In an episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey, Joe, Teresa’s gangster husband, tried to explain his DUI by claiming he ran his SUV into a pole, went to his friend’s house nearby, called the cops and did a ton of shots while they were waiting for the police to get there. It was a ridiculous explanation for why he was drunk at the scene of an accident, and Teresa, Jacqueline and Jacqueline’s husband accepted it at the time without questioning him.

When Joe was arrested for DUI, he was even turned over to a nearby police department which had other warrants out for his arrest. Joe’s license was suspended for a year after that incident, but he still thought he could drive anyway (just like Paris Hilton) and now he’s been sentenced to ten days in jail. Can’t say I feel sorry for him.

A judge sentenced Joe to ten days in prison and Joe is expected to begin his sentence next week. According to the document obtained by RadarOnline.com exclusively, he was also fined $1,000 and his license is suspended for at least another year. Oddly, the court action document does not list Giudice’s name. Sources tell RadarOnline.com that the reason for the jail time is because Joe drove with a suspended license.

In January, he was charged with driving under the influence after crashing his car into a telephone pole in Montville Township, New Jersey. He was taken to the hospital and then released to the police due to outstanding warrants. In March, he was fined $864, had his license revoked for 12 months, and was sentenced to 30 days of community service.

[From Radar Online]

Joe might not be the only one going to jail. Teresa and Joe have been accused of fraud for trying to hide over a quarter million in earnings when they filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors earlier this year. Teresa is said to be so afraid of prison that she wants to drop off the show to ensure she doesn’t incriminate herself. We’ve already heard that Teresa might be leaving due to feuds with producers and the fact that her nemesis sister-in-law might earn a spot next season. Somehow she’s scored two In Touch covers this month, though. Either In Touch is sadly desperate for an exclusive or Bravo is getting some paid promotion. Either way, this woman is earning a ton of publicity for her bad behavior and she’s owning up to none of it. Just like her husband.

Radar Online, which has a close relationship with Octomom Nadya Suleman and has run multiple exclusive video interviews with her, is reporting that she’s about to go on welfare – again – in order to support the 14 children she had as a single unemployed parent through IVF. Nadya denied being on welfare when she first hit the scene despite relying on disability for three out of her six older children, using food stamps, and personally collecting over $165,000 in disability for an alleged back injury suffered at work that of course didn’t keep her from getting pregnant multiple times.

Now Nadya, who declared bankrupty two years ago, has predictably blown through whatever money she made doing interviews and selling family photos and is prepared to go back on welfare if she doesn’t score a reality show soon. While Radar claims her home is safe from foreclosure due to some legal reason, TMZ reports that she’s about to get foreclosed upon after missing mortgage payments and postponing a balloon payment that was due earlier this year.

Here’s Radar’s story on how she’s prepared to go on welfare, and you know they’re hearing it either from her or her nasty mom:

With 14 children and no income, Octo-Mom is going on welfare.

Since giving birth to octuplets, Nadya Suleman has supported herself by selling access to her life, but a TV deal that she hoped would turn into a reality series fizzled.

That failure was a huge blow to Suleman’s future and has left her in financial ruins, RadarOnline.com is reporting exclusively.

“Nadya is running out of money very quickly,” a source close to the infamous mom told RadarOnline.com. “She’s still hoping to pull off a deal that will pay her a fortune but at this point it just doesn’t seem possible.”

Suleman was an infamous headline-generating national curiosity after giving birth to octuplets on January 29, 2009.

RadarOnline.com led the way in covering her chaotic life, documenting her struggle to raise 14 children, her brutal fights with her mother and the notoriety that led attorney Gloria Allred to head the quest for a guardian to be appointed for her children.

Now, however, the press attention has diminished and TV networks aren’t buying a reality series featuring Suleman.

A potential deal with the Game Show Network fell through, as RadarOnline.com was first to report.

“She was hoping for merchandizing deals, but those never came through,” the source said. “And she’s written a book but no publisher wants it.”

Meanwhile, Suleman has fallen behind on her mortgage payments again.

