At least Luis Ruelas didn’t end up in the pool.
Margaret Josephs revealed she left Teresa Giudice’s wedding early as a show of solidarity for the bride’s estranged family members Joe Gorga and Melissa Gorga.
“I was there for a little while,” Josephs told Page Six’s Evan Real and Danny Murphy during a live taping of the “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast at City Winery in New York City on Monday night.
“I tried to do the best for all parties involved,” she explained. “I wanted to be supportive of Teresa, but Melissa and Joe weren’t there, and I’m so close with them, and I couldn’t dance the night away knowing my closest friends are not doing well.”
Page Six broke the news just days before Giudice and Ruelas’ Aug. 6 wedding that the Gorgas would not be in attendance after a massive fight at the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” Season 13 finale taping.
While a source told us at the time that Joe, 47, and Melissa, 43, “were invited” to the ceremony, they ultimately chose not to go because Giudice, 50, allegedly spread an unfounded rumor that her sister-in-law once cheated on her brother with actor Nick Barrotta.
A second insider later told Page Six exclusively that Joe and Melissa laughed off the “ridiculous” gossip, noting that they have been friends with Barrotta, 32, “for years.”
Josephs, 55, got tangled up in the drama, too, according to the woman who brought up the cheating rumor to the “Housewives,” Laura Marasca Jensen.
“I was told about this [by Josephs],” Marasca Jensen told us in August, claiming the Macbeth Collection founder “was gossiping” about Melissa and Barrotta years ago.
“My intention was never for anyone or their families to be hurt,” Marasca Jensen added. “The intention was for me to talk to Melissa alone and let her know what was being said about her because I felt I was probably not the only one that knew. I didn’t think Margaret only told me [the rumor].”
Josephs declined to comment at the time, but a source noted to Page Six that Marasca Jensen interviewed to be on “RHONJ” three times to no avail, suggesting she only stirred up drama to get on TV.
Giudice was previously married to Joe Giudice, with whom she shares four daughters. Ruelas, meanwhile, co-parents two sons with his ex-wife, Marisa Dimartino Ruelas.
