Joe and Teresa Giudice didn’t exactly have the most amorous of reunions when she and their four daughters visited him in Italy in Nov. 2019. He had just moved there in October, after being held in an I.C.E. detention facility following the end of his 41 month prison term for bankruptcy fraud in March 2019. In a preview clip for the Real Housewives of New Jersey season finale, Teresa is definitely not feeling it when it comes to getting physical with Joe.
He comes into Teresa’s bedroom at her rented villa and tells her about how “stressful” it was dealing with their kids, as he “hadn’t done it in a while.” Teresa has been a single parent to the four girls ever since Joe entered a federal prison in March 2016, and she’s over it. “Joe listen, the kids are tired. I deal with this every single day,” she snaps back while unpacking her clothes.
“I need to go back up to the house and grab my things,” he tells Teresa, while holding a glass of red wine. “Are you sleeping here tonight? Do you want to stay with the girls?” she asks, but he tells her the “beds are little.” “Were you expecting to sleep with me?” she asks with some incredulity in her voice. After an awkward silence he tells her, “We’ve got 20 years in this marriage,” but Teresa’s in a different place.
Teresa tells him, “Joe listen. We haven’t been together in almost four years, so it’s like kind of weird, right? I don’t know, it’s been a long time, you know? You need to slow it down.” Joe is seen rubbing his face with his hands in frustration. He gets the message, and puts on his coat to leave. “By the end of this trip things could change. Who the hell who knows?” he tells her while walking downstairs. A heartbroken Joe leaves without even so much as a kiss or hug. The visit didn’t spark any romantic feelings back into their marriage, and the couple separated in Dec. of 2019, although neither party has filed for divorce.
Teresa did say there were lots of “laughs and tears” during the brief visit to Italy. In an interview with Good Morning America on Nov. 14, 2019, she revealed that, “We were just there to enjoy each other’s time…lots of laughs, lots of tears. Just reacquainting with each other and it was pretty amazing. We had the best time ever. It was so good.” But not good enough to save their marriage.