Ashlee Malleo thought Teresa Giudice had ulterior motives for Jacqueline reunion
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Droves of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” fans rejoiced when Teresa Giudice and Jacqueline Laurita rekindled their long-lost friendship over a recent meal in Las Vegas.
But the Bravo alum’s daughter, Ashlee Holmes-Malleo, had her concerns.
“I saw her reconnect with Teresa, and I was like, ‘Teresa? Really?’” the professional makeup artist, 32, tells Page Six in an exclusive interview, adding that she immediately “texted” her mom and “called her out.”
“I’m very blunt. My mom and I have that sister relationship,” she notes. “I was like, ‘You know, I wish you guys well.’”
Holmes-Malleo explains that she was initially “skeptical” of “the timing” because Laurita, 52, had just publicly bashed Giudice’s co-star and estranged sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga.
“I was saying to my mom, I was like, ‘You know, there might be ulterior motives,’” she recalls, admitting that she “wasn’t as accepting of it in the beginning.”
In fact, the brunette beauty found out about the “5-hour lunch” via Instagram and dropped an admittedly sarcastic “congrats” beneath Laurita’s picture of the reunion.
The comment has since been deleted, and Holmes-Malleo has since come around.
“My mom kind of explained the whole situation to me and how it went down. And honestly, like, it makes sense,” she tells us, making sure to note that Giudice, 50, and her husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas, already had plans to be in Jacqueline’s city when they met up with her and her husband, Chris Laurita.
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Holmes-Malleo reiterates that Jacqueline — who will be moving from Nevada to California later this year — “isn’t coming back” to “RHONJ,” so she doesn’t feel that Giudice was “trying to make up with her to recruit her to be a little ally on the show” or “talk s–t about Melissa on camera.”
“When they met, they honestly didn’t even talk about Melissa or the show or anything like that,” Holmes-Malleo claims. “It was just kind of recapping [that] they were both going through really stressful times in their lives when they had that fallout.”
At the time, Teresa and then-husband Joe Giudice were being accused of federal financial crimes (for which they both ended up serving time), while the Lauritas were trying to navigate their son Nicholas’ autism diagnosis.
In fact, one of the things Jacqueline said she “connected and bonded” with Ruelas over was that they both have autistic sons named Nicholas.
Speaking from first-hand experience, Holmes-Malleo tells us that reality television “isn’t the environment to heal in” because cast members are “constantly having to rehash old fights.” And since Jacqueline is “separated from that show now,” she and her former bestie were “able to kind of do that.”
Holmes-Malleo also credits Teresa for “going to therapy” and Ruelas for “helping [her] work on herself.”
According to the mother of one, Jacqueline and Teresa — who were pals long before they were Bravolebrities — have picked up right where they left off.
“Ever since [their meet-up], I’ve been on the phone with my mom, and she’ll be like, ‘Oh, hold on, Teresa’s calling. Let me call you right back,’” Holmes-Malleo shares, saying the dynamic duo has been “talking all the time.”
“I believe in growth. I believe people can change and grow. Otherwise, what’s the point?” she adds. “As you get older, it gets harder to change, but I do believe it’s possible.”
In fact, she claims Teresa tried to get in touch with Jacqueline several times “in the past” but that her mom “just didn’t pick up the phone.”
“So I think they were both at a place where they were ready to reconnect,” she says.
“It gets tricky for me, though, because I’m really close with my Aunt Caroline [Manzo],” she adds of Jacqueline’s sister-in-law and Teresa’s nemesis. “I just want everyone to get along!”
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