Teresa Giudice (/ˈdʒuːdɪtʃeɪ/ JOO-ditch-ay,[1][a] Italian: [teˈrɛːza ˈdʒuːditʃe]; née Gorga; born May 18, 1972)[2] is an American television personality best known for being in The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Besides appearing on the show, Giudice wrote multiple New York Times bestseller cookbooks and was featured on Donald Trump's The Celebrity Apprentice 5 (2012).

In December 2015, she was released from prison after serving 11 months of a 15-month sentence for fraud, while her husband and four daughters resided in the Towaco section of Montville, New Jersey.

[3] She is known for her extravagant lifestyle and highly publicized financial and legal troubles leading up to her felony conviction and prison sentence.

This led to Teresa flipping the table between the two and coining a unique term in the Housewives vernacular by calling Staub a "prostitution whore".

[27] She is a committee member for Project Ladybug, a charity founded by fellow RHONJ co-star Dina Manzo.

[37] Giudice supported Donald Trump, whom she worked for on The Apprentice, in the 2016 United States presidential election saying "I think he's amazing.

[47] An auction of furniture from their Montville, New Jersey, home was initially scheduled for August 22, 2010, but was postponed and then canceled as the couple withdrew their bankruptcy petition.

The indictment also charged Joe Giudice with failing to file tax returns for 2004 through 2008, during which time he allegedly earned nearly $1 million.

[51] Joe Giudice stood trial on November 19, 2013, on separate state charges that he used marriage and birth certificates belonging to his brother to fraudulently obtain a driver's license in 2010.

[53] As he employed the same defense attorney in both trials, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas moved the date of the tax case, involving both Teresa and Joe, from October 8, 2013, to February 24, 2014.

[54] On March 4, 2014, Teresa and Joe entered guilty pleas to 41 counts of fraud following a deal struck with federal prosecutors.

They were accused of engaging in bank, mail, wire, and bankruptcy fraud, which allegedly saw them net over $5 million over a 10-year period.

Accompanied by her lawyer, she surrendered herself to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut (seven hours ahead of schedule).

[59] In July 2015, Giudice's primary residence in Towaco, New Jersey was in the preliminary stages of foreclosure, while the couple's summer home in Beach Haven West, in Stafford Township, New Jersey, was foreclosed; the latter was auctioned in a sheriff's sale on August 18, 2015, and received no bids.

[66] An immigration court ruled in October 2018 that Joe Giudice, who never obtained U.S. citizenship despite living in the country most of his life, was to be deported back to Italy when he finished his prison sentence.

In October 2019, Giudice voluntarily returned to Italy to await a decision on the appeal of his deportation case rather than remain in federal custody.