Why this season of RHONJ left Melissa Gorga feeling ‘stressed out’

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Melissa Gorga knows a great season of Real Housewives when she sees one.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey veteran, who has been on the franchise for nine seasons now, knew while filming the current eleventh installment last summer that it was something special — and she was right. The show is bringing the laughs, the tears and, of course, the drama on a level that it hasn’t in quite some time.

For the latest episode of In The Know’s pop culture podcast, We Should Talk, Melissa Gorga opened up about filming the already-divisive season, including the feuds between herself and Jennifer Aydin and between sister-in-law Teresa Giudice and Jackie Goldschneider. She also opened up about airing out her marriage troubles with her husband, Joe Gorga, and looked back at her time on Bravo.

“I’ve been on this show for a very long time, pretty much since the beginning. I know when we have seasons that the fans are going to go crazy over, and I know when we have seasons that are going to be decent, but not the holy cow,” Gorga told ITK. “This is one of those — this is a holy crap season. I haven’t seen this kind of season in a long time, to be honest. I knew it while we were filming it, and it also stressed me out, and that’s how I knew it. I haven’t felt stressed like this probably since season 4. I was like, ‘Oh no, that feeling is back.'”

Listen to In The Know’s full episode with Melissa Gorga below, and keep scrolling for highlights from the interview:

Melissa Gorga on her reaction when Teresa told her that she heard Evan Goldschneider was being unfaithful to Jackie: “I wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening. There was a part of me that was like, ‘No…’ I actually froze for a minute in my head to say, ‘How are you going to handle this right now?’ Because she totally threw me off-guard. I know these are some of those rumors — there is plenty said about Housewives — but these are rumors that drive people crazy. So, I almost froze. I almost don’t react, if you pay attention. I am dumbfounded, and it’s very hard to get me like that. Usually, I’m quick on my feet, but I really couldn’t believe it. There are certain cast members we could do that to or that could happen to, but I know Jackie isn’t one of them. She’s not someone who can handle something like that, especially because it’s not true. I knew that could send Jackie down a very bad path.”

Melissa Gorga on showing her marriage struggles this season: “For Joe and I, obviously you guys have seen the trailer, it’s a little different for him and I this year. It’s very real for us. It’s not that we were ever hiding anything before. I’ve shown throughout the years that, as I worked a little bit more, it stressed him out, and we were having small difficulties that we were working through. During COVID and over that time, we truly got to a level which I feel like every marriage has [with] its ups and downs — there’s always a year or two where you go through it — and the truth is that we were really going through it this summer, and we were filming. […] I was at my wits end with him, and I think I let it show.”

Melissa Gorga on her relationship with Jennifer Aydin: “What’s funny about Jennifer is that what she tends to come after me for, I’m never even looking her way. She’s like, ‘You gonna find a mirror? Do you love yourself today? We know you think you’re the queen.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not even looking at you or speaking to you. I don’t care if you’re in the room or not. How ’bout that?’ I want to like her, because she has this funny vibe that I want to like, and when she wants to be nice, she is so nice. But she cannot help herself to constantly say things. […] I don’t know what she’s trying to say, but that is all her. I don’t even look her way when it comes to that. Sometimes she can be quirky and funny and most of the time she can’t read the room. She has no filter either, so I have this love/hate relationship with Jennifer.”

Melissa Gorga on the RHONJ cast: “It’s an awesome cast, it really is. We all have something a little different. This cast isn’t afraid to speak up. It was always hard to cast Jersey because Teresa and I have been on for so long, and we’re a family. It’s very rough to mix people in for us, because it’s too strong of a situation. But they have all found their place. Everyone has found their spot, no one’s scared, everyone says what they feel, and that’s what I think is really important. It’s very hard when you have OGs there for a long time, and you bring new people in and they’re like, ‘We don’t really want to say that, even though we think they’re wrong.’ That drives me crazy!”

Watch In The Know’s full interview with Melissa Gorga below, and watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST:

If you enjoyed this interview, check out In The Know’s recent interview with fellow Real Housewives of New Jersey star, Margaret Josephs, here.

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Listen to the latest episode of our pop culture podcast, We Should Talk: