NJ Real Housewife Teresa Giudice calls her bankruptcy a “fresh start”

May 03, 2010 - New York, New York, U.S. - TERESA GIUDICE AND JOE GIUDICE.at Bravo's ''Real Housewives of N.J.'' Party.to kick off thier 2nd Season in Patterson N.J. 05-03-2010. 2010.K64721JBB. © Red Carpet Pictures
We reported yesterday that NJ Housewife Teresa Guidice and her husband were declaring bankruptcy after digging a whopping $11 million dollar hole for themselves. A lot of you were outraged that it would be so easy for the Guidices to discharge their debts, and that they would be able to keep the designer goods they squandered a fortune on. Well Teresa has an answer for you, and it’s all about how her husband’s real estate investments failed and not about the way she spent them into the ground. She calls bankruptcy a “fresh start.” People Magazine gently points out that Teresa was regularly seen on the show flashing money around and buying a ton of furniture and luxury goods. While some of you claim those moments were staged, it’s clear she was living way beyond her means:

“While this is a personal matter, I realize that certain aspects of my private life will always be subject to scrutiny and distortion,” Giudice says in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE. “What is true is that due to the economy, most of my husband’s real estate ventures failed despite his hard work and effort. As a result, we looked to the Bankruptcy Court for a ‘fresh start.’”

Indeed court papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J., show that Giudice, 38, and her husband filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which requires liquidation of assets in order to pay creditors, in October of last year.
Papers also show that the couple had to undergo credit counseling, and were awarded a temporary stay on payments for their Cadillac Escalade and mortgage payments for properties.

In the documents filed, the pair declared their personal assets, which include real property and personal property, as $2,261,150. But their liabilities — $8,709,831.34 — far exceeded that number.

In addition, the couple had to assess their monthly income. Combining Joe’s salary as owner of G&G Stucco and Stone Specialist in Clifton, N.J., with Teresa’s income from Bravo and “monthly assistance from family members,” that number totaled $16,583.33. Their expenditures, including their mortgage, food, clothing, dry cleaning, health insurance and other expenses, total $16,582.

The couple owes more than $33,000 on various store credit cards, $85,000 for home repairs and $91,000 for materials used to build their new home.

During the first season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Giudice, who famously flipped a table on the show, and her family moved into their $1.7 million mansion in Towaco, N.J. The reality star, who was often filmed treating her daughters to new clothing and expensive toys, was also depicted flashing stacks of cash while furnishing the house. And in a recent episode on the second season, she boasted of spending significant funds on her daughter Gia‘s spa birthday party.

“When people fall, the way to success is to get up and learn from our mistakes,” Giudice says. “We are in that process.”

[From People]

How can you share your life on a reality show and suddenly declare that bankruptcy is a “personal matter”? If you open yourself up to the world, you open up the bad parts too. This woman isn’t going to change. She’ll keep spending to fill some need in her life and trying to get other people to bail her out. She wants to live a gaudy, extravagant lifestyle without dealing with the consequences for living beyond her means.

PATERSON, NJ - MAY 03: Telvision personality Teresa Giudice (L) and husband Joe Giudice attend Bravo's 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' season two premiere at The Brownstone on May 3, 2010 in Paterson, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

PATERSON, NJ - MAY 03: (L-R) Joe Giudice, Gia Giudice, Milania Giudice, Gabriella Giudice and Teresa Giudice attend Bravo's 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' season two premiere at The Brownstone on May 3, 2010 in Paterson, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Bravo's 2010 Upfront Party took place at Skylight Studio in New York City on March 10, 2010. The ladies from the Real Housewives shows were in good spirits as they arrived for the party. Pictured here is Teresa Giudice Fame Pictures, Inc

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40 Responses to “NJ Real Housewife Teresa Giudice calls her bankruptcy a “fresh start””

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  1. Hautie says:

    I am curious more about how they were able to finance building a 1.8 million dollar home. They had to already been in serious debt when they broke ground.

    Has there ever been any proof what these so call housewives get paid. A couple thousand a episode/show?

  2. LisaMarie says:

    Yeah, a fresh start so they can start wracking up the debt on designer goods again. I wish the laws surrounding bankruptcy made it a little tougher to discharge debts. Yes, there are some people who legitimately have gotten into a hole due to circumstances beyond their control like death, illness, or whatever, but these people were throwing around money like they had a grove of money trees growing in their basement.

  3. bethany says:

    disgusting. it’s because of flippant behavior like this that the world is in financial crisis.

  4. rinaz says:

    Her eyes bothers me.

    The first time I saw her, I kept wondering if her photos are photoshopped so that her eyes are further apart!

  5. Eileen Yover says:

    This lady’s forehead hairline is HORRIFYING!

  6. meme says:

    that is one fug family.

  7. Stella says:

    @ rinaz- I agree about the eyes- they are so weird looking! I have a hard time reading the posts b/c I don’t want to look at her.

    As far as her spending/lifestyle/total lack of responsibility goes- it’s really disgusting. I just can’t understand how people get themselves into these messes and don’t seem to care- bankruptcy isn’t a chance at a “fresh start”! It’s very serious with far reaching consequences for the people/companies she is in debt too. Great role model for her kids… gross.

  8. Kate says:

    A FRESH START? Ahhh…KARMA will come around and give her a fresh start I am sure. I too find her hairline horrific and laughable. “IF YOUR UGLY INSIDE, YOU’RE UGLY OUTSIDE!” I pity her children who look and act exactly like her…MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO! I can’t wait to see where this illiterate family will be in 5 years WITHOUT THE HELP OF “THE F-A-M-I-L-Y!” LAUGHABLE!

  9. Lisa says:

    I’m not the prettiest person in the world but my goodness if I were her I’d have been spending less in designer goods and furniture and more on plastic surgery to fix the hair line because she has NO forehead

  10. lucy2 says:

    I’m sure all the people who now won’t get paid what they’re owed would like a fresh start too.
    I feel bad for people who lose their job because of the economy, or have some major illness or something wreck their finances, but NO sympathy for people who live like this. It’s disgusting – I hope they liquidate every asset these people have.
    I’m sorry, but you don’t rack up over $30K at Nordstrom’s or something because your real estate ventures failed. And if both spouses are fully employed, they should be responsible for their bills.

  11. DoMaJoReMc says:

    The way she keeps catering to those daughters of hers (especially Gia), it’s no wonder that she is going under. And while she’s catering to the oldest one, she should look into therapy for her, as well.

    I don’t mean to be mean (especially where kids are involved), but this CHILD thinks she is an adult, and acts entitled all the way around.

    I actually like Theresa, but I think she has let her family become a “Status symbol” for her.

    I hate Danielle, but at least she owns up to the fact that she’s broke..

    And by the way, their car payment is what my mortgage payment is, and I am having a B!TCH of a time making THAT since losing my job, but I am selling things thru eBay and Craigslist to try and make it, while job searching. I guess maybe I’m handling it all wrong?????

  12. Jason says:

    Hautie: The home is WORTH $1.8Million…. it cost significantly less to build it though. He did a lot of the work himself and used friends and family members who had businesses specializing in homes, so I’m sure he got crazy deals on materials and labor. Also, they had taken our 3 mortgages on their Jersey Shore house and 4 mortgages on a Lincoln Park home they own. That’s where they got most of the money from for the new mansion.

    ; )

  13. original kate says:

    too many americans live beyond their means and view filing bankruptcy as some sort of magical time machine that just erases your financial mistakes. if they really wanted a “fresh start” why not sell off their assets, downsize into a smaller house and try budgeting? that would have required effort, though, and obviously they like the easy life.

  14. Persistent Cat says:

    I love how she blames it on the economy. The poor economy is because of people like them who went in over their heads in debt figuring that real estate would always win.

    She has to be lying about her age. I’m 38 and I don’t look rough like that.

  15. Lady LaLa says:

    No forehead=years of Mook inbreading. Rode hard
    and put away wet

  16. Ron says:

    This kind of thing bothers me. It’s different when someone needs to file bankruptcy due to being long term unemployed or after an illness, but to file just becuase you can’t control yourself, is wrong. She is swine of the highest level. I hope her fresh start is in a brand new trailer home she can afford.

