Teresa Giudice on Her Uncertain Future with Husband Joe: 'He Just Made a Mess of Things'

 

Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe have been through a lot together — and she’s not sure where they’ll go from here.

PEOPLE Now caught up with the Real Housewives of New Jersey star Wednesday, and she opened up about her new memoir, Standing Strong, which details the ongoing frustrations she’s experiencing with Joe, 45, who is currently serving out a 41-month sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. (Teresa, 45, served a nearly yearlong stint in prison herself for the same crimes.)

“Well, I remember when I first started doing the show everybody kept asking me, ‘Where do you see yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?’ — I’m not answering that question anymore,” she said. “Because if you would have asked me back then if I thought I would ever go to prison, I would have said never. So I can’t predict the future, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”

“I want to work,” she added. “But you know, when Joe comes home, he has to do the right thing. And then we’ll just move on from there.”

Joe hasn’t yet read the book, though Teresa said she discussed everything she wrote in it with him and is “hopeful” the two will be able to repair their marriage.

“Obviously he’s there, he has a lot of time to think,” she said. “There’s a lot of guilt that he feels, and I see the change in the way he’s writing his emails and what he’s saying.”

“We had a great marriage,” she continued. “I’m just upset with him because he wasn’t on top of the finances the way he should have been. He trusted the wrong people. That was really important, because he just made a mess of things.”

RELATED VIDEO: The Advice Teresa Giudice Would Give Her Younger Self — ‘Make Sure All Your Finances Are in Check!’

 

Another element that upsets the Bravo star is the fact that the couple’s four daughters — Gia, 16, Gabriella, 13, Milania, 11, and Audriana, 8 — also suffered due to their parents’ financial woes.

“It’s hard for them,” she said. “That’s the thing, adults, we can go through anything. I was fine . I’m strong, I had no problem doing it. But who suffered were my daughters.”

Nevertheless, the girls “adore” their dad.

“We see him as much as we can,” she said. “Their activities come first … then work, that’s really important for me, I need to work. So I would say we go see him once every two weeks, once every three weeks. It depends on the schedule.”

RELATED VIDEO: Teresa Giudice Talks Reuniting with Danielle Staub, Drama with Kim D. & Losing Her Mom

 

“I adore my daughters,” she said. “I just look at them and I try to be the best mommy I could. I live for them.”

“I’m strong, but they’re even stronger,” she added. “When I was away Gabriella would email me every single day, telling me what she did from the morning until she went to bed. It was amazing. I kept all her emails. They do their own laundry, they clean up the house. If I’m working, they do it. They mop the floor, clean up the kitchen. And their rooms are never messy!”

Standing Strong is available now, and the Real Housewives of New Jersey season 8 premieres Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.