Why did Melissa Gorga call RHONJ season 13 “unfortunate”? Bravo star and fellow housewives shared opinions on upcoming installment

RHONJ (Real Housewives of New Jersey) is set to return for another season and while there is no word on when season 13 will air, much can be predicted about what will happen in the upcoming installment.

Teresa Giudice and her brother Joe have been at the center of much of the drama on the show since its premiere. The feud between the siblings has raged for over a decade, long before Joe's wife (Melissa) joined the cast, and has only gotten worse.

While Melissa hopes that rewatching season 13 will help her relationship with her fellow housewife and sister-in-law, she believes that season 13 is unlucky in general.

The RHONJ star spoke to Us Weekly on December 7 about the show and said:

"Unfortunately, you’re gonna feel like it’s the beginning all over again. That’s what’s unfortunate about it."

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Joe, Melissa, and Teressa’s feud explored before RHONJ returns for season 13

While Melissa remains optimistic that watching the season will help heal her relationship with her sister-in-law and allow all parties involved to see each other's point of view, her other cast members are skeptical.

Margaret Josephs does not think this will help, and her husband, Joe Benigno, concurs. At BravoCon, the RHONJ cast described the upcoming season as “explosive, riveting, and sad.”

Jackie Goldschneider added:

"No, I can say with 100 percent confidence, no matter how bad the fighting in the season is, it’s worse when you’re watching it back and all the social media fighting goes on. Social media is a disaster."

There is no such thing as the "last straw" when it comes to family, as the Giudice siblings have demonstrated time and again. One of the earliest fights involving the family on the Bravo show was when Joe and Melissa called Terasa "garbage" over a decade ago. The incident occurred at Gonga's son's christening and escalated into a physical altercation between Joe and Teresa's ex-husband Joe Giudice.

Long ago, in a conversation with People, Melissa said she believes that the root cause of their turbulent relationship is how different she and Teresa are. Nonetheless, their feud intensified when Teresa called her sister-in-law on RHONJ.

In a conversation with E News, Melissa said:

"Joe and I have been married for seven years and have three kids. We went through a time where we couldn't even buy diapers. We had to sell every house we lived in ... Did I go anywhere? Would I ever? No. It hurts me that she would even put that out there, to put that in someone's head. And it doesn't even hurt me as bad as it hurts her brother."

Teresa fired another shot at Melissa when she claimed in 2012 that Melissa had cheated on her husband, which was followed by a fistfight between the husbands in season 7 when Joe called his sister "scum." The family had a brief truce in 2013 when Teresa and her then-husband were sentenced to prison. During that time, Gorgas took care of the RHONJ star’s four daughters.

The family saw some beautiful peaceful years, but all of that came to an end in 2018 when Teresa accused her brother of not making enough time for the family. She further told Melissa to “control her husband.”

The fights became so bad that Joe didn’t attend Teresa’s wedding. Teresa tied the knot with Luis in August 2022. Sources said the couple had planned to go, but ultimately decided not to after their marriage came under attack while filming Season 13 of RHONJ.

Apparently, the air is so thick between them that the family had to sit at separate panels during BravoCon 2022. Melissa stated at the event that she is done with Teresa and that she has gotten off the roller coaster and does not want to ride it again.