  17. Bored@Work says:

    Isn’t this the same woman who said”she heard the economy is bad and that is why she spends cash”..Are you kidding me. I am not an american please tell me, does this mean she will continue to live with all the stuff that they have already acquired? Will the debt just be written off and they get to keep everything they already have?

    Someone, please explain this to me. Where I am from, having that amount of debt would certainly put me in the poor house, that is after selling off everything.

  18. MissyA says:

    I was trying to read the latest updates on Gary Coleman, but I kept getting distracted by this woman’s hair line.

    You’d think with all the money she blew over the years, she could have at least have hired a professional hairdresser to teach her to minimize the neanderthal.

    Unless that is the neanderthal minimized. . . *shudder*

  19. Persistent Cat says:

    She probably waxes her forehead.

  20. benny says:

    At least she had the money to get her breast implants. That’s really the most important thing.

    I’d hate to see what she’s going to do to her girls when they get older. She seems so superficial that I’ll bet she orders her girls to get plastic surgery to be more attractive when they reach teenage years.

  21. AIMEE says:

    How is this freakin’ legal in our country??? Run up bills of $11 million when you claim to make $80k a year?!? And now they can just walk away with a “fresh start”? That is an absolute joke, they should be in JAIL for this! Too bad we don’t have “Debtor’s Prison” like they did back in jolly ol’ England…

  22. Working in MO says:

    I think she’s a skank all the way around. I still can’t stand her after the comment she made on the first season where she said it’s gross to live in a house that someone else has previously lived in. Not all of us can spend the $$$ she obviously thought she had and have a mansion built. Most of us are just lucky to be able to get a loan to purchase a house.

  23. Fluffy Kitten Tail says:

    Please, they ran up bills because they flashed illegal cash around to do it. I guess what ever illegal stuff he was into dried up, so now they are actually having to live off his income.

  24. Kim says:

    Fresh start – hilarious!! She is delusional trash. Why arent the Italians up in arms about her & her husbands representation of Italians?

    The Jersey shore kids arent filing bankruptcy & making taxpayers pay for their extravagant lifetsyle they cant afford. Theresa is pure unintelligent, trash.

  25. Kim says:

    They should serve jail time for making honest taxpayers pay for their mistake of living WAY outside their means and filing bankruptcy. Have they no shame? pathetic!

  26. LondonLady says:

    Come on, she has to be positive for her kids. Also men often hide this type of thing from their wives and their families, hoping they can rectify the situation and avoid the shame of having to file for bankruptcy. Even the best businessmen have ego’s and make bad decisions. Been there.

  27. donnyupnorth says:

    I just want to slap the crap out of her and her husband. This is ridiculous! I hope the show is willing to display the flip-side of their lives and all the debt and bankruptcy stuff. Her hairline is definitely terrifying and her children look like little mon-chi-chis..its hard to watch. The second youngest looks like she might need some **special** services as well, especially after watching the episode where she was running around like a monkey from the wizard of oz and pulling merchandise off the wall of the store. Hope they buried some of that cash in a coffee can in the yard for that expense!!!

  28. mai tai says:

    This is one FUGLY family!

  29. Fluffy Sheets says:

    tacky.

    (i suggest that they consolidate. that is, whatever network is funding the fake reality show … make all of the tards live together in one mc mansion.
    it could be like an even more effed up version of the ole MTV classic… real world. yes, that is what they should do. go buy some Motel somewhere like a La Quinta, and make all of the families live there. lmao!! ..even the dumb broads from georgia that all filed for banruptcy, too, and some of the orange county retards. make them all live in communal housing and film that. OK.

  30. WesLyN says:

    i’ve known a select group of people that carry wads of cash like they do..and they were drug dealers or involved in other illegal activities

  31. jerseycity says:

    It’s called unreported income and I’d bet many of the people on the show have tons of it, or had tons of it. Giudice was definately involved in home building in NJ, a business durring the boom that would have been making them a mint, hence the we’re rich mentality. I’ve seen people in that business and they typically understand the business is cyclical, these people didn’t. I’d bet he lost a ton on speculative ventures, there is no way 11 million was lent on consumer spending to these people, not possible. Hence why the bankruptcy court let a lot of it go, had Joe been a savy business man it would have been in LLP’s. Then again I doubt he had the kind of credit to get money lent to an LLP even in the good times.

