Teresa Giudice Didn't Know She Broke the Law or What a Plea Deal Is

On Monday night during part one of Teresa and Joe Giudice’s sit down with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, the couple discussed their prison sentences. Much of the focus was on Teresa, the real star of the family, and how much she did or did not about the legal system she tangled with. According to Teresa, she didn’t know a lot.

Perhaps the most unconvincing part of the interview was when Teresa and Joe argued that Teresa really didn’t know about the fraud – that she just signed papers that Joe gave her (that’s very The Other Woman). Now, Teresa says, it’ll be different.

“Time for me to wake up [because] I do need to read things before I sign them. I do need to understand things before I sign,” she said. “I’m a trustworthy person and sometimes I take what other people say, and I just believe them. I trust them and I can’t do that anymore. I gotta, you know, I gotta make sure I fully understand something or fully read it, or find a lawyer, like a contract lawyer.”

Yes, make sure you talk to someone else before your husband does something that could send you to prison.

This line of argument continued when Cohen asked Teresa about the plea deal and why she took it. Teresa said,
“I didn’t understand that part” so it seems like lawyers didn’t help her there – she made it seem as though no one explained that her plea deal would result in some prison time.

“I didn’t fully understand it,” she said. “I thought my lawyer was going to fight for me. I mean that’s what lawyers do, I don’t know. That’s why you hire a attorney. You put it in their hands. I mean, whatever they wanted from me — believe me — I followed their direction. Whatever they wanted, I gave them. I’m not trying to hide anything.” That last statement seemed like it was a direct comment towards the judge, who accused the Giudice’s of dragging their feet on submitting documents and not being wholly truthful about their finances.

Teresa will go to prison on January 5, 2015. She still hasn’t told her daughters about the sentencing, though Gia, who is
13, knows. The other three, at ages 9, 8 and 5, are going to find out…sometime, I guess, though from comments Teresa made during WWHL it sounds like they’re not total idiots and they know something is going on. The second half of the interview, airing Thursday, will cover how Joe and Teresa’s relationship is doing, whether RHONJ is scripted and how Joe feels about his possible deportation.