In April, the man holding her mortgage threatened to evict her when she fell behind.

That situation was resolved and as RadarOnline.com recently reported exclusively title to the house where Nadya lives was transferred to a company owned by her lawyer, Jeff Czech. (Nadya’s father bought the house.)

“Nadya has nannies and huge expenses raising 14 children,” the source said. “She needs a lot of money just to keep up with the basics. And now the income has dried up and she didn’t make enough in the past year and a half to live off of it.

“That money is gone and now she’s facing desperate times.

“Nadya will never come out publicly and say she’s going on welfare but everyone close to her and familiar with her situation knows that it’s going to happen very, very soon. She needs the money. She has no choice at this point.”

[From Radar Online]

In January, Suleman’s ex PR rep claimed that she told him she had a whopping 11 embryos implanted in a bid to get rich and famous. I’m not surprised to see that it’s not entirely working out for her. She still has the option of doing that porn film that Vivid offered. They may have significantly reduced the $1 million payday they offered her last year, now that she’s a forgotten punchline.

Photos are of Octomom’s press conference for PETA from 9/15. Doesn’t she look like some sort of elfin creature?Credit: WENN.com

Real Housewife of New Jersey Teresa Giudice filed for bankruptcy a few months ago along with her husband, Joe. The couple is $11 million in debt despite earning less than six figures a year – officially. Teresa has refused to take any responsibility for her actions and insists that her lavish lifestyle didn’t drive them into bankruptcy. In a recent interview in In Touch, she claims to be living within her means and limiting her spending. She doesn’t mention or account for the $60,000 she’s accused of spending in just two months after they filed for bankruptcy. Teresa and Joe’s creditors claim in a recent court filing that the couple never reported $250,000 they earned as an advance for Teresa’s book, Skinny Italian, along with failing to report earnings from her online boutique and another company that Joe owns.

A New Jersey lawyer for the Dept. of Justice handling the case of Teresa and Joe Giudice in federal bankruptcy court has filed a complaint on Thursday objecting to the couple’s request for Chapter 7 protection, claiming they intentionally failed to reveal major assets in their original petition. The court documents that appear to have been filed by Roberta A. DeAngelis have surfaced on a ‘Housewife’ blog. Sources of income alleged to be missing from the bankruptcy filing? The court documents list a $250,000 book advance from Hyperion received by Teresa for her cookbook ‘Skinny Italian,’ her ownership of an online boutique called TGFabulicious and more.

The objection reads: “To date, the Defendants have not filed amended schedules that disclose the existence of the book ‘Skinny Italian,’ the publishing deal with Hyperion, Defendant wife’s ownership of TG Fabulicious, LLC, or Defendant husband’s ownership of 1601 Maple Avenue Associates, LLC.”

The claim further alleges that the couple were untruthful in previous sworn testimony (“the Defendants have knowingly and fraudulently made false oaths in this case”) as the contract with Hyperion was reportedly dated Oct. 22, 2009 — just prior to the Guidices’ petition for bankruptcy protection — and signed within weeks of filing for Chapter 7. While Teresa has reportedly acknowledged in an April 2010 examination under oath that she received the book advance, her legal team has apparently done little to officially update court records about the newly disclosed assets.

[From Popeater]

Every move this woman makes shows what an entitled arrogant person she is. She has no shame and will stop at nothing to continue to buy whatever she wants so she can live however she wants. I just feel sorry for her kids.

As for those rumors that the “nephew” that Danielle Staub brought up on the reunion show last week was Teresa’s husband’s lovechild, several of you mentioned another possible reason why Teresa flew into a rage. (As if she needs a reason.) There’s a story that she has a nephew that is of mixed race, which her low class family refuses to acknowledge. I was unable to verify that at all, though. I had the chance to read the full dumb interview with Teresa and Joe in In Touch, and they don’t address the cheating rumors except to say that Teresa “laughed” at that story and that they’re solid. Joe volunteers that they “still make love once, sometimes twice, a day.” Thank you for sharing. That really puts me off my lunch and now I’m imagining fur flying and cats mating.

