Teresa Giudice Celebrates Bestselling Memoir with Touching Message to Husband Joe

Looking fiercer than ever, Teresa Giudice stepped out in a very sexy, low-cut LBD on Wednesday night to celebrate the release of her bestselling memoir Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again, which debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times best sellers list. The Real Housewives of New Jersey author was feted by her family and friends, including her husband Joe Giudice, Melissa Gorga, brother Joe Gorga, Jacqueline Laurita, Chris Laurita, Nicole Napolitano, Teresa and Rino Aprea, and Real Housewives of New York pal Dorinda Medley with boyfriend John Mahdessian.  

Inside the bash, held at 49 Grove in the West Village, the RHONJ mom toasted her big release with a heartwarming speech, thanking those who helped make it all possible, especially her hubby. "I also want to thank my husband, Joe, everywhere I've gone people have told me that this book is like a love story and it really is," she said. "It's our story, honey."

Teresa also spoke to The Daily Dish about the release, and reflected on what it's been like to have her story out there for all the world — and her daughters — to read. "I wanted to get my story out there. I know everyone knows me, part of me, from being on Real Housewives of New Jersey , but now they get to the real Teresa Gorga Giudice. [My daughter's are] too young to read it [right now]. Gia's so proud of me. They know that mommy did write a book," she said. "I just want them to see what mommy went through and I want them to understand and explain to them exactly how it happened."

Since her return home back in December, she's been dubbed "Namaste" Teresa by Andy Cohen, a nickname she is more than embracing. "I've been doing yoga and not only did it change my body but it also helped me with my mind and to get through things," she told The Daily Dish. "Like now I don't sweat the small stuff. I am really namaste, very zen, and just live everyday to the fullest."

In the memoir, Teresa opens up in great detail about the friends she made during her time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn. And she says that she hopes to one day reconnect with those women. "I can't right now, but when they come home I will. [I think they're excited about the book]. I protect [everyone]. I didn't put anybody's actual name and I changed things around to protect everyone. While we were there, we were all in survival mode and we all encouraged each other," she said. "Hopefully, just like I would want the best for them, they would want the best for me."

Teresa's sister-in-law, Melissa, applauded her for the release. "I've read it; I've looked through it. It's very heartfelt. It's bittersweet, in a way. It has a lot of heart and it has a lot of soul and it's really what she went through as a mother," she said. "Whenever I think about her book or what she went through for that year, I always look at it from a mother's point of view." While fans have been clamoring to get their hands on the book, her brother Joe, has had a harder time getting through it. "It'll take a little time, I'll get through it," he told The Daily Dish, noting that he is proud of his sister. "I am, still to this day, curious of what happened and what's going on. And it was something that I would never, never imagine would happen, and it did."

Teresa and Melissa will both return to RHONJ later this year. Check out a preview below.

See Teresa Giudice's Emotional Homecoming