Jacqueline Laurita may be back on The Real Housewives of New Jersey full-time for season seven, but she certainly wasn't welcomed back into the fold with open arms by her old friends Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga.
The teaser for the new season gave us our first hints at trouble between old besties Teresa and Jacqueline, and when the former jailbird and her sister-in-law sat down with E! News ahead of Sunday's big premiere, they made it clear that there's been no thaw in that ice cold situation. "I think that my relationship totally changes this season, with her, completely. And it was pretty shocking and I think she tried to be hurtful in certain situations," Melissa said of her severely strained connection with Jacqueline—and it looks like we can blame it all on the season's big cast getaway. "I think Vermont is big turning point. When we go away on the girls' trip, it was a big turning point for me, for my and Jacqueline's relationship. It took my rose-colored glasses off and it was like really seeing someone in front of me that I didn't see before."
And if you think Melissa was just sticking up for her sister-in-law, think again. "No, it's between me and Jacqueline," Melissa said matter-of-factly. The fissure in her relationship even came as a surprise to Teresa, who said with a laugh, "Yeah. That was news to me."
Teresa, of course, wasn't one to mince words when it came to her own relationship with her former friend. Referring to her as "Jacko Wacko," Teresa told us that she didn't have any relationship with Jacqueline anymore and she didn't really seem to mind. "I'm over it because, you know what, people that try to hurt you and bring you down, I have no time for them in my life at all," she said. "At all."
Jacqueline, on the other hand, was much more diplomatic when discussing the state of affairs. In a separate interview with E! News, she copped to struggles, but downplayed them considerably. "Teresa and I have a lot of history together. We've been up and down, love-hate frenemies so, it's like sisters that fight. You can say, ‘I hate you' one second and the next minute," she said, adding that how new ladies Siggy Flicker and Dolores Catania react to it all adds to the excitement. "You've seen us fight and you've seen us hug. We have this rollercoaster friendship, so you get to see a lot of that and how everybody in the group copes with that. How do they deal with two members fighting?"
To hear more from Melissa and Teresa, check out the video above. And for more on Jacqueline's take, be sure to press play on the video below. As for how this all shakes out? Well, you're going to have to tune in when RHONJ premieres like the rest of us.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey returns for season seven on Sunday, July 10 at 8 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)