Here’s Teresa looking lovely on 9/1 and 9/5/10. Credit: WENN.com

First of all, the Photoshop on Teresa Giudice is AMAZING. What the f-ck did they do to her? She looks like Andie McDowell, right? Anyway, CB already covered the hilarious/sad RHONJ renunion show, in which there was possibly some extreme drama about a possible love child for Teresa Giudice’s husband, which I guess we’re now calling a “nephew.” CB covered it in detail here for a refresher. Anyway, In Touch Weekly “scored” a cover with Teresa in which she seems to be going on the record about her bankruptcy and Joe’s possible infidelity. So far, ITW hasn’t released the part where Teresa talks about Joe’s affair though – instead, this is just about their bankruptcy and how dumb they are:

For Teresa Giudice, it was like living a nightmare. After ten years as the big-spending wife of a successful real estate developer, the Real Housewives of New Jersey star was being told by a lawyer that she and her husband, Joe, were $11 million in debt — and needed to file for bankruptcy as soon as possible.

“I was humiliated,” she tells In Touch in an exclusive interview.

Not to mention shocked. Kept out of the loop regarding Joe’s business dealings, Teresa, 37, had no idea they were in so much financial trouble until that fateful day in the lawyer’s office.

“Joe thought things were going to get better,” she explains. But they got worse and worse in more ways than one. After that initial shock, Teresa saw her lavish tastes scrutinized and mocked. And her alleged $60,000 spending spree on home furnishings — which reportedly took place right after she and Joe declared bankruptcy — didn’t win her many supporters. When Teresa stated her case on The View, insisting that she’s now living within her means, Joy Behar replied, “How can you live within your means if you’re now $11 million in bankruptcy?”

These days, though, Joe has taken control of the finances, doing all the grocery shopping and imposing a limit on Teresa’s credit cards. And he doesn’t mind: “I want to save more.” While the girls used to always have brand new clothes, they now wear each other’s hand-me-downs — easy, since they’re all growing so fast.

“Me and my husband have learned a lot from our mistakes,” Teresa shares, adding that, as heartbreaking as it is, bankruptcy does have a silver lining. “It’s brought us closer together.”

[From In Touch Weekly]

If I can wager a guess, I’m going to predict that Teresa skims the issue of Joe’s affair with a comment like, “Maybe we weren’t so close a year ago, but we’re doing really good now.” Survey says: love child! Regarding the bankruptcy and all of that though: she doesn’t really tell all about anything, or really explain how and why you would spend $11 million on crap when you don’t have any money coming in. Dumbass.

Cover courtesy of In Touch Weekly.

The more we hear about the White House party crashers, The Salahis, the worse they sound. Michaele is starring on the new Real Housewives of DC and in the press tour she’s shown that she’s a real piece of work. She regularly hogs the spotlight, upsetting the other castmembers, and was recently in a feud with Whoopi Goldberg that she and her husband played up for maximum publicity.

The Salahis also have very shady business dealings, and have declared bankruptcy along with being sued over a dozen times. They also started a charity through which they’ve been accused of embezzling funds. They sound like scam artists, and husband Tareq is even feuding with his own mother over a family winery he allegedly ran into the ground.

Now Star has an interview with a former employee of the Salahis who worked with them in their home in Virginia. The conditions were disgusting, according to a woman who was willing to go on the record with her full name and photo. The home was filthy and papers and junk were stacked around. Of course the Salahis ended up owing this woman $800 in wages, just like all the other employees and vendors they’ve bilked over the years.

Alex was hired after answering a classified ad in April for a job as agreet and driver with the Salahis’ wine tour business. “Tareq interviewed me, and although I got the job, he seemed genuinely perturbed that I didn’t know who he or his wife was,” she tells Star. “He actually asked me, ‘Don’t you recognize us?’”

