At Bravo Fan Fest in 2026 in Charleston, South Carolina, Andy Cohen addressed how he feels about Jacqueline Laurita 15 years after she infamously skipped the season 3 reunion of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” due to being so distressed over a plot set up by Kim Depaola and Teresa to have Melissa come face-to-face at a fashion show with a strip club manager who claimed she used to be a dancer.
Despite the wrench Jacqueline threw into the filming, Andy says he’s forgiven and forgotten, and assured Jacqueline, “We’re cool.”
Recalling the incident, Andy said, “That was calamitous” and recalled the group was filming season 4 while season 3 was airing.
Andy said the day of the reunion, “Jacqueline wouldn’t come out of her house that morning,” but pointed out, “And of course, she’s all over season 4.” The producer said there is now a rule in place for the ‘Housewives’ that “if you don’t show up for the reunion, you don’t come back.”
Melissa Gorga, who was sitting with Andy and Porsha Williams, then jumped in to assure everyone once again, “I was not a stripper!” before laughing, “And I would own it if I were.”
Andy then remarked on how “it seems so quaint” that the incident could have caused so much commotion and strife.
Melissa recalled that she was crying in her room, and Andy laughed about how he was solemnly informed that Jacqueline would not be participating but the show had to go on.
Melissa added, “A producer was even at the house, knocked on the door, and she would not come out.”
Andy Says Jacqueline Recently Apologized
Andy says Jacqueline recently DM’d him and said, “I’m so sorry I didn’t come to that.” He says he wrote back, “We’re cool.” He even sent her a copy of his new book, “Andy Cohen’s Bravo Scrapbook: Twenty Years Behind the Scenes of the Real Housewives and the Bravoverse.”
The Fashion Drama that Led to Jacqueline Skipping the Reunion: ‘Something Is Gonna Happen Tonight’
It all went down during a 2011 Posche fashion show scene for Kim DePaola’s boutique.
In her confessional clips, Jacqueline recalled, “All of the sudden I start to get texts from one of Teresa and I’s mutual friends that something is gonna happen tonight, that I’m not the target, and not to leave.”
During a confrontation between Teresa and Melissa about the allegation that Melissa was a stripper, Melissa asked, “Do you honestly think your brother would marry a dancer?”
Teresa snapped back, “I don’t think so, the way we grew up. Yeah, no.” Melissa then swore to Teresa that “I never in my life danced.”
In Melissa’s own confessional, she called Teresa out for not defending her, saying her sister-in-law should have told Angelo to “get out” when he approached Melissa. While Angelo had made the claim “she used to dance for me” at the club Lookers in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Melissa says she was only a bartender.
“You should have never entertained this,” Melissa angrily told Teresa in the scene.
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Andy Cohen Reveals How He Feels About Jacqueline Laurita 15 Years After Her Infamous Reunion No-Show