Let the record state that Teresa Giudice did not want to put on the frock.
“I would never wear this dress,” she gripes of the coral one-shoulder number that looks pretty much like every dress you’ve ever seen her wearing. “It’s not me.”
She’s lounging in a cabana with a glass of bubbly — though she’s not pleased that her own brand, Fabellini, has not been provided. Teresa forces a smile as the photographer asks the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star to try some shots standing.
“I like sitting because then you can’t see the dress,” the 42-year-old sniffs.
But Teresa — the most notorious thing to come out of Jersey since Jon Bon Jovi’s hair — might have to get used to wearing orange outfits that aren’t exactly her style.
Last year, the Towaco resident and her husband, Joe, 42, were indicted on 41 counts of fraud and tax charges — with a maximum sentence of 35 years.
Though they originally denied the charges, the couple pleaded guilty to fraud in March: five counts for Joe, four for Teresa.
Basically, they copped to deceiving banks and lenders in the process of seeking $5 million in loans and mortgages. In addition, they admitted to mail and wire fraud and deceiving a bankruptcy court.
Sentencing was set for July, then pushed back to Sept. 23, most likely due to the recent death of Joe’s father, who collapsed from an apparent heart attack in the couple’s yard. Teresa faces a recommended sentence of up to 27 months behind bars, while Joe could endure 47 months and possible deportation. (He’s an Italian citizen.)
Meanwhile, the new season of Teresa’s show premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on Bravo, and cameras have been filming the whole mess.
Teresa launched into the zeitgeist in the spring of 2009 as an original cast member on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” and viewers were entranced as she stumbled over simple sentence structure and struggled to articulate herself in confrontations. By the end of the season, she became so angry with cast member Danielle Staub, she called her a “prostitution whore” and flipped a dinner table. In that moment, Teresa secured a comfy spot in reality-TV history. She’s maintained her legacy by continuing to bring the drama — and heaping helpings of crazy — to the show, year after year.
Teresa says that, even with the case, leaving the show never crossed her mind. “It’s my job,” she says. “This is my career now, and why wouldn’t I return?”
Perhaps because most people wouldn’t want their worst nightmares played out in front of the American public. But Teresa has no plans to escape camera crews anytime soon.
“When they don’t want me anymore, then I’ll find another show,” she says.
In the premiere, Teresa bemoans the mounting legal bills, and how she doesn’t have any money put away for the eldest of her four daughters, 13-year-old Gia, to attend college. Reports estimate Teresa’s salary for the show at $650,000 a season, so could it be that she’s putting up with the cameras because she needs the paycheck?
She doesn’t have a chance to respond as her “legal crisis manager” Wendy Feldman jumps in. Feldman listens to the entire interview, fending off questions and frequently speaking for the reality star.
Despite her title, Feldman admits she has no law degree. But she did spend 16 months in federal prison for a $4.1 million Ponzi-esque scheme.
“[I was] a real wolf-ess of Wall Street, but not so dramatic,” Feldman tells The Post.
One question Feldman does let Teresa answer is whether she has any regrets.
“Um, my God. I don’t know,” Teresa says. “Yes and no. … I think I’m just going to leave it at that. It’s a hard question for me.”
She admits she’s not embarrassed by her outrageous behavior on the show, like that table flip.
“I’m not ashamed of that. That’s what happens. I take it, I take it, I take it — and then I explode,” she says. “But also, looking at that now, you learn, and you grow every day. I want to show my daughters a strong role model.”
I don’t know. Yes and no. … It’s a hard question for me.
- Teresa Giudice on whether she has any regrets about her situation
After that scene went viral, Teresa sat her kids down to explain what happened. But the same can’t be said for her criminal case. She hasn’t discussed with them how Mommy and Daddy might be getting new wardrobes colored entirely orange.
“Gia knows something’s going on, but she just knows that Joe and I — we’re on it,” she says. “That’s all she needs to know.”
Her eldest may know more than Teresa realizes. Gia’s told her parents, as well as her teacher, that she wants to be a criminal lawyer when she grows up.
Teresa recently told In Touch, “How could I ever prepare myself to be away from my kids? It’s too terrifying for me to even think about.”
For now, she’s doing anything she can to keep her mind off it.
“I work out,” she says. “I’m a mom of four, very busy with that, and I’m working.”
Indeed, it seems Teresa is driving herself to distraction with business ventures. She’s working on a book to follow up her four best-selling cookbooks (though she insists it’s not a tell-all, as reports have suggested). She’s hawking her sparkling wines, her “Skinny Italian” pastas and sauces and her hair-care line. Her latest venture is “Fabulicious” gelato, which will hit stores in September.
It calls into question whether the parent companies of these brands will stand behind someone who has admitted to fraud, let alone a jailbird. A rep for Wine Wave, which markets Teresa’s bellinis, said that getting a comment for this story by deadline was “not possible.” Hair expert Jerel James, who partners with Giudice on the “Youthful 8 Milania Collection” hair-care line, says, “I am not prepared to comment on the brand and our relationship until after the court decision.”
That decision is looming, and legal commentator Nancy Grace says it won’t be pretty.
“In a time when people are standing in the unemployment lines, the over-the-top lavish lifestyle … is offensive,” she says. “They’re looking at [a maximum of] 35 years each. Do I think they’re going to get that? No, I don’t. I think there’s an outside chance the judge might feel sorry for Teresa, based on the fact that she’s a mother, and give her probation. If she’s lucky, she’s going to walk with two to five [years] behind bars. If [Joe’s] lucky, he’s going to walk on three to five behind bars. If they’ll put Martha Stewart in jail, they’re gonna put these two in jail.”
Said Joe’s lawyer, Miles Feinstein, after the plea deal was struck, “It’s the best we could ever get. Teresa has a good chance of getting probation. Joe will most likely do federal time.”
Family may be forever, but as the saying goes, a predicament shows who your real friends are.
“Housewives” has seen plenty of Teresa’s relationships go hot and cold. She’s quick to dismiss her apparent “bestie” from last season, Kim “D” DePaola, as a workplace friend. She no longer talks to former cast members Jacqueline Laurita and Caroline Manzo as often as she used to, though both attended her father-in-law’s wake.
“I was surprised. That meant a lot to me,” she says, noting she probably won’t have time to watch the pair’s upcoming spinoff series.
Teresa’s also in a better place with her brother Joe Gorga and his wife, Melissa, with whom she’s battled it out on the show.
“Unfortunately, because of fame and money, things happen, and that’s what happened to my family. We’re all in a good place,” she says. “No matter what happens, I’ll always be [Joe’s] sister. I’ll always forgive him, and blah blah blah.”
As for the new season, complete with three new ladies, Teresa says you’ll see her living it up. Think Nero fiddling as Rome burns.
“I was like, ‘Yay, this is going to be fun!’ I was really into it and so happy. And I think you’re going to see the Teresa you saw first season,” she says. “If you really know me, I’m all about having a good time.
“I’m not going to sit in bed all day,” she says. “I’m going to keep going.
“Nothing’s going to stop me.”