So far this season on Real Housewives of New Jersey, Bravo shifted the big feud from Danielle Staub and the Manzos to Teresa Giudice's family drama. Yet, Teresa's cousin, Kathy Wakile, says she had no idea at first that she was even being considered for the same show Teresa was on.
"Maybe it was naive on my part," Kathy tells Zap2it after we asked her if she thought Bravo was interested in her because of her connection to Teresa. "I really had no idea it was even for the Housewives."
The new housewife says her relationship to Teresa isn't something she flaunted. She has never shared the same last name as her cousin, doesn't tag Teresa in photos on Facebook, and she didn't like to tell people that her cousin was on the show until she really knew them.
"I didn't do that," she explains. "Because I would always like to establish myself for who I truly am on my own."
Of course, the cat's out of the bag now and to viewers it seems as if she sides with Teresa's sister-in-law and new cast member, Melissa Gorga, against her cousin. But, Kathy says that was never her intention.
"It's never been a team for me," she says. "I never wanted to choose between Melissa or Teresa. As I said before, I grew up with Teresa. Teresa is my cousin and I love her. I looked at her like a little sister. When Joe and Melissa got married, I looked at Melissa like a cousin too. And we all got along really, really well initially. And what happened was Teresa's life got busier."
Kathy explains Teresa became busy with her life and small kids while her own kids were becoming old enough to do social activities and Kathy needed to be with them. So, the cousins drifted apart. Meanwhile, she began to spend more time with Melissa, who even though she had small children too, she stayed closer to home and could spend time with Kathy.
"It wasn't a divide that was intentional by any means," Kathy says. "But still sometimes Teresa sees it that way. It was not intended to be that way."
Credit: Zap2It (Jethro Nededog)