Joe Giudice Breaks His Silence On Why It Was Hard To Watch 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' In Prison

During the height of their show's popularity, both Joe and Teresa expressed their love for the finer things in life unapologetically. They spent their money the way they wanted to and put on the perfect facade of wealth and success. Unfortunately, though, they found themselves digging deeper and deeper into a financial hole that eventually exposed their lifestyle as fraudulent. In 2009 things began to unravel quickly for the Giudices after they decided to file for bankruptcy. But things only took a turn for the worse when subsequently both Joe and Teresa were faced with separate charges regarding their finances. Some of the charges they faced were serious, including mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion.

The Giudices were both convicted and given prison sentences to be served separately. Teresa served her term first and shortly after she returned home Joe was sent to jail to serve his term next. Unfortunately, because of his lack of American citizenship, Joe was sent to his birth country Italy after being released from serving his three-year sentence. And although rumors of Joe and Teresa's marriage crumbling towards divorce continue to swarm around they all reunited in Italy for a beautiful family photo with their daughters Gia, Gabriella, Milania and Audriana. Though the reunion was touching Joe still had a few regrets about the time he's spent away from his family.

Celebrity Insider reports that during unseen footage from the Bravo special 'Joe and Teresa: Unlocked' Joe admitted it was painful seeing his family on television knowing he couldn't be there with them.

“You know, it was actually painful to watch them on television,” said Joe. “It was actually sad. I saw the one, I remember the one episode where my daughter [Milania] was waving through the window when I was leaving to go to Fort Dix, and that was like gut-wrenching. I couldn’t even watch that.”

The family is still awaiting word of whether or not Joe will be allowed to return to the States but hopefully, this trying ordeal is finally coming to an end and the Giudices can be reunited for good.