NEW YORK (January 15, 2026) — In the sprawling, chaotic, and often rhinestone-studded universe of reality television, few figures cast a shadow as long—or as dramatic—as Teresa Giudice. As the broader “Real Housewives” franchise prepares to celebrate its monumental 20th anniversary this March (marking two decades since the premiere of the original Orange County series), Giudice is taking a moment to look back.

Speaking with People magazine in a reflective interview published this week, the undisputed queen of The Real Housewives of New Jersey (RHONJ) opened up about the moments that have defined her 14-season tenure. From the birth of children to the loss of parents, and from explosive dinner parties to walking down the aisle, Giudice’s life has been documented in high definition for nearly a third of her life.

For Giudice, now 53, the show has served as more than just a career; it has been a living, breathing time capsule of her family’s history.

A Digital Scrapbook of Life and Loss

While fans often associate Giudice with the high-decibel conflicts that drive ratings, the “OG” housewife revealed that her most cherished memories are the personal milestones captured by Bravo’s cameras.

“I had my daughter on Season 2,” Giudice told People, referencing the birth of her youngest daughter, Audriana, in 2009. For longtime viewers, the evolution of the Giudice children—Gia, Gabriella, Milania, and Audriana—has been a central narrative anchor of the series.

However, the reality star admitted that the most poignant aspect of her tenure is the footage of her late parents, Giacinto and Antonia Gorga.

“I love that I can look back and see videos of my parents,” Giudice shared, her tone softening. “They’re no longer here with me, so I love that I can see that.”

Her parents were frequent fixtures on the show, beloved by fans for their old-school Italian values and cooking scenes. Their passing was mourned not just by the family, but by the audience that had grown to love them. For Giudice, the show provides a form of immortality for them.

She also highlighted the joyous milestones that punctuated the family drama.¹ “There are so many milestones. Gia graduating eighth grade, they showed that, graduating high school, going to college. There are so many milestones that there are too many to name.”

Most recently, the cameras captured her lavish wedding to her second husband, Luis Ruelas. “It’s been a long time,” she reflected. “I got married there. That was like the most recent huge milestone. I’ve done a lot.”

The Table Flip: The Moment That Changed Reality TV

Of course, no retrospective on Teresa Giudice would be complete without addressing the furniture-sized elephant in the room: The Table Flip.

While Giudice did not explicitly list it as a “favorite” personal moment in her recent interview, it remains the defining image of her career and, arguably, the entire Real Housewives franchise. The Season 1 finale confrontation with Danielle Staub, which saw Giudice flip a fully set dinner table while screaming the now-infamous epithet “prostitution whore,” radically changed the landscape of reality TV.²

It was the moment RHONJ ceased to be a show about suburban moms and became a cultural phenomenon.

Reflecting on the incident at BravoCon 2023, Giudice admitted that she initially felt shame regarding her outburst.

“Let me tell you the truth: after I did it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, what did I just do? Like, I wasn’t proud of it. I really wasn’t,” she recalled. “That was the first time I ever did that. I got that mad.”

However, time—and fan reaction—changed her perspective. “Afterwards, everyone loved it. So then I embraced it,” she said.

Her assessment is shared by industry peers. During a segment on Watch What Happens Live, actor and Bravo superfan Jerry O’Connell declared the table flip the greatest moment in the history of the franchise. “It was the one that put us all on the map!” O’Connell insisted.

The “Lighter” Side of Teresa

Despite the fame that her explosive temper has brought her, Giudice expressed a longing for fans to see the woman she is when the cameras aren’t zoomed in on a conflict.

Giudice, who is the only original cast member to appear in all of the first 14 seasons of RHONJ, feels that the “drama queen” edit often obscures her true personality.

“Luis always says to me, ‘I wish they would see who you really, really are,’” she shared. “I’m really funny. I’m, like, so easygoing. I’m always in a good mood. Like, I just go with the flow. I don’t like drama. I really don’t.”

It is a statement that might draw skeptical raises of eyebrows from her co-stars, but Giudice insists her aggression is purely reactive.

“The only time there’s drama is if someone comes at me,” she explained. “Like if someone’s attacking you, then of course you’re going to attack back. And so, I guess I wish they would just show my happy self.”

A Future in Limbo?

As the franchise celebrates 20 years, questions swirl regarding Giudice’s future within it. Following a fractious Season 14 that saw the cast bitterly divided, Bravo has put the series on pause, with rumors of a “reboot” or a significant cast shakeup for Season 15 looming large.

Whether Giudice returns to hold a peach-colored diamond (or rather, a Jersey tomato) remains to be seen. But regardless of what the future holds, her impact is undeniable. She has given the world tears, laughter, weddings, births, and one very overturned table.

As the Real Housewives franchise enters its third decade, Teresa Giudice stands as one of its enduring pillars—a testament to the power of living life, loud and unfiltered, for the world to see.