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Credit: Instagram
Gia Giudice shared her thoughts on being referred to as “mini-Teresa” during an interview on Wednesday.
While also revealing if she’d be open to joining The Real Housewives of New Jersey, stating her would-be tagline, and admitting to having “trauma” from past episodes, Gia, 25, dished on her new restaurant, Teresa Giudice‘s role, and the second season of Next Gen NYC.
“Over the past year, there have been a lot of milestones in my life that have really molded me into ‘This is Gia Giudice as an individual and as a brand,’ rather than ‘She’s a mini Teresa,’” Gia shared during a June 24 interview with Elite Daily. “I obviously do not take that as an insult at all; she’s iconic, but I wish people could also see who I am separately.”
Regarding the idea of joining RHONJ, Gia said she was open.
“I always knew one day it would be [Andy Cohen]’s dream to see that full-circle moment,” she shared. “Now that I’m on Next Gen, who knows where it will lead, but maybe I’ll be a Housewife one day.”
As for her Housewives tagline? “I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I guess I was made for this.”
In recent years, Gia, who debuted on RHONJ at seven years old, has experienced immense personal growth as she launched her podcast, Casual Chaos, and landed a role on Special Forces. In fact, Gia’s role on the FOX competition series led her to branch out from her family and get her own apartment in Jersey City.
“Special Forces made me realize that I am OK on my own,” she revealed. “I was really staying home as a security blanket for my family in case they needed me.”
Looking back at her early years on RHONJ, which she has been recently watching on TikTok, Gia said she “always loved the cameras.” But that’s not to say that all of the episodes have been easy to watch.
“Watching it made me realize how much my mom has given to this show. She’s given absolutely everything. Watching those moments, I cry at all of them,” she admitted. “That sting never goes away when you’re watching your family’s trauma back.”
Specifically, Gia gave a nod to season 10, which saw her dad, Joe Giudice, 54, being released from prison.
“My dad was deported. It was just a lot,” she explained. “I was in this mindset where I really thought he was going to come home, even if he had to fight it in front of the Supreme Court.”
As for regrets, Gia admitted to being selfish at times during her younger years.
“I was very ‘me, me, me.’ It was my senior year of high school. I was so focused on him missing my graduation, my prom, all these milestones. Looking back, that was so selfish of me. My younger sisters — Audriana was a baby and grew up with no dad, and Milania and Gabriella were so young, too — I had so many more years than them,” she noted.
Now that she’s on her own and missing her mom’s home cooking, Gia hopes to highlight her family recipes at Il Vero, a new restaurant in Westwood, New Jersey, which Teresa helped decorate and curate the menu.
“We are implementing a lot of specials from my mom’s cookbook,” Gia confirmed.
Moving on to Next Gen NYC, Gia said season two “is so much better” than season one.
“It’s night and day,” she revealed. “We all know each other better, so the dynamic is just juicier.”
Following season one, Gia learned a lot.
“I am my biggest critic. So when I watched Next Gen, I saw it as a mirror. I looked at the things that I loved about myself and things I didn’t,” she stated, adding that she was too defensive toward Ariana Biermann, 24, especially amid feuds with Ava Dash, 26, and Charlie Zakkour.
Gia also confirmed her boyfriend, Christian Carmichael, who she’s been dating since 2020, filmed more for season two, which led to more meaningful discussions between them.
“When you’re filming a show, you are having obviously different conversations than you would just sitting in your living room because you really have to tell your story and express your feelings,” Gia said. “It might be hard to understand, but filming really does feel like therapy in a way.”
It also holds them accountable.
“When you’re having a deep conversation where maybe you would get a little more nasty with each other, now, it’s like, ‘OK, we are really talking and really hearing each other,’” she explained. “I still want to be so open and vulnerable, but I obviously hope that I don’t have to endure some of the really tough challenges that we already had to face. My mom always says, ‘I hope that was your hardship and that you don’t have to endure anything that dark or deep again in your life.’ That’s what I hope for, too.”
Next Gen NYC season two airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
