In September, multiple outlets confirmed Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice's decades-long marriage had been finalized eight months after they began the process of officially calling it quits. As Joe, 48, told Wendy Williams on her show Friday, the pair decided they couldn't make the distance work, now that Joe's making a life for himself in Italy following his deportation from the U.S.
Part of that new life, it seems, is a new romantic relationship with someone special.
"I'm actually seeing a lawyer," said the former "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star, according to TooFab. "She's helping out a lot out here, it's good because I have a lot going on out here and she's putting together a lot of deals for me. We've been seeing each other, you know what I mean."
So how serious his the romance? "I wouldn't say she's my girlfriend," Joe said, "but we're hanging out together."
Though he didn't elaborate on the deals his lawyer pal is helping him with, he's certainly had a lot of experience with the law in recent years. Joe and Teresa, also 48, were convicted of bank, mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud in 2014. Teresa served 11 months in prison following the conviction while Joe stayed with their four daughter. After Teresa's release, Joe began his 36-month sentence. Because he was born in Italy and never officially naturalized despite spending his whole life in the U.S., he was deported back to the country where he was born by ICE immediately after his release.
He's pursued appeals on the deportation, but in his conversation with Wendy, he sounded ready to stay in Italy if necessary.
"First I got to get permission to come back," he explained. "And once I get permission I want to be able to come visit whenever I want. I don't know if I ever want to live there again. But, I want to come back to visit my mother, brother, sister, my kids, my nieces, I got everybody there, friends, I grew up there."
Joe added that it's been almost a year since he saw the girls he shares with Teresa — Gia, 19, Gabriella, 16, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 11 — but they "talk every day." (Teresa and all four of the former couple's daughters visited him in Italy last fall.)
"I was watching them play soccer yesterday through the phone. So, good thing for the phones. It's better to be there in person, but what're ya gonna do?" he asked. "Right now, I wouldn't be able to come there anyway."