Shortly after, Alex became Michaele’s personal assistant. “Over the enxt three months, I scheduled their appointments, answered phone calls, worked as their event coordinator, and was their personal driver – all at $10 an hour.” Alex says the Salahi’s home was “an absolute mess when I started working there in April.” Though the house looks spotless on RHODC – which was filmed in 2009 – “it was almost like a hoarder’s house, with paper stacked up everywhere.” There were also dog hair and dead bugs that seemed to be all over the floor – and old food would be sitting on the stove for weeks!…

Part of Alex’s job was helping Michaele, 44, pick out her day-to-day wardrobe – a task that proved messier than she could have imagined! “Michaele constantly sprays herself with orange self-tanner, and it gets all over everything, especially her clothes. And since she borrows a lot of her outfits from boutiques and then returns them after she wears them, it creates friction with the store owners…

“My first impression of Michaele was that she was really frail – and I never saw her take a single bite of food the whole time I worked for her,” Alex claims, “She would only sip hot chocolate.”

“It was like pulling teeth to get my pay from them.

“Last June, I worked the entire day of their annual polo tournament, organizing the event, helping to set up the equipment, dealing with the media and driving people around. At the end of the day, Michaele and Tareq left me and three other girls in the dark to break everything down and clean everything up.

“At that moment, I was owed $800 in salary, so I texted Tareq and told him if he didn’t come back and pay me, I was just going to leave. He kept ignoring me – so I left. And a few days later, I got an e-mail from him saying I was not to contact them again. I feel totally used!”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, August 30, 2010]

Yesterday we reported on a story from In Touch where Michaele claimed she ate just one bowl of cereal and a salad with chicken for the entire day. If this former employee’s story is accurate, she might not even eat that much.

This is frankly kind of fascinating, and reminds me of this very well-to-do woman I saw on Oprah years ago who was so well put together but lived in the most disgusting conditions. I also enjoy watching Clean House, after which I end up throwing out crap and straightening up. (The latest Messiest Home in America was particularly disturbing.) On Clean House, Niecy Nash explains that clutter is an outward manifestation of an inward condition. I guess in the Salahi’s case they’re dirty, disgusting people with no sense of personal responsibility. (Not that I would say that about everyone that keeps a messy home, but in this case it seems accurate given all we know about them.)

Bankrupt Real NJ Housewife Teresa Giudice may have effectively canceled out the auction of all of her incredibly tacky household items – by spending a whopping $60,000 in the mere two months since she and her husband filed for bankruptcy. I’m not sure how that works exactly, but apparently items that were purchased by the Giudices after they filed for bankruptcy do not qualify as stuff that can be auctioned by their creditors. Since the Giudices have “exemptions” of post-bankruptcy purchases that conveniently total $52,000, and those exemptions are worth more than the appraised value of all the crap in their house, $51,160, their lawyer believes they’ve squeezed out of having their overpriced luxury goods sold at auction.

As a result, the auction of the Giudice’s stuff has been moved from August 22 to October 3. I’m sure they’ll just stay in that custom made $1.8 million dollar mansion in foreclosure in the meantime. This is unbelievable. This family is $11 million dollars in debt despite declaring earnings of less than $80,000 a year and they’re using legal loopholes to hold on to all the items they purchased that are massively beyond their means.

Here’s the report from Radar that explains how all these financial shenanigans work.

Her lawyer James Kridel told RadarOnline.com exclusively that despite an appraisal of Teresa and her husband Giuseppe’s belongings totaling $51,160, the couple has exemptions totaling about $52,000- which cancels out the proposed auction.

The exemptions mainly center around the argument that the items assessed were bought after the bankruptcy petition was filed. “Unless there’s something that would lead one to believe that they were earned pre-petition, they are not part of the bankruptcy estate and therefore cannot be sold,” Kridel told RadarOnline.com.

The papers filed by Kridel with a New Jersey bankruptcy court include receipts from many of the items assessed for the auction, proving the Giudices purchased them after filing for bankruptcy.

However, John W. Sywilok, an attorney who is seeking to conduct the public auction, highlighted the couple’s finances in a different way, outlining their outrageous shopping sprees before and after their bankruptcy filing.

