Melissa Gorga is opening up about her relationship with sister-in-law Teresa Giudice and her husband Luis "Louie" Ruelas amid the family's ongoing feud.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 43, responded to Luis calling her husband, Joe Gorga, a "good human being" on a podcast last month.
"It's very confusing," she told Page Six. "There are a lot of ups and downs and a lot of inconsistencies, so we're wondering as much as you are."
Joe admitted that his brother-in-law's compliment was "real nice" but he sees his personality as a double-edged sword.
He said, "I am a good guy. Too good! That's the problem!"
In November, Luis praised Joe's character to his wife on PodcastOne's Namaste B$tches podcast, saying, "Joe, at the core, really, your brother, honestly, at the core… your brother really is… a good human being."
Luis also recalled there being "no complaints at all" while meeting Joe for the first time. "I met Joe through coincidence with Teresa and it was very humbling and settling," he said.
He continued, "The first moment I met Joe, I would even say both of us became very vulnerable within the first 10 minutes of the conversation."
The television personality recalled the pair talking "about my work as a man, working through s— and all that stuff, like, you just like open up to him. Joe's the kind of guy you can do that to, or with."
Over the years, Joe and Melissa have hit some rocky patches in their relationship with Teresa. Some of the tension stemmed from the legal troubles that Teresa and her ex-husband Joe Giudice faced years ago, while more recent drama was centered around Teresa's treatment of the couple.
In May, Joe and Teresa got into an explosive fight during the Real Housewives of New Jersey season 12 reunion after Teresa called her younger brother a "bitch boy" and dismissively compared him to a Housewife.
The argument got so intense between the two siblings that Joe walked off stage, threatening to "quit" the Bravo franchise. But tensions only intensified between the siblings backstage as they continued to go back and forth. Even reunion host and franchise executive producer Andy Cohen had to step in to prevent Teresa from repeatedly interrupting Joe.
"I wanna have a relationship with you, I love you, but you've said some nasty things tonight," Joe said to his sister. "I don't want to argue with you anymore."
Teresa later claimed she had apologized and mended things with her brother, but that was only the start of what was to come between them.
Two sources said Melissa and Joe backed out of attending two days before the ceremony when false rumors about their marriage surfaced amid filming. Both Teresa and Luis' actions at the time ultimately influenced the Gorgas' decision.
"Teresa betrayed them in a way that's unforgivable," one source said. "They're not going to celebrate Teresa's new marriage when all she does is try to tear apart theirs."
"It's unfortunate. I think it's sad," Melissa told PEOPLE at BravoCon. "I wish we could have gone, but it is what it is. We'll never get that back, and I didn't choose it."
The Gorgas addressed their decision to skip the Aug. 6 nuptials on the Melissa Gorga On Display podcast, confirming that "the full entire story" leading to tension amongst the family was not public knowledge at the time, but "drips and drabs" of it had surfaced.
"I'm not going to sit here and say that there wasn't drama, that it wasn't crazy. Yes, there was a little aggression from certain people that could've been a little scary," said Melissa, noting that there was "plenty of reason" it'd be "strange" for the pair to attend the wedding thereafter.
Joe, in turn, said it was "so, so hard" for him to not attend Teresa's wedding, especially since she's his only close family that's still alive.
"To me, it was devastating. It really was. It was one of the hardest days of my life. It was bad," he said. "But listen: let's go back to the reunion. She did this, you know? This was all on her. This is what she really wanted. She didn't want [Melissa] in the wedding, she didn't want any of my children in the wedding, she barely wanted me."
