Rachel Fuda is only a newcomer to The Real Housewives of New Jersey, but she's already in Teresa Giudice's black book because of her friendship with Melissa Gorga. In December, Bravo introduced fans to the new cast ahead of RHONJ season 13, which premieres this month. The new cast include Danielle Cabral, a business owner, mom, and wife; Jennifer Fessler, a mom, wife, and CEO and co-founder of luxury shoe brand F. Major; and Rachel, a mother of two who works full-time for her husband John's fast-growing business, Valet.
Despite just starting out, the new cast are already in the thick of the RHONJ drama. This is exactly the case for The Real Housewives of New Jersey's Rachel Fuda, who itted that RHONJ OG Teresa Giudice automatically wrote her off because she is friends with her sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga. During an appearance in an episode of Page Six's Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, Rachel confessed, "So coming on the show as Melissa's friend...I personally felt like I was immediately polarized—even without polarizing myself." She added that one only needed to put Melissa next to her for her to be written off automatically. However, Rachel isn't pleased with the alienation as she noted that it sucks. She added, "I would have liked a fair chance to have gotten to know Teresa and maybe flourish our own friendship."
RHONJ's Rachel Fuda Believes She & Teresa Can Bond Over Shared Experiences
The RHONJ season 13 trailer revealed a glimpse of Teresa's hostility toward Rachel when a part of the clip showed her asking the newcomer to mind her business. However, despite Teresa's actions toward her, Rachel feels they can bond over their shared experience as matriarchs of blended families. She revealed, "Who knows what would have been possible. She also has a blended family and we talk a little bit about that during the season." However, Rachel added that she and Teresa were immediately polarized, which she feels bad about because things didn't have to be like that.
Rachel's ission that Teresa immediately wrote her off because of her friendship with Melissa shows just how deep Teresa's feud with the Gorgas goes. Teresa has been feuding with her brother and sister-in-law for a long time, with things getting more heated after the trio fought as RHONJ season 13 filming wrapped up. Since then, things have worsened between them, with RHONJ season 13 expected to show how the drama got so bad between the family .
Meanwhile, it's unfortunate Rachel has to go through that. She probably went into RHONJ hoping to know more about one of the Real Housewives franchise's biggest OGs. However, her hopes have been dashed because of the ongoing feud between her friend, Melissa, and Teresa. Yet, Rachel shouldn't give up hope of being friends with Teresa. As she noted, they are both matriarchs of blended families and can learn a thing or two from each other in that regard. Although the present situation isn't friendly, there is hope that the RHONJ stars will be friends in the future.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 13 premieres February 7 at 9 p.m. EST on Bravo.
Sources: Page Six, Rachel Fuda/Instagram