Teresa Giudice came to husband Luis “Louie” Ruelas’ defense after his comments about Margaret Josephs’ son during the Real Housewives of New Jersey season 14 finale.
“Listen, my kids suffered!” Teresa, 52, said during the RHONJ “Off the Rails” special, the Bravo show’s take on an untraditional reunion, which aired on Sunday, August 11. “My stepson suffered. My daughters suffered.”
Louie, 49, received backlash after the RHONJ season 14 finale aired on August 4, claiming in a conversation with Teresa that he hoped Margaret, 58, and “her family suffer.” He called out her son specifically.
“I hope her f–king son suffers the way I suffer, the way other people in our family have suffered dealing with a woman like that. She’s a disgusting, vile human being,” he said. “She’s here to take advantage of everything that’s going on, and she’s a real piece of garbage.”
The conversation occurred before Teresa attended the now-infamous lunch at Rails Steakhouse that ended in an all-out brawl between the women. In lieu of a reunion, due to the events that occurred during the finale, the RHONJ cast members returned to Rails and discussed the finale in two separate rooms.
Teresa, Jennifer Aydin, Dolores Catania and Jackie Goldschneider sat in one room. Margaret, Melissa Gorga, Jennifer Fessler, Rachel Fuda and Danielle Cabral were in the other.
When the conversation between Teresa and Louie was shown on the screen, Dolores, 53, declared he would “get s–t” for his comments about Margaret’s son. “I don’t care,” Teresa hit back before telling Dolores not to “stick up for” Margaret.
Margaret, in the other room, stated she “had to make the sign of the cross” after hearing Louie’s comment. “That’s disgusting,” she added.
Teresa, for her part, told the women she was sitting with to “drop it,” but she seemingly understood that the remark was controversial.
“He was upset. People make mistakes,” she said. “I know he did not mean to say that. I’ll make sure he says sorry.”
Louie apologized in an Instagram Story statement on Tuesday, August 6.
“The finale was very tough for me to watch and I wanted to address it with you all. After watching the finale, I was disappointed in my actions in bringing up Margaret Josephs’ son,” he wrote. “The reason he was even brought up was because I have been dealing with being falsely accused of calling Margaret’s son at his work which is simply not true.”
He claimed that “for the last year,” Margaret spread a false narrative that Louie had “called her son at work.” This was initially brought up during the RHONJ season 13 finale in 2023, but Louie has vehemently denied the accusation. (Margaret’s son does not appear on the show and chooses to stay out of the public eye.)
“Still, I know better not to bring someone’s child up and it is something I deeply regret so I do want to apologize and acknowledge that I was wrong,” Louie’s apology continued. “We have been dealing with a lot of frustrating things behind the scenes and it has been very hard for our entire family and my children who have been really impacted by all that’s happened at the hands of certain people.”
He concluded: “Two wrongs don’t make a right and I deeply regret saying what I said.”
