Jackie Goldschneider may have a different role on this season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, but her dynamics with the other women have remained the same. Jackie, who has a “Friend Of” title for season 13, is still at odds with Jennifer Aydin even after wrapping filming last year. Jackie was on the latest episode of HollywoodLife‘s Pay Attention Puh-Lease! podcast and revealed that Jennifer unfollowed her on Instagram “a few months ago.”
“That’s like a flex on social media. So maybe we’re not friends,” Jackie said about herself and Jennifer, who both joined the show on season 9 in 2018. “But I’m good without Jen. We’re fine. I’ll survive,” she added.
Jackie explained that she tried befriending her co-star amidst Jennifer’s marital issues, but Jennifer wasn’t receptive to forming a friendship with Jackie. “After that, where I really tried to have a genuine conversation with her, and show her some empathy for her situation, she….no. She clumped me with Melissa [Gorga] and Margaret [Josephs] and really just wasn’t warm to me this season,” Jackie said.
Jackie also thought it was “tasteless” how Jennifer told Danielle Cabral in Ireland about the rumor that Melissa allegedly cheated on Joe Gorga. Jennifer and Teresa Giudice learned about the alleged gossip from Margaret’s ex-friend Laura Lee Jansen, who Jackie thinks should not be trusted.
“Anyone who gives Laura any credibility is wacko,” Jackie told us. “Laura has such an agenda to hurt Margaret and get herself on the show. She will say and do anything. Does anyone actually believe that this woman went and said, ‘I have something about Melissa, but I can’t tell you.’ I mean, come on. Please. She went there knowing she was gonna spill everything.”
Jackie had to deal with cheating rumors about her husband Evan Goldschneider on season 11, so she has, as she put it, “such a visceral reaction” to what the Gorgas are dealing with now. “You put that into the universe, and no matter how uncredible it is, there are still so many people who are still gonna believe it because they want to believe it,” the Weight of Beautiful author explained. “And it’s so hurtful to your children and to your spouse and to your parents and to everybody. You hurt so many people when you do that. It’s not what reality TV is for. It’s not entertainment. And I felt very, very badly for Melissa. I felt bad for Joe. I think it’s embarrassing. I think it’s awful. I think it’s disgusting.”
Although she’s a “Friend Of” this season, Jackie told us that she didn’t feel that the other women treated her differently when they filmed last summer. “They kind of left me alone a little more, whereas they were maybe out to get me in past seasons,” she said about her co-stars. “I think they knew I wasn’t the one to come for this season.”
Jackie’s full interview on the Pay Attention Puh-lease! podcast is available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Jackie talks about her drama with Danielle, teases Melissa and Teresa’s big fight at the finale, and much more!