Last week. Luis Ruelas admitted that he doesn’t want Joe Gorga at the wedding. He said it on camera.
This week, we learned the lengths that he and Teresa Giudice went to in order to guarantee that the Gorgas were no-shows.
Trying to be “helpful,” Danielle Cabral told Melissa about a nasty cheating rumor. About her.
Melissa had already heard it. And then the floodgates opened as she shared what Teresa and Luis had tried to do to her marriage.
If you’re going to have a messy fight among friends and family, you might as well look spectacular for it.
That’s the philosophy behind these Real Housewives parties. It’s also basically why The Vampire Diaries had like a million Decades Dances.
Danielle Cabral became convinced that she needed to sit down with Melissa Gorga and tell her what she’d heard.
Admitting that it came through a series of people, Danielle shared that there was a rumor that Melissa had been in the back of some guy’s car, making out with him.
(What is she, in high school?)
Though initially expressing surprise that there was a rumor about her, Melissa shared that she has heard this before.
“I’ve already heard this story, and do you wanna know how? Through my husband,” Melissa told her.
“Do you wanna know how I heard it through my husband?” she asked. Rest assured, the question was rhetorical.
Melissa immediately answered: “‘Cause his sister called him over to her house secretly without me to tell him this story behind my back.”
“Pretty f–ked up sister-in-law I have, isn’t it?” Melissa commented.
Despite her seemingly conversational tone, the anger in her voice and face was obvious.
Then, in a confessional, Melissa opened up about how she and Joe first heard this rumor.
“Six months ago, Teresa called Joe over with Louie [Ruelas],” Melissa detailed to the camera.
Allegedly, Teresa called him over “because she heard a rumor about me and she believes it so much that she had to call her brother over.”
Furious, Melissa expressed: “How dare you tell my husband that I would cheat on him!”
“You’re saying this off a baseless rumor of some woman who wants to hurt Margaret with no facts,” Melissa described.
“No anything. Did she think he was just gonna pack his bags and leave?” she asked, seemingly bewildered.
Melissa wondered aloud: “Like what the f–k are you doing?”
Joe shared a similar recollection. He also detailed that Teresa had claimed that Melissa had cheated with “multiple men.”
One particularly sad note that he shared had to do with a phone conversation that he later had with his niece, Gia.
Allegedly, she told him that “we just think you can do better.” That is heartbreaking, on multiple levels.
“I had no intention of confronting [Teresa] about this,” Melissa shared with the camera.”Joe doesn’t believe it. It’s bulls–t.”
“And,” she explained, “because I wanted to let her have a peaceful six months leading up to her wedding, look what ends up happening.”
Accurately describing the situation, Melissa pointed out: “She has her minion make me look bad in front of everyone so everyone can hear the words ‘Melissa’s a cheater.’ And I’m done.”
Danielle was quick to emphasize that she is only the messenger. Instead, Margaret Joseph’s ex-friend, Laura, is the alleged source.
But Melissa called Danielle a “s–t starter” and for, she believes, being a pawn in Teresa’s game.
As for Teresa and Luis, she called them “such losers.”
Margaret expressed her ire over Danielle using her — albeit indirectly — to make this move. She also confirmed that, obviously, this “rumor” never would have circulated without Teresa’s help.
Teresa, meanwhile, admitted that she knew that Jennifer Aydin and Danielle knew, but claimed that it was out of her hands what they did with that information.
Sure! It gets more and more believable every time that a Teresa minion acts on her own. (That’s sarcasm, folks)
Meanwhile, Luis Ruelas was red with … anger? He was mostly just extremely, extremely red, even for him.
He couldn’t resist yelling out that he had hired a private investigator to get dirt on all of the cast.
That’s … a hell of a thing to blurt out. Especially just days before your wedding, but there’s never a good time for it.
Thankfully, John Fuda held him back.
Meanwhile, even though she played a pivotal role in spreading this rumor and knew that Danielle and Jennifer knew about it, Teresa claimed to feel hurt that Melissa was angry with her.
“Somehow, the finger always gets pointed at me,” she complained to the always-sympathetic Jennifer.
“How can I go and celebrate somebody else’s marriage when they are the people constantly trying to destroy mine?” Melissa later asked. She’s talking about the wedding, folks.
“I don’t need to deal with toxic people that wanna bring me down,” Melissa added. “Even if they come in the shape of your family.”
When Dolores Catania gently reminded her that skipping the wedding would mean that “it’s over, over,” Melissa countered that “it’s been over.” Yeah. Yeah.