    These people are bad, a disgusting disgrace to Italians and NJ. But the bankruptcy thing doesn’t bother me that much, they were bad business people but the banks were far more stupid for lending recklessly. I can’t blame these people for being stupid, the banks really should have kept a tighter lid. I don’t think anyone involved thought they’d lose and this Joe guy thought he’d make 200k-300k a year sellign a few homes.

  32. carebear says:

    Donald trump has filed bankruptcy a numerous amout of times n noone shits on him so bad like someone said im sure there was miscommunication between her n her husband. Husbands will hide that shit till the end because of their pride I guess. Who cares anyways its their problem not any of ours none of us are perfect shit happens. Karmas a bitch n everything comes full circle. After the shit she said about living in other peoples houses n how much she talks about money something like this was bound to happen how about a little humility?

  33. Lidia says:

    Shame on you Teresa and Joe….you are lying to yourself and the kids 2.Teresa you are so Stupid and Extravagant.Get a job….clean floors…clean houses…you DON’T need all this shit.Now you are losing everything because of your stupidity….By the way i live within my means…that means i only do what i can afford it.WAKE and smell the coffee….i bet that you don’t have a coffeemaker …..Tell the truth on tv,,,,don’t accuse Danielle .

  34. Red says:

    As someone who filed for Chapter 7 at the age of 20, even -I- don’t have a lot of sympathy for the Giudices.

    I came from a broken family and was on my own by the time I was 16. For a short time when I turned 18 I felt on top of the world when I received my first credit card…In those days the credit companies were shameless and would bombard people with offers. I didn’t live extravagantly by any means but definitely couldn’t afford to pay anyone back at $4.25 an hour. So at 20 yrs old, no internet like there is now or any help from family and friends, I sat down and did the numbers.

    At the rate I was going, even with minimum payments it would take years to fix everything and my credit was already damaged. Or the other choice was to file Chapter 7 so that I could start over and rebuild. (Remember that just because you file doesn’t mean you start getting credit! It takes forever to rebuild it). and I was so scared and so embarrassed…matter of fact the youngest person in court.

    It’s 13 years later and I have no regrets. I have my life again and am thankful I didn’t spend my 20’s in misery. Mind you I was no where NEAR $1M in debt, not even $15k in debt for that matter. But even a kid like me figured it out! Shame on you Giudices for abusing the system. ANYWAYS aren’t you supposed to file Chapter 13 if your business is going under?!

  35. LMAF says:

    Teresa u can make sacco di soldi by becoming the next horror movie start. You have it all!!! looks and the sounds effects if u need a agent call me. The reunion part 2 is a great demo for ur porfolio. I still cracking up!!! OMG

  36. Jessica says:

    I am so glad people noticed she has a Neanderthal forehead and her kids are NOT model material. At least Danielle is attractive.

  37. Lori says:

    Yeah they were very stupid for blowin their money. But my goodness PEOPLE get a damn LIFE and stop talkin shit about the looks of her and her kids! How would u like people talkin about u and ur kids?! Its SAD that some of yall would talk crap about her little kids, leave them out of this. The things some of yall said were very inmature and pathetic! Yall need to learn some RESECT! Its sad that this is the way alot of people act these days. Its their problem to worry about! So let them deal with it and STOP talkin crap about stuff that doesnt matter and has nothing to do about it!

  38. Theresa says:

    Teresa your head line is not normal you too ugly. You never ecven use to have breast, gosh you legs are hard and ugly you need to shut up and your kids are ugly too

  39. Marci Rohl says:

    These places are disappearing fast. Wouldn’t you love to walk through this place like we used to be able to do in every town?

  40. Charlie says:

    Theresa’s looks match her personality, UGLY.. And what is up with her hairline/forehead..