“These represented purchases totaling approximately $60,000 within approximately 60 days after filling,” Sywilok wrote, exposing the couple’s alleged fiscal irresponsibility. According to Sywilok, weeks before filing for bankruptcy the couple was still spending thousands of dollars on decorating purchases, including $6,000 two days prior to filing to cover a furniture order costing a total of $21,810.

[From Radar Online]

In an appearance on The View earlier this month, Teresa insisted she was not responsible for her family’s debt problems. She said “I always live within my means. Always. The money was coming in from the apartment buildings so we were able to live the lifestyle that we did.” Teresa also claimed that her husband kept her in the dark about their financial situation.

Is this “living within her means” to continue to waste money so she can hold on to frivolous purchases while the people they stole money from get nothing? This is a sleazy way to work the system while continuing to deny any culpability for her actions. I’d rather see a hooker and sex tape star on television than a woman as vile and entitled as this one. If anyone should be fired from RHONJ, it should be Teresa.

Bankrupt entitled real housewife of New Jersey Teresa Giudice stars in a new commercial for a local tanning center called Sizzle Tans. She lounges around in orange and yellow bikinis and shills for the tanning center with plumped frosted lips. “I tan, I spray, and I bring the heat to Jersey,” Teresa declares.

Also: A very brown looking Teresa was on the View yesterday. She said that her financial problems were all due to business problems her husband was having and that she lives “within my means.” She claimed that “the money was coming in from the apartment buildings so we were able to live the lifestyle that we lived.” Teresa and her husband Joe are $11 million dollars in debt despite declaring less than $80,000 in income. Their home and possessions are up for auction and include tacky high ticket items like $5,000 chandeliers, a suit of armour and a mahogany bar. She was seen dropping $120,000 in cash on furniture in one outing that was filmed for the show. Yet Teresa is in complete denial that her constant spending has anything to do with her family’s deep financial hole and explains that her husband just didn’t tell her that they didn’t have the money:

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice made an appearance on The View Monday to talk about her messy financial situation — and admitted that for a long time, her husband Joe kept her in the dark about their massive debt.

“Joe didn’t want to worry me,” she said. “He didn’t tell me at first because he thought things were going to get better.”
Giudice explained that her husband’s failed real estate investments and a lawsuit with a former partner were what forced them to eventually file for bankruptcy last fall. “When it wasn’t getting better he did tell me,” she said, but admitted she still doesn’t actually know the total amount of debt she and her husband have. (Bankruptcy documents indicate that the couple have $10.98 million in liabilities.)

“I wasn’t upset with him,” she added. “If anything, it brought us closer.”

Although she appeared to spend lavishly on her home, clothes for her kids and even plastic surgery on Real Housewives, Giudice says she was only spending money she thought she had.

“I always live within my means. Always,” she insisted. “The money was coming in from the apartment buildings so we were able to live the lifestyle that we did.”

Giudice added that she no longer uses credit cards and watches her money, even though she has been able to spend the profits from her best selling book, Skinny Italian, since it was earned after the filing. “I am not jet-setting. I don’t have gold toilets,” she says. “I watch my money.”

And what about that yellow diamond ring Joe gave her for their anniversary on a recent episode of their show?
“It’s not real,” she says. “I love costume jewelry.” –Charlotte Triggs

[From People]

When questioned whether she’s watching her money, Teresa says “of course I am. I don’t use my credit cards.” In their bankruptcy filing the Guidices listed more than $100,000 in debt on credit cards, more than they declared in income per year. It takes a special kind of scam artist to wrack up that much debt and still continue to lie about it and deny they have a problem. At least Teresa can keep doing local commercials to make ends meet. She probably made enough for that spot to last her a whole 15 minutes at Neiman Marcus.

Monchichi-looking* Real Housewife of New Jersey Teresa Giudice has blamed the economy for her family’s debts of $11 million and claimed that the television show exaggerated her spending. Looking at the contents of her tacky Mcmansion in foreclosure and up for auction, it’s clear how she blew money. Among her family’s effects are a mahogany bar, a suit of armour, and a bronze-colored vanity table that puts the “T” in tacky. Everything in the home is ornate, gilded, bronzed and ostentatious. We’ve previously seen Teresa’s mansion in In Touch and now we get to see more of the crap she wasted other people’s money on. On an episode of Real Housewives, Teresa bragged that “My whole house has nothing but marble, granite and onyx,” and said that she had it custom built because “I don’t want to live in somebody else’s house, that’s gross.” Now other people will be living in her house and sitting on the obnoxious furniture she went heavily into hock for:

In June, a trustee for their bankruptcy case alleged in court documents that the Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her husband Joe had hidden assets, including profits from her book Skinny Italian and his stake in a pizzeria, which was also featured on the Bravo show.

The trustee, John Sywilok, also accused the pair of undervaluing items listed as personal property exempt from the bankruptcy filing, including a pool table ($1000) and even their wedding bands ($400).

Now, those items will be going up at auction on Aug. 22 at 12 p.m. (EST) at their Towaco, N.J., mansion…

Reached by PEOPLE last week, an attorney for the Giudices, Jim Kridel, said he hoped an auction wouldn’t take place, and also said the couple had not mislead the court about their assets at the time of their bankruptcy filing.

He also denied that their had undervalued their personal property, saying, “You can’t sell used, personal property for the sticker price. A $5,000 chandelier won’t sell for $5,000. Nobody will buy a used mattress. The real issue in bankruptcy is, what’s the value of everything? And at the time of the bankruptcy, these things didn’t have any value.”

Although Giudice denied that her belongings will be auctioned through her rep, her attorney, Kridel, said that the auction is currently slated for Aug. 22, but adds that he is appealing the decision.

“Obviously we have objections to what they’re trying to do,” he says, noting that many of the items listed were purchased after the bankruptcy filing with money earned post-petition, meaning they should not be included among the bankruptcy assets.

“I don’t think Teresa is happy seeing all her belongings displayed on the Internet,” he says, adding that she feels it should have been handled in court before being made public. “Clearly they are under the microscope because they are famous.”

[From People]

Teresa and her husband made less than $100,000 a year officially, and Teresa was regularly seen on the show paying for high ticket items in cash. It’s not much of a logical leap to assume they were hiding assets, as alleged in their bankruptcy case. No one feels sorry for this greedy woman with no sense of personal responsibility or decorum. Hopefully her family’s creditors can recoup a small percentage of the cash that went to fund a lifestyle that should have been as unattainable as it was frivolous.

*I’m sure I got the Monchichi reference from Michael K at D-Listed.

Here are photos of some of the contents of Teresa and Joe Guidice’s home, thanks to ajwillnerauctions.com. Photos of Teresa are from 5/26 and 6/24. Credit: WENN.com.

The 24 year-old Olsen Twins may be richer than small countries with their merchandising deals and fashion line but they’re not spreading the wealth to their dad. The National Enquirer reports this week that the father of the uber-rich ragamuffins, David Olsen, has filed for bankruptcy. David divorced Mary Kate and Ashley’s mom in 1996 to marry his then-secretary, with whom he has two children, Taylor, 14, and Jake, 12. Things don’t seem to be working out for David financially. Daddy Olsen’s home is in foreclosure to the tune of 2.2 million, and he’s had to resort to bankruptcy to settle his debt with the bank.

Despite his twin daughters’ billion-dollar empire, the father of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen has filed for bankruptcy, the Enquirer has learned exclusively.

Shocking legal documents show David Olsen and his wife McKenzie have a home in foreclosure, which is scheduled to be auctioned off next months.

The papers, obtained by The Enquirer, reveal the stars’ dad owes the bank a whopping $2,195,281.54 on his Tarzana, CA home.

“Unless his mega-rich daughters come to the rescure, their father and their stepmother will lose their home on July 9,” a family friend told The Enquirer…

“David almost lost his home in 2009 because he had several tax liens but managed to borrow enough money to cover them. But he’s behind on mortgage payments and won’t be able to stop the auction unless he gets his hands on two million dollars.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, July 5, 2010]

In 2007, Forbes estimated that Mary Kate and Ashley were worth $100 million, and that’s undoubtedly increased. The two have their own company, started in 1993 (when they were 7), through which they put out merchandise. They currently have a girls’ clothing and makeup line with Walmart along with a juniors’ line at JcPenney and two higher end women’s fashion lines called Elizabeth and James and The Row.

