Rachel Fuda shared the not-so-easy journey to adopting her son Jaiden, friends of the show Jennifer Fessler and Jackie Goldschneider joined the couch, and Melissa Gorga touched on her risky “drunk dial” comment in the second installment of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” Season 13 reunion.
Things picked up right where fans left off last week when Teresa Giudice still claimed that her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga and her brother Joe were connected to her imprisonment, though host Andy Cohen told Giudice that her ex-husband Joe was the one she should be blaming.
Rachel Fuda went after Jennifer Aydin for sticking her nose in her rhinoplasty business, and revealed that her husband John got his own cosmetic surgery in the form of liposuction. Margaret Josephs refused to be blamed for Aydin’s daughter wanting to become a therapist after she exposed that Aydin’s husband Bill was unfaithful. And despite the cheating affair, Aydin says she wouldn’t trade her husband for anything and revealed that the two have have made progress in their relationship.
The Real Husbands of New Jersey later made their entrance into the studio. Dolores Catania’s ex-husband Frank Catania shared their son Frankie Jr. was no longer working for Giudice’s husband Luis Ruelas after Ruelas’ company supposedly shut down.
Here are the top 5 takeaways from “RHONJ” reunion part 2.
1. Rachel Fuda opened up adopting her son Jaiden
Fuda is now her former step-son Jaiden’s legal guardian after going through a hectic adoption process dealing with Jaiden’s biological mother Brittany, who they initially struggled to get in contact with. While discussing the matter, Fuda shared that Brittany claimed via “blogs” that Fuda was only adopting Jaiden for the show and that Fuda’s husband John was blocking Jaiden from speaking with his mother. Fuda said Jaiden wants “nothing” to do with his mother and claimed Ruelas hired someone to track down Fuda’s family. Brittany’s accusation that she only wanted Jaiden’s adoption as a storyline was shot down by Catania, who said Fuda discussed with her “years ago” that she wanted to adopt Jaiden.
2. Margaret Josephs accused Luis Ruelas of calling her son’s job and threatening him
Ruelas supposed use of threatening calls and private investigators came up a lot during the second part of the reunion. While discussing all the “files” Ruelas said he had on the cast, Josephs shared that her son was contacted by Ruelas at his job. During the phone conversation, which Josephs says took place a week prior to the taping of the reunion on April 13, 2023, Josephs says Luis threatened her son.
While Teresa Giudice denied Joseph’s accusations, Josephs pulled up phone call records as her proof, saying Luis called her son by his name and told him, “I’m the guy you’ve got to worry about.” In the background, Catania said she hopes what Josephs said wasn’t true and told Giudice that she doesn’t want to be involved in the mess.
3. Margaret Josephs detailed her downfall with her ex-bestie Laura Jensen and dove into the Melissa Gorga cheating rumor
Even though viewers never got to see Joseph’s former best friend Jensen on-camera, her name was brought up left and right by the women, especially when it came to the rumor that Gorga cheated on her husband Joe. Josephs shared her friendship with Jensen began to decline when she realized Jensen was determined to get cast on the show. Josephs says Jensen found out though someone not on the show that the easiest way to get on was to start drama, which led to Jensen contacting Aydin and Giudice.
Aydin said she met up with Jensen, where she was told about Gorga’s alleged infidelity, and that she’d later informed Gorga about Jensen’s claims. Aydin says Gorga told her that Joe Gorga responded to the news, saying he couldn’t believe how “disgusting” his sister is, though Giudice says she had nothing to do with it. When host Cohen questioned Aydin on why she acted nervous about Danielle Cabral mentioning it to Gorga at Catania’s Irish-themed party, Aydin said by that point in the season it was already a running storyline that she just kept going with. Rachel Fuda and Cohen pointed their attention to Cabral afterward, asking Cabral if she felt she was set up by Giudice and Aydin, to which Cabral replied no. All-in-all, Gorga maintained that she’s never cheated on Joe. But Josephs never quite answered if she did or didn’t tell Jensen about the cheating rumor; none of the ladies believed it to be true.
4. Melissa Gorga Addresses Drunk-Dialing Her Ex Joke Comment
During a ride in their sprinter van following a night out in Ireland, Gorga blurted out that she was going to “drunk dial” her ex-boyfriend. Giudice said she wasn’t happy with her sister-in-law’s remark, saying Gorga should be aware of how it would look to her three children. However, Gorga shot back at Giudice, blasting her for exhibiting the same type of behavior when she called former castmate Jackie Goldschneider a “c—t” last season. Giudice went on to say that the brother she grew up — Melissa’s husband — with would never tolerate such a comment. Gorga said the drunk dial comment was said in jest and that she was just having fun.
5. Jackie Goldschneider joins the couch as a “friend of the show” alongside Jennifer Fessler
For the first time since joining the cast in Season 9, Jackie Goldschneider sat down on the reunion couch as a “friend of the show.” Goldschneider said that she wasn’t “in a very good place” during casting for Season 13 and revealed she was dealing with body issues. She said her demotion from a regular cast member to friend was the “best thing” for her and it also gave her time to write her book “The Weight of Beautiful.”
She also shared her thoughts on Dolores Catania admitting that she uses Type 2 diabetes treatment Ozempic as a tool for weight loss. Goldschneider said that while she isn’t against people’s goals to lose weight, she worries about the aftermath of people’s health once they stop using the medication.
Joining the party also was Jennifer Fessler, who came right out and opened up about her slew of cosmetic treatments, including a nose job, a weight loss procedure and a face lift. She also expounded more on her supposed romantic relationship with late actor James Gandolfini, sharing how fans weren’t happy about her speaking on Gandolfini, knowing he isn’t alive to speak for himself.
At the conclusion of the program, the Jersey boys came together at the back of the studio, setting up viewers’ anticipation for what’s to come next week. The three-part comes to a close on Tuesday, June 13 at 8 ET/PT.
