Melissa Gorga went full mama bear in Tuesday night's episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey after Teresa Giudice dragged her daughter's name into a conversation.
The women were still in Ireland on Teresa's pseudo-bachelorette trip when, on the bus ride into town, a discussion about marriage, divorce and family dynamics began.
"I never thought I'd get divorced either," Teresa offered up after Jennifer Fessler and Dolores Catania both shared their experiences with separation and divorce, respectively.
"I don't know if you know the whole story, we were going through legal problems," Teresa, 50, explained to the group. "I go to jail for 11 and a half months — that was devastating for my kids, for Joe, so then come home, three months later Joe goes to jail, five months after that my mother gets sick."
"When my mother passed, I was done with Joe," she said of her ex-husband, Joe Giudice.
In a confessional, Teresa admitted though she had such "resentment" for her ex after her mother died, she didn't stop "fighting" for him until "the end" for the sake of their four daughters — Audriana, 13, Milania, 17, Gabriela, 19, and Gia, 22.
Back on the bus, Teresa echoed a similar sentiment — one that her then-fiancé, Luis "Louie" Ruelas, also shared.
"Louie loves Joe," she said. "He wants to stay close because of the kids."
Following the through line of conversation, Rachel Fuda proceeded to ask Teresa if her kids and Melissa's kids were close.
"Well they were, and then Antonia didn't come to—" Teresa started to say, before Melissa, 44, jumped right in.
"Are you gonna blame Antonia for something right now?" she asked of her 17-year-old daughter.
"I'm not blaming—" Teresa began again before Melissa cut her off.
"Don't even say her name if you're gonna. Don't say her name," Melissa said.
Never one to back down, Teresa forged on.
"Well, Melania was so hurt that Antonia didn't go to her sweet 16," she said of her own daughter. "Melania said, 'Well I celebrated her. I wish she would've celebrated me.'"
Melissa was quick to explain her daughter's absence from the party. "She had a cheer competition she wasn't able to miss because she already missed one, and if you miss two, you're off the cheer team," she noted.
"Your daughter gets done with the competition, she could've made the Sweet 16 for one hour," Teresa pressed.
Melissa was nearly at a loss. "She could've, but she was in Pennsylvania," she said. "The same way when Gabriela has a soccer tournament, she can't make it to [my son] Gino's communion."
"It's always tit for tat!" Teresa argued.
"No, it's not," Melissa reasoned, trying to remain calm. "I have to come back at you with facts."
In a confessional interview, Melissa was dumbfounded that Teresa would dare drag Antonia into the drama. "What do you want to prove that you'll go so low that you'll even say that your niece is doing something wrong now?" she asked.
