Teresa Giudice: I Didn't Understand Plea Deal! Aren't Lawyers Supposed to Fight For Me?!
Soon to be incarcerated, The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice sat down with Andy Cohen Monday on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live.
In her much-anticipated post-sentencing interview, she admitted she is devastated by her prison sentence and more than a little shocked at the outcome.
Why? Because she claims she DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE PLEA DEAL SHE SIGNED and thought it meant she would not have to do time as a result.
“I didn’t fully understand it,” Giudice said. “I thought my lawyer was going to fight for me. That’s what lawyers do. That’s pretty much that’s why you hire an attorney."
"I do need to read things [and] understand things before I sign them. I'm a trustworthy person and sometimes I take what other people say … I can't do that anymore."
"I gotta make sure I fully understand something or fully read it or find a lawyer - like a contract lawyer - that can help me because I don't read contracts everyday, so I wanna get better at that."
So basically, she's shocked at the outcome not because of what she did wrong, but because she assumed a plea bargain was a get out of jail free card.
This likely explains why these wannabe white collar criminals got caught in the first place, and why it's good the judge sentenced Teresa to 15 months in prison.
She clearly doesn't understand what she did wrong ... or the law. Or much of anything, really, beyond flipping tables and keeping up with the Joneses.
Cohen pressed Teresa, asking her what role she played in the fraud and if she was aware of she was doing. "Whatever Joe told me to sign, I signed," she said.
One wonders if she can read period.
When Cohen asked Teresa how it was possible for such omissions to occur with such a large legal team surrounding her, she offered no clear explanation.
"I was shocked. Believe me, whatever I needed to do I would do," Teresa responded, adding that she "didn't talk to my attorneys ... I just left court … It was done."
But the reality star, famed for her over-the-top lifestyle, as you know if you watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey, says she was "was not trying to keep up with the Joneses."
"I work on the Housewives. I get paid if I wanna go buy something … I'm not trying to keep up with the Joneses. I'm not trying to spend money that I don’t have."
Sure thing.
Joe Giudice, meanwhile, called his 41-month prison sentence "devastating," and said, "I actually felt like I got hit in the back of the neck with a bat."
Teresa and Joe both said their biggest fear about going to prison is that their daughters are okay. Joe told his wife that he would step up in her absence.
"It's going to be a lot of work, but they are my daughters, and I gotta do what I gotta do," said Joe of his new role. "I guess I'll be the housewife."
Teresa said her main goal now was to "become a better person. ... a lot of the things that [the judge] said … really hit home. It bothered me so."
"I am just going to take it and become a better person."
Best of luck with that uphill battle.
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