'RHONJ': Tension Grows Between Giudice, Housewives

This week’s episode of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” continued the storyline of the wedding for Caroline Manzo’s brother, Jaime, to his partner Rich, while simultaneously bringing the audience back to the petty drama between Teresa Giudice and the rest of the Housewives.

In Chicago, as Jacqueline and Chris Laurita got ready for the wedding, they discovered a copy of In Touch magazine, which had Teresa on its cover yet again.

Simultaneously, Greg, the Manzo brothers’ roommate, brought the magazine home with him from the store. The cover said Giudice is “Terrified of Being Poor” and accused her friends of “bullying” her for her financial issues. The sidebar to the article featured Manzo, fellow housewives Kathy Wakile and Melissa Gorga, and former cast regular Kim G. with quotes about Giudice’s financial situation.

Laurita fretted that Caroline would be insulted by the twisting of her words, which she clearly was.

“What’s even more insulting than being called ‘a bully’ by a bully is saying we’re bullying her for her financial situation,” Manzo said. “We were the ones that were here when no one else was.”

“How she gets her money really is her business,” Laurita said. “But Teresa has told me she gets paid for these articles, so I worry about what’s real and what isn’t.”

Despite her hurt, Manzo said she would not give Giudice “what she wants” by attempting to talk to her, which she said will prompt a fight.

“I want to ask her, but I feel like if you ask her she’s offended,” Laurita said.

When Giudice came to pick her up for the wedding, Laurita talks to her. Giudice claimed she had no control over what the magazines write in them because she just answers the questions. Her catty attitude does not help her case.

“I don’t think Jacqueline and the other girls know how this works because they don’t get asked to be on magazine covers,” Giudice said. “For me, this is business.”

Wakile brought the magazine to Melissa Gorga’s newly renovated shore house. Their reaction is similar.

“Teresa has every right to put out whatever stories she wants, but when it comes to telling things that aren’t true about me, I don’t like that,” Wakile said.

Joe Gorga again expressed his disbelief that his sister would put these things in the public when she “builds a wall” with people she loves.

“Which Teresa do I believe?” Wakile said. “The one in the magazines or the girl in front of me?”

On the way to Jaime and Rich's house, Chris Laurita announced that the company that he has with nephews Chris and Albert Manzo has picked up a new client, Levedi Wines. As a result, they have to go to Napa Valley. He invited everyone, including the Giudices, to come along.

“Oh my God. I’m kind of confused,” Jacqueline said. “I don’t know why Chris wants to invite everyone. There’s been so much tension. I’m just really confused right now.”

The wedding brought a brief respite from it all with a revival of the truly beautiful feelings t The two grooms rode in in a horse and buggy, exchanged vows and released butterflies at the end. The whole ceremony had a feeling of triumph. Caroline put the feeling into words eloquently when she told the men that their “personal journeys” have been about mountains made up of minds, both broad and narrow.

“Through your courage and commitment to each other, your friends and family are all here to see a mountain move,” she said.

This moment was cut with the pool party going on at the Gorgas' shore house. Joe Gorga and Rich Wakile talked about Gorga’s attempts to get Giudice into therapy with him. With Wakile as “witness,” Gorga sent her another text.

Back at the wedding, Manzo was annoyed that Giudice announced she has just made the “New York Times” bestseller list, and Laurita seemed to be growing more frustrated with Giudice’s decision to refuse therapy.

“I’m trying my best to understand where she is and her point of view; I really am,” Laurita said. “But sometimes she does things that are really hard to respect. It’s like she’s so far gone I can’t even help her.”

Soon, however, the focus returned to the wedding, as the happy couple set off “wish lanterns” into the air, awing even the usually stoic and sometimes homophobic Joe Giduice.

“This is one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to,” he said.

The show airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on Bravo.