Caroline Manzo and her daughter, Lauren, slammed Teresa Giudice for becoming a “damaging” personality on “Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
The “Food, Love and Chaos with Caroline Manzo” host appeared at Page Six’s “Reali-Tea” Live event at The Loft at City Winery in New York City Thursday and blamed “fame” for altering her behavior.
“I miss the days of Season 1 Teresa. I do … that’s what makes me so sad because we had belly laughs,” Caroline said on the stage.
“We were there for each other. We were on this journey.”
Unfortunately, Caroline said, the success of the reality series derailed the convicted felon.
“Fame is a very very dangerous thing, and if you are not completely grounded in who you are, you believe the bulls–t,” Caroline continued.
“The fame got to her head, and I will stand here to this day — to this moment — in the fact that I have always defended her.”
Lauren went even further in criticizing Teresa, 51, saying she’d “step on anybody to get ahead” and called her out for her “damaging” comments calling her mother “fat.”
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Caroline, 61, also stated that she did not call the FBI during Teresa and her then-husband Joe’s 2013 indictment but revealed she knows who did.
“PS, I was there,” Caroline revealed, to which Lauren immediately added, “But we’ll never say who it was.”
Caroline further explained she “took the fall” because she’s “not [a rat].”
“It’s not even about being a rat,” she explained. “There’s this thing called collateral damage. So, when you say something, who’s going to hurt? Who is this going to hurt by saying this truth?
“You can believe whatever you like about me. I know I never did — I could never do that,” Caroline continued, “but if blaming me makes you feel better, OK, then your reality. It’s not going to change my day.”
The “Turning the Tables” author previously suggested that she believed Caroline turned her into the feds after Caroline predicted that they would be put behind bars.
Teresa and Joe were convicted of fraud in 2015. The Bravolebrity served 11 months before being released in December 2015, and then Joe began his time and spent three years in prison before being deported to Italy in March 2019.
He now lives in the Bahamas.