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The Daily Dish The Real Housewives of New Jersey

Melissa Gorga Reflects on How Grown-Up Daughter Antonia Has Become: "She's a Boss"

The RHONJ mom discusses life at home with her teen daughter with Joe Gorga.

By Jocelyn Vena
Melissa Antonia Gorga Growing Up

Um, no, we totally don't feel old seeing this photo of Melissa Gorga's daughter, Antonia Gorga, now 14, next to a throwback snapshot of her as a little girl with her lifelong BFF. It seems that her The Real Housewives of New Jersey mama was also deep in her feelings when she shared the photo with all on Instagram.

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"When these 2... become these 2," Melissa wrote about her teen offspring, comparing the photos of them as tykes playing dress up to one of them now looking fierce on the beach. "They met in dance class at just 2 years old. Here they are at 14."

In fact, when Melissa spoke to The Daily Dish at the start of Season 10 of RHONJ, she opened up even more about what it's been like to watch her daughter grow up and become a teenager — and mama Melissa admits the resemblance, these days, is uncanny.

"I know; it is so crazy how [much we look alike]. I feel like she looked like me in the beginning, when she was first born, and then she transitioned and started to look really like Joe and, now, she's just all me. I mean, everything. It's crazy how similar we look," Melissa said, noting the similarities don't end there.

"She is [taking after my personality]. Antonia doesn't take any sh--; it's so crazy. She's a tough cookie. And she's actually the mediator between her friends, which I feel like she gets from me," Melissa explained. "She's a boss."

Still, she noted, they are not quite BFFs just yet.

"Not yet! I feel like we're going through this non-friend stage because she just went to high school and she is giving me the dirty looks," Melissa said. "I get that her mom is a little different than the other moms. I'm on Instagram and sometimes in bikinis, so I get that. But, I think, she's just going through that typical like 8th, 9th grade thing where your mother or your parent can do no right, and it takes some time for her to like me again. I heard she's going to like me again when she's a junior. I got two years of that face on."

With Antonia growing and thriving in the public eye thanks to cameos on her mom's Instagram and on RHONJ, does Melissa think she'll someday also pursue a career in the spotlight? "I don't think so. But, I'll tell you this, I've taken her on a red carpet before where she had to speak to press and I could not believe how poised she was," Melissa recalled about her 2018 red-carpet debut. "She amazed me that day."


 

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