RHONJ’s Melissa Gorga Denies Joe Gorga’s Reunion With Joe Giudice Was “Planned,” Shares How It Happened

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Melissa Gorga is shutting down rumors regarding husband Joe Gorga‘s supposedly staged reunion with his former brother-in-law, Joe Giudice.

On the latest episode of her podcast, the Real Housewives of New Jersey star revealed how she and Gorga ended up in the same place as Giudice during a trip to the Bahamas, shared if she was the one filming their encounter, and reacted to those who’ve doubted the authenticity of the Joes’ happy moment together.

“We truly wanted to shed light on a positive moment and that’s why Joe decided to post this video,” Melissa told her listeners on the February 23 episode of On Display With Melissa Gorga. “As everyone knows, this shows runs on negative most of the time… So I think Joe was happy to post this video and show a little bit of positivity and just show a ‘[let bygones be bygones] type moment.”

“It 100 percent was not planned. We had no idea that we were going to run into Joe Giudice,” she added.

In fact, Melissa said it “kinda slipped [her] mind” that Giudice lives in the Bahamas before she and Gorga were informed, by fans, that Teresa Giudice‘s former spouse had been spotted at their hotel’s casino with a mystery woman.

“Joe and I were walking back to our hotel room after dinner and after we were gambling in the casino … and a couple fans were like, ‘We saw Joe Giudice over there.’ And we were like, ‘Oh wow, really?’” Melissa recalled.

Then, the following night, after venturing to a hotel bar with “at least 20 people,” they saw that Giudice was walking in from a different entrance “at the exact same time.”

“We all just stood there and we were almost like, staring at each other. I did feel a little awkward. I’m not gonna lie. I kinda put my head down, like, ‘How is this gonna go?’ … I got a little nervous,” Melissa shared.

Meanwhile, she continued, “Joe Gorga walked right up to him as soon as he saw him, without a hesitation.”

After denying she was behind the video, Melissa reminded her listeners that the encounter between Gorga and Giudice was a big deal for onlookers.

“When Joe and Joe run into each other, guys, after all these years, you can bet your a– the cameras are gonna go up. It’s like hell froze over for a minute, honestly,” she explained.

Following their initial run-in, Gorga and Giudice went to the bar and Melissa greeted Giudice, who she suspected may have anticipated seeing them, with a hug and a “hello.”

“I think Joe Giudice, because he was at the hotel we were staying at might have had a feeling that he was maybe going to bump into us. He might have had a little anxiety about it so I think that’s why his face looked a little different than Joe Gorga’s face because Joe was genuinely caught off-guard,” she noted.

Looking back, Melissa said she was happy to witness the friendly moment, especially since Gorga “doesn’t really have a lot of family.”

“I do feel bad sometimes that I never get to hear his stories. He never gets to run into from his childhood that he grew up with, and believe it or not, that is Joe Giudice for him,” she explained. “I was kinda happy for him in that moment because I could see him grab onto him. It was like Joe was seeing his long-lost cousin, or in this case, his long-lost brother-in-law, and I think when Joe Gorga saw Joe Giudice’s face, all the drama that you guys have seen happen on camera literally was set to the side, and it really brought them both back to a time when they were truly good friends and family.”

“They say time heals all wounds and I think this moment was huge proof of that. And the fact that this happened gives me hope that this family might actually be good one day in the long run,” she added.

Melissa then shaded haters for “constantly placing doubt” on the good things that have happened to their family, stating that it’s “very sad” to see the moment being twisted after Gia Giudice called her uncle out for “taking advantage” of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Also on the podcast episode, Melissa addressed a message that was shared by her Instagram account in response to Gia calling Joe Gorga an “opportunist,” saying that the message was actually shared by her husband, who had her phone after she brought the comment to his attention.

“He picks up my phone, he’s looking at the comment … He then starts to type his reply back to Gia and press send … I grab the phone from him. I delete the comment. He picks his phone up and he writes the exact same comment on his phone,” she explained.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 13 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.