Rachel Fuda made a conscious decision to keep her mouth shut about drama on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
When she exclusively sat down with Us Weekly, we had to ask whether she considered saying anything about costar Teresa Giudice’s husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas. Fuda, 33, replied, “No, because I have morals.”
“I’ve said that a million times but that is my biggest downfall, as a Housewife, is that I hold myself to a higher standard than some of the women that are on our show,” Fuda exclusively told Us after the season 14 special “Off the Rails” episode of the Bravo show, which aired Sunday, August 11. “I don’t feel like I need to ruin people’s reputations and livelihoods in order to make myself successful. I wasn’t raised that way.”
Fuda, however, did weigh in on whether she thinks Ruelas, 49, is the “downfall” of RHONJ. “I wasn’t here before he got here. And I think that’s an important thing to kind of realize is, like, it happened at the same time. From what I recall, his involvement in the show happened simultaneously, increased when I became a housewife,” she explained. “So from what people are saying, it sounds like that.”
Fuda noted that there’s been a “common denominator for 14 years,” which hasn’t been Ruelas. (Fuda is seemingly referring to Giudice, 52, who is the only remaining original cast member of the Bravo series.)
“So, I think that he kind of poured gasoline on the fire. He just kind of mic dropped it, you know what I mean? He just put the bookend on it,” she said. “Unfortunately, I feel like Teresa does have to clean up a lot of the things that he says. I mean, I feel like her podcast solely exists to clean up Louie’s mess.”
Fuda noted that every time someone sends her a clip from Giudice’s podcast, she’s “justifying his actions or something like that.” Fuda added, “So it does seem like there’s quite a bit of toxicity around him.”
Amid ongoing drama on the series, rumors of a RHONJ shakeup have been circulating for months. During a July episode of Andy Cohen Live for SiriusXM, Andy Cohen agreed with a listener that the series needed new faces. “We’re gonna figure something out,” Cohen, who is an executive producer on RHONJ, said. “We are all on the same page about that.”
While the fate of RHONJ is uncertain, Fuda’s future looks bright as she celebrates a milestone in her personal life. At the end of Sunday’s special, Fuda revealed she and her husband, John, are expanding their family. (The couple share son Jaiden, 17, and daughters Gianella, 4, and Giuliana, 2. Fuda legally adopted Jaiden.)
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During a toast, costar Melissa Gorga began, “There’s a lot of life to be had…” while Fuda interjected to announce, “Considering I’m pregnant!”
Amid her pregnancy, Fuda is taking time to reflect on her blessings. “I just feel so grateful, and I have so much gratitude,” she told Us. “I feel very blessed and very lucky.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi