There's a new Melissa Gorga on The Real Housewives of New Jersey. No, this isn't a soap opera twist, rather Melissa has changed, she told us.
"I think I've changed a lot, just as a person…I'm just coming into my own, and I feel like just the way that [Joe Gorga] and I run our household as changed a lot over the past couple of years. It's not easy, it's really not easy…I feel like I'm just growing as a person and I think you're going to see that on the show because I can't even hide it," Melissa told E! News.
That growth includes a change in what she once viewed as traditional gender roles. "I don't believe in that like I used to. I wrote a whole book about it and I don't know if I agree with everything I wrote any longer," she said.
She attributes that change to growing older and also finding her own success in the business world.
In addition to seeing the new Melissa on RHONJ, this year features Melissa, Teresa Giudice, Margaret Josephs, Dolores Catania and Danielle Staub joined by newcomers Jennifer Aydin and Jackie Goldschneider.
"I think the new season is a really, really good one…I am super excited about this season. There are two new girls who are, like, amazing. It's so hard to cast new people on Jersey. We are family, it's very hard to fit in with us…to bring other people in has always been difficult and I think we found it…These two girls are so polar opposite, it's insane," Melissa said. "One is a little bit like Teresa and I feel like one's a little bit like me, so it's just funny and it works"
As for Teresa and Melissa, the two are shown getting into an argument in the season nine trailer, but their relationship stands the test of that.
"No, we're not going to have knock-down, drag-out fights, but Teresa and I do fight this season. We do get into a couple arguments. It's sisters-in-law, we are family," Melissa explained. The two are so used to the cameras, they'll tackle their issues no matter what, but it won't be the types of explosive fights from seasons past.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)