Joe Giudice says he 'failed' his marriage with wife Teresa in honest post
Joe and Teresa Giudice made the announcement of their split publicly on the season 10 finale of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" on February 26. The two were married for 20 years before the separation.
The 47-year-old shared an Instagram post on Saturday featuring a video montage that showed a series of family photos and a clip of him making a toast to "new beginnings."
"No matter how much 💯 energy and time I devoted to trying it failed," he wrote. "I did my best and put all efforts into making this a great experience for my family. I did try to address issues in the relationship that bothered me throughout the years in return 🎥 portrayed it as Criticism!"
He said his main role was to be a great father and husband, not the villain.
"Today I 👀, I can’t allow others to keep lingering toxins and undesirable demands around me," he finished. "I choose to have a solid foundation with strong and inspiring people around me in 🇮🇹."
The couple decided to separate back in November of 2019 when Teresa and their four daughters Gia, Gabrielle, Milania and Audriana visited Joe in Italy. He has been living in Italy since October of last year after he was released from ICE custody.
Their family reunion was emotional but took a turn when the couple finally sat down to discuss their relationship. Joe told Teresa that he didn't want their marriage to fall apart, but Teresa pointed out that a lot has happened to them recently and it was tough to sustain their relationship while living in two different countries.
"I get it," Joe told Teresa, albeit annoyed. "Do you just want to end it now?"
Teresa took the time to think about her answer before she finally replied with a question, "Do you want me to lie to you?"
Their relationship continued after Joe left for Italy while waiting for the final decision on an ongoing deportation case, but Teresa didn't know how much longer they could keep that up while she was still living in the United States with their children.
"You get in a plane and we meet places, that's all," he said. "And we have fun. And that's what we do. We make things work."
Despite this attempted compromise, Teresa revealed how unhappy she has been in their marriage.
"The past five years have been really dark," she explained. "You've said a lot of hurtful things to me, you wish you never married me and all this stuff. It just makes me think about a lot of things. Like, you marry somebody and they're supposed to protect you. I don't know, I trusted you, and you made s--- happen."
Teresa said back in March 2019 that if her husband was deported, she would split from him because she didn't want to do long distance.
Joe began his 41-month sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud in federal prison in March 2016. Teresa served 11 months for the same crime before him, released in December 2015. Joe had been living in the United States since he was a child, but never obtained citizenship. During his sentence, an immigration judge ordered that he be deported back to Italy when he was released from prison in March 2019.
He was transferred to a facility that houses immigration detainees in Pennsylvania after his release but has been in Italy since October of last year.
