Could Melissa Gorga and Jennifer Aydin's fractured relationship be moving out of choppy waters?
Was a trip to the Jersey Shore enough to turn the tides in Melissa Gorga and Jennifer Aydin’s tense relationship?
It looks like there must have been something in the water at Melissa’s gorgeous waterfront shore home that had the Envy boutique store owner pondering a fresh start with her frequent rival.
In the latest episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Melissa extended an “olive branch” through her husband Joe Gorga to Jennifer’s family, inviting them to Joe’s Italian-themed birthday bash, as featured on RHONJ Season 14, Episode 3.
Although Jennifer’s husband, Bill Aydin, politely turned down the offer, it could be the first tentative step in repairing the fractured relationship between the two women.
Why are Melissa Gorga and Jennifer Aydin fighting?
Melissa made the spontaneous move after talking about the friction with Jennifer to Margaret Josephs, Joe Benigno, and her husband as the four lounged outside on the massive deck overlooking the water.
There’s been bad blood between the women for years, but much of the current tension goes back to Season 13 when Jennifer helped spread an unsubstantiated rumor that Melissa cheated on Joe. Jennifer told Danielle Cabral that Margaret’s coworker had seen Melissa “making out” in a car with another man.
The drama was, in part, why Melissa and Joe chose to skip out on Teresa Giudice’s wedding because they believed that Teresa had played a role in spreading the gossip in an attempt to break them up.
“Not only is Jennifer, like, blindly loyal to Teresa but she also spread a whole cheating rumor about me last year,” Melissa explained in a confessional.
While talking with Margaret, Melissa questioned whether it had been “necessary” for Jennifer to pass the rumor to Danielle.
“That was a very strategic, set-up, calculated thing,” she said. “She tried to hurt me.”
Meanwhile, across town, Jennifer was rehashing the feud from her own perspective while having a Turkish breakfast with Dolores Catania and Paulie Connell.
Jennifer insisted it was “unfair” she was getting blamed for the rumor, when Danielle was the one who brought it up at a party.
“I mean I feel like they did me dirty,” she said. “Ok, I feel like I was the one that was [the] scapegoat here.”
Jennifer also noted that Melissa had seemingly snubbed her at multiple events, refusing to acknowledge her.
“I mean, listen, I’ve seen Melissa twice now and both times she did not want to come up to me. Give me an example of things that I’ve done to them, please! Let me see how I’ve been guilty of it too,” she said.
Dolores suggested the two try to talk it out, but Jennifer didn’t want to be the first to wave the white flag.
“I’m not going to initiate it,” she said. “I have gone up to her every single time we’ve gotten into a fight, historically.”
Are Melissa Gorga and Jennifer Aydin friends?
Just as it seemed like the two were at an impasse, Margaret suggested Joe call Bill and invite him to the party.
“Bill? I’ll call Bill. I like Bill,” Joe replied.
“Listen, I’m never one to, like, leave somebody out, you know that’s not what I want to do,” Melissa agreed.
Seizing on the opportunity, Joe called Bill and told the plastic surgeon he missed him.
“I’m having a nice, big party today. Last year we had a lot of fun,” Joe told him before asking him to come with his family.
While Bill was appreciative of the invite, he declined, saying he thought the two women needed to work out the issues first.
“Listen, as you know, my wife … she’s still not at a good place and I think Melissa and Jen really probably should have a conversation together,” he said. “It has bothered her a lot. And yeah. So that’s kind of where things stand, but I definitely wish you a big, happy birthday,”
Dolores remarked that the move was the Gorga’s way of extending an “olive branch,” but Jennifer wasn’t ready to reciprocate quite yet.
“I am finally happy and proud of Bill that he is having my back,” she told producers.
The Aydins may have skipped out on this year’s bash but it didn’t stop Melissa and Joe from marking the birthday in style, with an impressive Italian-themed spread and the unexpected addition of a disturbing blow-up sex doll, jokingly gifted to the birthday boy by John Fuda.
To keep up on all the latest, watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey airing Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo or available streaming the next day on Peacock.
