Teresa Giudice Reveals What Daughters Know About Her Sentence and Plan for Prison
"Just make sure you come once a week," she told husband Joe about visits.
-- Joe and Teresa Giudice sat down for their first interview following their prison sentences for fraud that were handed down last week in federal court.
The reality stars spoke with Bravo's Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" for part 1 of a special that aired Monday night, but was taped Friday.
"All I keep thinking about is my daughters," Teresa Giudice, 42, said about the 15-month sentence she got the previous day, while her husband got three and a half years.
"I think it was a little high, I didn’t think I was gonna get that much," said Joe Giudice, 42.
The couple's sentences will be staggered and Teresa will report to prison first on Jan. 5. The pair were charged with several counts of loan and bankruptcy fraud last year, to which they pleaded guilty this past March.
"I can’t imagine not being there. They need their mom," Teresa said.
In fact, Teresa admitted that Gia Giudice, the couple's 13-year-old daughter, is the only one of their children that knows about the sentences.
"She said, 'It's going to be okay,'" Teresa said Gia told her after the sentencing. "She was being strong for me, I could tell. She was like 'Mommy, don't worry about it, I'll be there, I'll help daddy with the girls.'"
The three other daughters -- Milania, Gabrielle and Audriana -- are all younger and didn't know that their mom is going to jail yet, as of the show's taping.
Though the couple had yet to tell their other daughters, Joe said "Milania came up to me the other day and said, 'Do you have something to say to me?” I think she knows, she’s not stupid."
Joe and Teresa also suspect their other daughter Gabrielle knows something is wrong.
"Today, she gave me a kiss," she said on the show, adding that Gabrielle is usually not the affectionate one.
Cohen added that "she knew you needed it."
"I don’t know what I'm gonna say yet," Teresa said about telling the girls.
But she said she's going to have to sit them down, as she wants Joe to bring them for visits to see their mom when she has to go away.
"I'm grateful to the judge, she could have taken us yesterday if she wanted," she added. "I'm going to do fine [in prison] ... I just want to make sure my daughters are okay. I just want to talk to my daughters every day. I want him to bring them to me."
She told Joe, "Just make sure you come once a week."