Jacqueline Laurita and Teresa Giudice. Courtesy of Teresa Giudice/Instagram
Burying the hatchet. After several years of feuding on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Giudice and Jacqueline Laurita are moving on — and clearing the air.
“5 hour lunch! Lots to talk about. Lots of laughs too!” Giudice, 50, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, February 11, sharing a pic with Laurita, 52, at Cipriani Las Vegas. “Reunited and it feels so good!”
The two women were also joined by the Turning the Tables author’s husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas, who shared Saturday social media footage of the group toasting the occasion.
Giudice and the Nevada native, once close friends, have seen their fair share of ups and downs through the years. The duo’s feud came to a head in 2014 amid the Dancing With the Stars alum’s legal battle.
Giudice and ex-husband Joe Giudice, who filed for bankruptcy in 2009, pleaded guilty to 41 counts of fraud. After serving respective prison sentences, Joe, 50, was ultimately deported to his home country of Italy in 2019. Teresa later revealed during RHONJ season 9 that the pair would split if the businessman had to leave the United States, noting she did not intend to move with their four daughters. (Teresa and Joe split in 2019, nearly one year before their divorce was finalized.)
“I don’t understand Teresa’s decision to not stand by her man and keep her family intact,” Laurita — who left RHONJ after season 8 — exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2019 of her former costar. “If Joe is truly the love of her life and the father of her kids, you’d think she would go wherever he goes to keep the family together as a unit! I feel like they’ve been separated long enough! Her decision seems a little selfish to me.”
She added at the time: “I don’t care if I was making $1 million in the state of New Jersey. If my husband — the love of my life and father of my kids — said we were moving to a new state or a new country, I’d be like, ‘Bye, bye,’ and I’d get my kids together, pack up our s–t and go with him. That’s just what families are supposed to do. Ride or die.”
Teresa, for her part, has since been candid about the demise of their friendship.
Courtesy of Teresa Giudice/Instagram
Jacqueline Laurita and Teresa Giudice.“We were real, real friends before the show,” she said on an episode of her “Namaste B$tches” last month, noting they initially connected through Laurita’s sister-in-law. “I wish Jacqueline and her family nothing but the best but what happened [between us] really devastated me. … I really was sad for a while. Joe could tell you.”