The claws are out! Melissa Gorga claims she and hubby Joe Gorga should have sued Teresa Giudice and Louie Ruelas over the Pizzagate drama.
The RHONJ cast is still on fire following Pizzagate, and the truth behind who is really at fault for the business deal gone bad.
Throughout season 13 of RHONJ, Teresa Giudice, Louie Ruelas, Melissa Gorga, and Joe Gorga feuded about their failed pizza oven business, with each side pointing the finger at the other.
Now, Melissa Gorga accuses Teresa Giudice and her husband, Louie Ruelas, of trying to steal the pizza oven business idea right out from under her and Joe Gorga.
However, Teresa Giudice insists that’s not the case. Instead, Teresa says she was listening to what Louie told her to do. The RHONJ OG adds that she NEVER wanted to do business with her brother because she knew it wouldn’t end well.
On the June 13 episode of the RHONJ: After Show, Melissa shared her version of events surrounding Pizzagate.
“It was something that he originally said that him and I were gonna do, and I said to him, ‘You really should be doing this with Teresa.’ He’s like, ‘You know what, you’re right. My sister could use the money,’” Melissa explained. “[So] he invited Teresa to do it with him. He said he’d split it with her 50/50.”
According to the 44-year-old, Joe took the idea for Nonno’s pizza oven to Teresa and Louie directly, and Louie was onboard right away.
“Luis was very gung-ho about it. Luis was like, ‘Oh my God, this is genius. We’re in, 100 percent.’ Mind you, we’ve only met him at this point, two months ago,” Melissa noted.
Melissa, who now claims she and Joe had no idea what Louie really did for work, believed the 48-year-old businessman could be an asset to the budding pizza oven company due to his knowledge of marketing.
On the other hand, Louie apparently thought the pizza oven business would be a great opportunity for Teresa and her daughters, which is why he jumped on the idea.
“That’s why he was all in for it… He thought my brother was helping me out,” Teresa explained on the After Show.
She added: “I already knew that my brother wasn’t helping out. I’m like, I know my brother wants half of it. He’s not that kind of brother.”
Teresa admitted that she encouraged Louie to “put everything in writing” when it came to the budding business. However, Louie didn’t want to create a formal contract because it was family, and he “trusted” Joe.
As for how and when the pizza oven business turned sour, Melissa and Teresa have two very different versions of events.
Melissa claims the business “went really sour” when Teresa and Louie left Joe in the dark when it came to steps they were taking to make the pizza oven a reality.
“It went really sour. Obviously, they stole the idea. [Louie] started emailing my nephew, who was the one getting them the pizza thing, with getting him off the emails. They started to really organize this whole thing behind Joe’s back,” Melissa declared, adding that she then found out Teresa participated in a photo shoot with her daughters for the pizza ovens.
Melissa claimed: “I had someone doing my makeup who told me, ‘Oh, I saw Teresa last week. [I] did a photoshoot with her and her girls for this pizza thing they’re coming out with.’ I could cry because it’s very depressing to me.”
She then insists that Louie and Teresa tried to steal the pizza oven idea from Joe and only give him five percent of the company.
“Luis [is] like, ‘Listen, give it to your sister. She needs the money. We’ll give you 5 percent.’ We’re like, ‘You can’t offer 5 percent. If you take the deal, we’re suing you at this point,’” Melissa recalled.
“Nobody was keeping us in the loop. He just did it, and then that’s their way of twisting it to be like, ’Well, we put the money up,’” Melissa added of Louie shelling out $100k for the pizza ovens. “We didn’t even know it was time to put money up because you guys went, took the idea, and f–king flew with it.”
Yet, Teresa insists that she and Louie weren’t trying to hide anything.
“We weren’t trying to hide anything cuz, obviously, they found out from the photographer. Luis was executing it. And that’s the thing: I was only doing what Luis told me to do,” she explained.
Teresa then claims that Joe told Louie that he didn’t need to put any money into the business because he’s famous and that his name would attract customers.
“My brother, he said, ‘I’m a celebrity. I don’t have to put money out,’” Teresa alleged before noting that Louie had already shelled out half a million at that point for the pizza ovens.
While Teresa points out that Louie could have said he wanted “nothing to do with [her]” over this all – he didn’t. Instead, Teresa said Louie told her: “‘Don’t worry about it. I’m a grown man. I made the mistake. Let’s just move on.’ And we did.”
Meanwhile, Melissa says it’s not about the money and insists that she and Joe could have put up the money.
“It’s not f-cking about money. This is not about money. We could’ve put up the money. ‘My boyfriend’s so good cuz look, now he lost all of that money.’ That’s right. Karma’s a b-tch. You should’ve did the right [thing],” Melissa quipped.
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Production for season 14 of Real Housewives of New Jersey will start in late August.
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Source: RealityBlurb
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