Inside Melissa Gorga, Teresa Giudice's Tense Taping of The View

USMagazine, Thursday, June 7, 2012, 10:40am (PDT)

Talk about a Hot Topic!

Real Housewives of New Jersey costars Kathy Wakile, Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice came together to film an episode of ABC's The View Wednesday (to air Friday), and in traditional RHONJ fashion, it was Giudice who brought the drama with sister-in-law Gorga and cousin Wakile.

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Invited to film a segment for the show together, Giudice, 40, nixed the group chat and insisted instead on her own segment because she felt Gorga, 32, would "attack her," Radar Online reports.

However, a show source counters to Us Weekly that it was never Gorga's intention to meddle with Giudice at the taping. Despite Giudice's qualms, "Melissa and Kathy were fine to go on," the insider explains. "They weren't looking for a confrontation."

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Agreeing to film Giudice separately, The View producers had cohost Whoopi Goldberg sit with the controversial reality star for the chat alongside her fellow cohosts Sherri Shepherd, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Barbara Walters. The outspoken comic, 56, seemed especially sympathetic to Giudice's tales of woe during the taping, but a source tells Us that Goldberg was just being kind.

"Whoopi doesn't really watch reality TV and had no idea what the Melissa and Teresa feud was about," argued the insider. "Whoopi was unfamiliar with the situation."

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Later, Goldberg was noticeably absent from Gorga's segment, but a source says that was simply due to the fact that there wasn't enough room on the couches to have all of the cohosts interview her and Wakile.

Though Giudice and Gorga steered clear of one another during their time backstage at ABC's studios, Gorga -- whose husband, Joe, famously angered Giudice when asking that she go to therapy -- didn't attempt to target her foe.

"Teresa pulled this s--t [refusing to film with Melissa] because she wanted the segment for herself," says the insider. "Melissa had no plan to take her down. There was no attempt to take her down."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Inside Melissa Gorga, Teresa Giudice's Tense Taping of The View