With my father at the opening of Gorga’s Homemade Pasta & Pizza. It really was such a fun party. We served homemade pasta, which we made right on the premises.
Love my brother, Joey! This was us celebrating my forty-fifth birthday. Melissa got me the ugliest zebra print cake. I said, “You’re kidding me, right? I put you in charge of this one thing, and this is what you get?” Then she joked, “You, me, and desserts just don’t go good together,” in reference to the sprinkle-cookie incident. Madonna mia!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
* * *
FROM TERESA GIUDICE:
I would like to thank God for blessing me with the will and strength to stand strong during this very challenging year.
La Familia
I would like to thank my Papa, Giacinto Gorga, for everything you have shown me and taught me since I was a little girl. I would not be here if you did not show me the way.
To my four babies, Gia, Gabriella, Milania, and Audriana: Everything I do, I do for each one of you.
To my husband, Joe, I wish you were home and can’t wait until you are.
To my brother, Joey; Melissa; and to my husband’s family, thank you for all of the love and support you continue to show for my daughters.
Miei amici
Rosana Harms, Lisa Giammarino, Lisa Fortunato, Dina Manzo, John and Kim Raciopi, Dana Levine, Siggy Flicker, Dolores Catania, Dana Torsiello, and anyone I may have missed, thank you for being there for me and my family through all of the ups and downs. May god bless all of you and your families.
La Mia Squadra
To Priscilla DiStasio, my very talented make-up artist, thank you for your loyalty, your amazing work, and your friendship.
To Jim Leonard, my attorney and very dear friend, for always telling me what I need to hear, even when I don’t want to hear it. Also, to Rebecca and everyone at Leonard Law Group, thank you for everything.
To David Antunes and Lucia Casazza, my two hair stylists, thank you for your amazing work and for always being there when I need you.
To Karianne Fischbach, thank you for handling my appearances and making sure everything runs smoothly. Thank you for everything you do.
To Carolos Cuevas and Anthony Rainone, thank you for everything you have done.
Televisione
To Frances Berwick, Shari Levine, Andy Cohen, everyone at Bravo, Lucilla D’Agostino, Dorothy Toran, everyone at Sirens Media/LeftField, thank you for putting up with me for the last nine years . . . here is to nine more.
Libro
To Louise Burke, the amazing Jen Bergstrom, Frank Weimann, Nina Cordes (I miss you already), Jennifer Robinson, John Vairo, Laura Waters, everyone at Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, and everyone at Folio Literary Management, for giving my literary endeavors a home and allowing me to be me. PS: get ready for a spicy fiction series. . . . You never saw my third Danbury diary . . .
To Emily Liebert, thank you for helping me organize my thoughts for this book, you were amazing to work with. Thank you.
Media
To KC Baker, my friend and coauthor on Turning The Tables, Charlotte Triggs, Emily Strohm, everyone at People, Jennifer Peros, Carolyn Greenspan Rosen, everyone at Entertainment Tonight, AJ Calloway, super-producer Darius Brown, everyone at Extra, Amy Robach, Katie Conway, everyone at Good Morning America, Beth Sobol, everyone at E! News, the amazing Dr. Oz, thank you all for being so fair to me over the years.
Last, but not least, to the Real Housewives fans out there, especially the RHONJ fans, thank you for all of your support over the years, I love, love, love and appreciate each and every one of you, even the haters.
xo
Teresa
2017
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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TERESA GIUDICE stars on The Real Housewives of New Jersey and is the New York Times bestselling author of Turning the Tables, Skinny Italian, Fabulicious!, Fabulicious!: Fast and Fit, and Fabulicious!: On the Grill. A Berkeley College graduate and a longtime supporter of NephCure Kidney International, she lives in New Jersey with her family.
EMILY LIEBERT is the bestselling novelist of You Knew Me When, When We Fall, Those Secrets We Keep, and Some Women. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and their two sons.
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Gallery Books
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Copyright © 2017 by Teresa Giudice
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First Gallery Books hardcover edition October 2017
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Jacket design by John Vairo Jr.
Author photographs by Koury Angelo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN 978-1-5011-7919-8
ISBN 978-1-5011-7920-4 (ebook)
Standing Strong Page 17