind, there is a difference between what she is willing to share with the tabloids for money and what she will share with her friends and family. Please take note, if there are constantly stories in the tabloids, the show is going to address it. If you don’t want these issues to be brought up on the show, then don’t address them in the tabloids.”

In this same episode Melissa accused Teresa of not being loyal to family because of the In Touch article:

“I get it—you need to make money, [so] make your money—but at the same time, you need to be loyal to your family. Maybe she can go see a therapist about that. I’m sorry, that’s how I feel.” – Melissa Gorga, Season 4 Episode 7

The In Touch cover above features a photo of Teresa and her children along with sensational headlines. Her children should be off limits and should never be featured on tabloid covers, especially knowing the sensational stories inside. If she wants her face on the cover to help build and sell her brand, fine, but she needs to protect her children from public scrutiny and humiliation. She also needs to restrict the way in which Bravo films her children. She should have final say on what airs, or she should not allow Bravo to film them at all.

In October 2012, Melissa accused Teresa of calling her daughter, Antonia, ugly, but Teresa denied the accusation:

According to Melissa in her interview with Us Weekly published on October 2, 2012, when Antonia, her daughter, got accepted to a modeling agency, Teresa said: “I heard Antonia got accepted. Yeah the ugly kids always get picked.”

According to Teresa in a response posted on her website on October 8, 2012 (see below): “And Antonia, don’t ever, ever let anyone tell you you are anything but BEAUTIFUL! Know how I know? Know how everyone knows this horrible story about me calling you “ugly” isn’t true? Because you look just like me when I was a kid! To be honest, you look almost more like me than my own daughters… I wasn’t trying to make this about me–I was only trying to point out that it’s ridiculous to claim I called Antonia “ugly” when we look alike–that would be like calling myself ugly. She’s beautiful, I love her and my nephews.”

Teresa wrote a blog on her website to give her version of the story and posted the two photos above, comparing herself to Antonia at the age:

My Darling BEAUTIFUL Niece
By Teresa Giudice, TeresaGiudice.com
October 8, 2012 at 2:21 PM

There were another million crazy hurtful untrue stories about me this week and I ignore them all, but one I can’t ignore. Again, Melissa is using our children in public, telling lies about them, to try and hurt me. Please Melissa, say whatever you want about me, but leave innocent children out of this!

I’m not even talking about her ridiculous claim that she’s leaving her “dream house” because she doesn’t want her kids to go to school with my kids. Our kids are all in school now and they don’t go to the same school already. She can stay in her dream house. We all know that’s not the issue…

But while I can protect my own kids from her lies and keep telling them that their uncle and aunt love them, I don’t have any access to my own niece and nephews anymore. Someday Antonia will be old enough to make her own decisions and hopefully I’ll have a relationship with her and her brothers then, but I have to answer the INSANE LIE that I ever, ever said anything mean about Antonia.

Someday when Antonia is able to Google her own name, she’ll find the evil story her mother told to a magazine about me calling her “ugly” (I can only pray Melissa’s words were taken out of context by the magazine and I hope Melissa sets the record straight with Antonia privately, even though she didn’t publicly) but I want Antonia to also see my response: it’s absolutely NOT TRUE. I adore you Antonia, and I adore Gino and Joey. You are my blood. You are Gorgas. You are beautiful inside and out! Zia Teresa will always, ALWAYS love you and always be here for you with open arms. My children love you as well. They always treated you like their own sister growing up since you didn’t have any. I hope one day you’ll be able to hang out again.

And Antonia, don’t ever, ever let anyone tell you you are anything but BEAUTIFUL! Know how I know? Know how everyone knows this horrible story about me calling you “ugly” isn’t true? Because you look just like me when I was a kid! To be honest, you look almost more like me than my own daughters. You are like a daughter to me and will always be in my heart. I love you Antonia! xx

Update on Monday, October 8, 2012 at 5:14 PM by Teresa Giudice

Believe me, I hate to leave a message for my nieces and nephews on the Internet, but I have no other way to get through to them, and at least this will be here, permanently, for them to read with their own eyes someday. I meant every word of it. I don’t care who believes me or doesn’t, this is how I feel.

And this wasn’t just a tiny rumor, the accusation was in a national cover story and you and I both know Melissa bought boxes of that magazine, so yes, Antonia will one day see it. I wasn’t trying to make this about me–I was only trying to point out that it’s ridiculous to claim I called Antonia “ugly” when we look alike–that would be like calling myself ugly. She’s beautiful, I love her and my nephews. Visit us all in 15 years and hopefully you will find one big happy family. xx

I know I’ll laugh about this cover story one day. Actually, the red dresses did make me laugh right away.

On October 8, 2012, Melissa responded by tweeting: “Did T seriously write a whole lying blog about my daughter? This is why I’m moving. Always about her. #enoughalready”

I’m not so sure Antonia looks ‘just like’ Teresa when she was a kid (I think Milania has Teresa’s features and will grow up to look a lot like her mother — photo below). Antonia resembles the Gorga side of the family but I think she also equally resembles the Marco side of her family. Melissa certainly will have something more to say about it.