RHONJ: Teresa Giudice Shows Off a Sexy Shirtless Photo of High School Ex Anthony Delorenzo
Teresa Giudice says she and her ex-boyfriend Tony Delorenzo have a purely platonic relationship �� despite the fact that he sent her a shirtless selfie.
During a dinner with fellow Melissa Gorga, Margaret Josephs, and Jackie Goldschneider on Wednesday’s episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, the mother of four insisted that she and Delorenzo are just pals.
“He’s my friend,” insisted Teresa, 47.
But after Goldschneider asked if Delorenzo was good looking, Teresa passed around a selfie he’d snapped as he posed shirtless in the mirror, showing off his fit physique.
“Yes, he is,” Teresa said, before passing around the pic of Delorenzo’s abs she said he sent her.
“Did he send that to you? This is making me uncomfortable for some reason! Teresa, put the phone away!” Gorga said, noting that it was strange seeing Teresa with anyone other than her now-estranged husband, Joe Giudice. “I’m so used to seeing her married and with Joe. To even see her talk about another guy or flirt, someone has a six pack or that they’re not. It’s just kind of weird for me.
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Fans have gotten to see Teresa interact with Delorenzo this season as the general contractor builds a pool in the backyard of her New Jersey home.
The two have a bond that goes back over 20 years, having dated briefly while they were both teenagers.
“I dated him in high school,” Teresa said, insisting that Delorenzo hadn’t, as Josephs put it, ever seen the inside of her pool. “We never had sex. Never! It was high school!”
That was years before Teresa married Joe. They wed in 1999 and now share daughters Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10.
In December, a source close to the family exclusively told PEOPLE Joe and Teresa had decided to separate but were not yet making any plans for divorce.
“They agreed that each had to move on,” the insider said. “They are doing so amicably and very slowly. Joe has been out on a few dates, Teresa has not. She has been too busy with the girls, with work obligations and taking care of her father. She is happy for Joe. They have been very friendly with one another and are very supportive of each other’s happiness. They still love one another, but … neither is interested in a long distance relationship.”
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The Giudices have been living apart since March 2016, when Joe began his 41-month prison sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. Teresa had served a little over 11 months in prison for the same crimes, and was released on Dec. 23, 2015.
At the time Wednesday’s episode was shot, Joe was living at the Clinton County Correctional Center in Pennsylvania, in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Though he was released from prison in March 2019, Joe chose to move into an ICE facility to appeal a judge’s deportation order, which was handed his way in October. (Joe ‘s lived in the U.S. since he was a child, but never obtained American citizenship). Two appeals have been denied, and one is still pending.
Since then, Joe has been released, on his request, and moved to Salerno, Italy. He’s currently awaiting that final appeal. In November, Teresa took their girls to see him for the first time, in a family visit that will be shown later this season. The children also spent Christmas with their dad.
RELATED: Teresa Giudice Cuddles Up to Her Ex Days After Split from Estranged Husband Joe
Teresa, on the other hand, spent the holidays back in New Jersey with her family — and Delorenzo.
The pool contractor, who has two kids of his own from a previous relationship, shared to Instagram a series of videos and photos from a Christmas Eve party with Teresa, her brother Joe Gorga, and her sister-in-law Melissa.
“We only hang with family here at the Gorgas,” said Joe, 40, in one video, before teasing Delorenzo, “The pool boy, here we come!”
Days before that, Teresa and Delorenzo were spotted cuddling up as they made their way to get breakfast in New Jersey. Teresa walked close to Delorenzo, who wrapped his arm around her. Teresa’s lawyer, James J. Leonard, respectfully declined to comment.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
