Victoria Gotti Says Teresa Giudice ‘Is Not Stupid,’ Prison Will Be ‘a Test of the Wills’
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Evan Agostini/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In the wake of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice being sentenced to serve 15 months in federal prison, her friend Victoria Gotti tells ABC News Radio she’s given the reality star advice only when she asks.
“When needed she does come to me and we talk about it, and I’ve been very clear with Teresa. I always tell Teresa family first. Worry about your marriage [and] your children,” Gotti says. “If you want what’s best for your children, concentrate on your marriage, concentrate on standing behind your husband [and] fixing things that you feel may not be always perfect, but working together.”
Gotti knows a thing or two about jail time as her father, the late John Gotti, was in-and-out of jail for most of her life due to his connection to the Gambino crime family. Also, her ex-husband Carmine Agnello, with whom she has three sons, also spent some time in jail.
Gotti says imprisonment is “very trying, very taxing, very emotional. It’s a test of the wills. It’s finally going to be the test if whether or not you can hold together a family or not. If your whole life has been a charade, this is the test.”
Still, Gotti feels her friend Giudice can make it. “She’s not stupid. She’s pretty smart. And you know what the old saying is, ‘You have to be pretty, pretty sharp to play that stupid.’ But she’s not. She’s a good person and I get along with her. We’ve gotten closer over the years,” she explains.
In March, the Giudices pled guilty to 41 counts of fraud. On Jan. 5, 2015, Teresa will begin her sentence at the Danbury, Connecticut, prison camp that served as the inspiration for the Netflix show Orange Is the New Black. Once she has served her time, her husband Joe will begin his 41-month sentence. They have four children together.
Gotti will return to reality TV on Nov. 10 thanks to an A&E special Growing Up Gotti: 10 Years Later. It airs 9 p.m. Eastern.
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