RHONJ’s Teresa Giudice Slams Reporter as “Unprofessional” and Disrespectful Over Tax Question, Suggests He Crossed the Line & Explains Hanging Up

Teresa Giudice looked back on her controversial interview on Chicago’s WGN News during Wednesday’s episode of her podcast.

After being asked about her past due taxes and promptly ending the interview, the 53-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey star, who was on the program to promote an upcoming appearance in the area, said that while everyone on staff was “very nice before [she] went on,” and agreed not to discuss certain topics, host Larry Potash blindsided her in a way she found to be disrespectful.

“Everything about me always blows up [in the press]. I can’t do anything … TMZ loves talking about me. They love … I like them too, though. I like TMZ. They’re really cool,” Teresa began on the June 25 episode of Turning the Tables.

According to Teresa, Larry and his co-host, Robin Baumgarten, 61, spoke to her management before they went live about what topics were off-limits.

“Anytime I go on any TV show, whoever gets me on the TV show tells them, ‘Don’t talk about this, don’t talk about that, don’t talk about this, don’t talk about that.’ And of course, they agreed to it. They agreed to it, but this person decided not to obey by the rules,” she explained.

After getting “legal advice” on how to respond, Teresa wrote down her thoughts.

“So this is what I have to say to that … I know he was trying to get a rise out of me, and I was not gonna give that to him, and that’s why I chose to end the call … The interviewer wasn’t respectful, the tone, the way things were asked, he crossed the line … He totally tried to derail [the interview] and was so disrespectful, and I was just like, ‘I’m not doing this.’”

Looking back on the moment in which Larry mentioned her tax problems, Teresa denied she was “frazzled,” stating that she “knew what [Larry] was trying to do.“

“At this point in my life, if I’m not happy with something, I’m just gonna walk away,” she continued. “I’d rather do that than give them the time of day. I’d rather just walk away because then I feel better about it.”

While Teresa used to react emotionally in tense moments, she told her listeners that she’s done a lot of self-work.

“It’s taken a lot of years,” she confessed. “And you know what I didn’t like also, and I knew it was gonna go south, they showed me very angry, like flipping the table, reacting in an angry way, showing anger, and I am working on myself, and I don’t want to react to that anymore … I know when someone’s trying to get that reaction from me. I’ve been on reality TV, what, 18 years? And at this point in my life, you have to be … obviously be attacking me like this Chicago reporter.”

After reading fans’ reactions to the show drama, Teresa said she was grateful to the people who “had her back.”

“They saw exactly what he did. It was so unprofessional … That had nothing to do with the other thing. I guess he wanted his 15 minutes. So really, he should go on reality TV if he wanted his 15 minutes. He shouldn’t be on the news,” she suggested.

Teresa then signaled a past interview between Larry and Tom Sandoval, 42, which featured questions about “Scandoval.”

“I heard he did the same thing to Tom Sandoval. There’s no need to attack people. It’s like, be nice in this world. It’s so sad,” she noted. “I feel bad for Tom Sandoval … and Tom Sandoval was in the studio when he did this to him. He was face to face with him, and he attacked him.”

Also on her podcast, Teresa admitted to feeling that reality TV stars were treated worse than other celebrities.

“Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. It’s so sad because I’m just doing my job. That’s it. I thought that was really uncalled for … it’s so wrong,” she concluded.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey is on pause ahead of its 15th season.