Compared to many of their contemporaries, Ashley and Mary-Kate are doing very well for themselves both financially and in their personal lives, although you wouldn’t know from looking at them. It’s refreshing to hear about child stars who were allowed to take control of their wealth and who haven’t gone off the rails. On the other hand it’s strange that that their dad is struggling and they haven’t bailed him out. We don’t know much of the background there and maybe he doesn’t want their help.

Teresa’s shopping spree starts at :35 in

Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice and her husband are prime examples of people spending themselves frivolously into the ground and then using bankruptcy to avoid taking personal responsibility for their debts. On the show, Guidice was shown regularly splurging on high end shopping sprees for her young daughters, blowing wads of cash on furniture, and bragging about spending money. Check out her introduction at the beginning of the series in the video above. (Starting at about :35 in.) She talks about how much she loves fashion, how her little girls “have to look perfect all the time,” and how she spends her husband’s money. She spends $120,000 on furniture in the segment above and then brings the camera crew on a tour of her mansion that’s in construction, saying “My whole house has nothing but marble, granite and onyx.” She also says she had her house built because “I didn’t want to go house shopping… it’s just skeeve looking at other people’s houses. I don’t want to live in somebody else’s house, that’s gross.”

Teresa and her husband Joe recently filed for bankruptcy, citing debts of a whopping $11 million. In a statement to People Magazine, Teresa blamed the poor economy and her husband’s failed real estate investments for their financial situation, and called bankruptcy a “fresh start.” On paper, Teresa and Joe made less than $100,000 a year.

Now Teresa is talking to Popeater and she’s still refusing to take accountability for the way she went through money like water. She says that her spending wasn’t all that bad and that the show exaggerated it for ratings. I’m sure they made her move into that $1.8 million home when her family earned less than six figures a year, too.

You have come under so much criticism for spending thousand of dollars on shopping sprees for your children just weeks before you filed for bankruptcy. Can you explain it?
You have to remember that what you see on TV is edited for entertainment and a lot of it was filmed years ago. Milania was 2 when we started filming and now she’s almost 5! It was a different economy back then for all of us. When the economy crashed, like most families, we tightened our belts and changed our lifestyle.

What have you learned from all this?
No matter what happens, rich or poor, if we have our health, our family and love, we’ll all be fine. You can be fabulous even if you don’t have a dime! It’s all about attitude, hard work and morals. We teach our kids all three and lead by example. I have lots of jobs: I film the show, I do appearances, I run an online boutique called TG Fabulicious and I have my writing. I’m working on my next book right now! That we’re still able to have dinner with our kids every night is such a blessing.

Do you have any advice for other families that have had to ‘tighten their belts’?
One of the ways we’ve always saved money is by cooking at home, and I was so happy to be able to share some of those tips and recipes with people in ‘Skinny Italian.’

The book has done amazingly well. I was honestly shocked by its success. How does that feel when on the other hand you are broke?
I’m blown away by the response to the book. I can’t believe it’s been on the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. I still have to pinch myself. But I think everyone is looking for ways to spend less and have more family time, and eating dinner at home every night gives you both. I have people write me saying how their kids are picky eaters and are finally eating vegetables, how families are eating together again, and it makes everything worthwhile.

[From Popeater]

Oh yes, Teresa has that cookbook she’s shilling which is inexplicably #164 on Amazon’s bestseller list. Now she’s getting her debts discharged so she can go back to her old money spending habits. All her homes and properties are in foreclosure and I hope this fool has to live in a small rented apartment crammed full of her tacky, worthless crap like on that show Hoarders. Let’s see how she likes living in “someone else’s” one bedroom, one bathroom apartment with her husband and three four kids – as if that would ever happen.