Joe Giudice Says Immigration Officers Took Selfies with Him After He Was Released
Fame followed Joe Giudice, even as he was being released from the immigration facility he was held in while he awaited the decision on his deportation appeal.
In a new clip from the Real Housewives of New Jersey stars’s upcoming sit-down with Andy Cohen, which was released to subscribers of the Bravo Insiders fan club, Joe describes his final moments in the United States — revealing that immigration officers were taking photographs with him as they escorted the reality star on the plane to Italy.
“I had two immigration officers, one on each side, taking selfies with me the whole time,” Joe, 49, tells Cohen, 51, in the clip, adding that they left from an airport in Washington, D.C. “One guy in front, and I think there was someone else who carried a gun on a plane. You know, I’m a very dangerous guy.”
Joe went on to share that those same officers then turned to him for advice on destinations they should visit while touring Italy.
“They stood on the plane all the way until we got to Rome. I told them where to go and have a good time, because they were staying there ’til Monday, so they were heading out to a few islands in Naples and then they were heading back home,” Joe adds. “So told them where to go. I gave them recommendations to go and have a good time.”
Throughout the entire experience, Joe says he wasn’t handcuffed.
“They wanted to handcuff me. I was like, ‘Listen, I’m not getting in no handcuffs,’ ” Joe says to Cohen. “They’re like, ‘Will you behave?’ It’s like, ‘What the hell am I going to do? If I wanted to leave, I would like just kick your butts and leave. I ain’t going to do that. I go, ‘I want to go on the plane. I want to get the hell out of here.’ “
An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Joe, who appears in the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen special with his wife, Teresa Giudice — their first interview together since he went to prison back in March 2016 — was living in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Clinton County Correctional Center in Pennsylvania ever since he left prison in March.
He and Teresa, 47, have been living apart since Joe began his 41-month prison sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud in March 2016. Teresa served a little over 11 months in prison for for the same crimes, and was released on Dec. 23, 2015.
Though Joe has lived in the United States since he was a child, he never obtained American citizenship, and immigrants can be deported if they are convicted of “a crime of moral turpitude” or an “aggravated felony,” according to U.S. law.
That ruling came Joe’s way last October. He’s appealed twice so far, and has been denied both times. A final ruling is expected in November.
A petition to be released back to his home wasn’t granted, but a request to go to Italy was. Earlier this month, he was released from ICE custody and flew to Rome, where he has been spending time with family and FaceTiming his children.
A post shared by Andy Cohen (@bravoandy) on Oct 25, 2019 at 12:01pm PDT
On Friday, two other clips from Bravo’s special with Joe and Teresa were released, one by the network and the other by Cohen.
In footage of the special shared by Cohen, the late-night host asks Teresa and Joe about the current state of their marriage and the cheating rumors that have followed both of them.
Teresa — who has denied through her attorney that she has been romantically involved with someone else, even after photos of her holding hands with a man 20 years her junior surfaced — said that she believed that Joe has been unfaithful.
“Do I feel like he was faithful? No,” Teresa said, maintaining that she and the man she was photographed with were “just friends” and telling Joe, “You were photographed with women also.”
“That’s why it made it okay for you,” Joe responded.
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In another clip released by Bravo, Joe denied stepping out on Teresa but said that he doesn’t believe Teresa’s claim.
“You don’t think she’s been faithful, Joe” Cohen asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” said Joe.
Also in Cohen’s clip, Teresa got emotional, wiping away tears as she confessed, “I’m just so happy he’s free.”
“Those don’t seem like happy tears,” Cohen, told her. “This relationship kind of feels like you’re speaking about it in the past.”
Joe and Teresa have been married for 20 years and parents to daughters Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 13, and Audriana, 10
While Teresa has publicly stood by her husband thus far, she has also been realistic about the fate of their marriage should he be deported, admitting on the RHONJ season 9 reunion that she’s “not doing a long-distance relationship.”
In the season 10 trailer for RHONJ, Teresa said that she doesn’t know if she’s still in love with Joe.
“I haven’t been happy in so long,” she admitted to sister-in-law Melissa Gorga. “And I just want to be happy again.”
“I feel like I’m living the worst nightmare ever,” she told Danielle Staub, adding that she feels like “drinking a bottle of tequila every night.”
RELATED: Joe Giudice ‘Feels Like a Weight Has Been Lifted’ After ICE Release, Source Says
That trailer also included footage of Teresa showing a photo of a man she said she “hooked up” with, though her attorney James J. Leonard Jr. told PEOPLE he was a man named Tony, whom Teresa kissed “more than 30 years ago when they were in high school together.”
“[The media has] been writing about cheating and divorce rumors for the last 10 years, but guess what? Nobody is cheating, nobody is getting divorced,” he told PEOPLE. “The truth? Teresa and the girls are going to see Joe the first week of November. They talk and FaceTime every day. Everyone is happy. No one is fighting.”
“There is an amazing story of love and perseverance, but I guess that doesn’t sell magazines or get clicks on websites,” Leonard added. “Even if you don’t like Joe and Teresa, think about their four daughters and please stop trying to destroy this family. They have been through enough.”
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen‘s special sit-down with the Giudices airs Sunday (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
