Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice and her husband were sentenced in federal court in New Jersey on Oct. 2, after pleading guilty earlier in this year to four counts of mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. Teresa was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison while her husband, Joe Giudice, received 41 months, as well as fines and other terms imposed by the judge. While Teresa looked calm, cool and collected, albeit somber, as she entered the courthouse in Newark, N.J., reading her tweets in the weeks between her guilty plea and sentencing gives an indication of where her mind was as the big day approached.
On Sept. 22, a fan posted a photo with Giudice from two years earlier. Teresa, who has almost 1 million followers and seemingly countless mentions, retweeted this particular fan’s post. Perhaps Giudice liked how she looked in the photo or, possibly, she longed for the days when she was known to the world simply as the feisty, table flipping housewife from New Jersey.
On Sept. 26, less than a week from sentencing day, Teresa retweeted another photo of a fan showing off her new purchase of Giudice’s popular cookbook, Skinny Italian. For the past few months, Teresa had been aware that she and her husband might be incarcerated and unable to earn a living, while still under a mountain of debt and legal bills. It appears she had promotion on the mind since the best bet for her family to sustain themselves financially would likely be her bestselling cookbooks.
On Sept. 28, Teresa posted a photo with the tweet “Made Baked Rigatoni today Gia & Milania’s favorite.” Some fans found this endearing with tweets of support but some Twitter users felt it was an obvious ploy to appear sympathetic and needed by her family. One user tweeted “Last ditch effort to appeal to the sentencing Judge? Nice try, won’t work.”
On Oct. 1, the day before sentencing, Teresa retweeted a post from a fan that read “today (sic) is St. Teresa! Happy onomastico (name day)! I will pray to her that everything goes well on Thursday. Baci!” Reading between this tweet – or retweet – it’s clear Teresa appreciated her fans’ prayers and well wishes.
Later that same day, Teresa retweeted another follower who stated “please (sic) RT my blog on BreastCancerAwareness my (sic) Mom was recently diagnosed and a prayers with you all tomorrow Xo.” This retweet was not only a last acknowledgement of the prayers she is receiving on sentencing day but also an acknowledgement of prayers for someone else – a mother – in need. Perhaps, Teresa Giudice may have finally realized what matters most.
All of this is armchair psychology and conjecture but for someone who has shared her personal life with millions of viewers for over five years, it is no surprise that she would also wear her heart on her sleeve and Twitter account, allowing others to assume what they will, and pray for her while they are at it.
In the meantime, Danielle Staub, Teresa’s archenemy from past seasons of her hit reality show, required little reading between the tweets when she replied simply “Yup,” in response to “dontcha (sic) love karma baby.” The official account of Bravo, on the other hand, was conspicuously quiet throughout sentencing day with respect to anything related to Teresa Giudice or her husband or the sentencing news.
By Jennifer Fernicola Ronay
