Fans fear for Teresa Giudice's marriage over RHONJ star's $3 million financial nightmare
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- Giudice allegedly owes over $300K in unpaid New Jersey state taxes
- Her husband Luis Ruelas allegedly owes more than $2.6 million
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Teresa Giudice fans were shocked to learn Monday that the reality star and her husband Luis Ruelas have reportedly been hit with millions in tax liens.
The 52-year-old Real Housewives Of New Jersey fixture and her 49-year-old husband had over $3 million in New Jersey state tax liens placed on them, according to documents first reported on by People.
On social media, Teresa fans widely mocked the star for the tax issue, with several critics wondering aloud whether her marriage to Luis was in danger amid the financial crisis looming over the couple.
Some fans also noted Teresa's previous admission that she and her husband did not sign a prenuptial agreement before tying the knot.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Teresa's representatives for comment.
Tax liens are a legal claim made on a person's assets if they fail or refuse to fully pay their taxes. If they fail to pay the amount of the judgment, the government would be able to seize their assets.
According to the New Jersey Courts website, Teresa owes $303,889.20 in unpaid taxes in a judgement that was entered on March 20.
Luis owes several times that amount, after a judgment saying he owes $2,569,842.06 was entered on March 6.
That amount is on top of an earlier lien issued on December 12, 2024, for $163,523.94 in unpaid taxes.
On X (formerly Twitter), one user joked that they 'couldn't stop laughing' at Teresa while reposting news about Luis' tax liability and photos of her confessing to Andy Cohen that she didn't sign a prenup.
Another user reposted an Instagram photo Teresa shared on Monday in which she wore a black T-shirt that read on the front: 'I speak fluent French: Hermes. Chanel. Dior. Saint Laurent.'
They wondered why Teresa chose such a terrible moment to post the photo.
'Ma'am, this is not the look. Right now you probably can't even afford the Walmart Birkin,' they wrote.
Some posters compared Teresa to Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City star and imprisoned fraudster Jen Shah.
Several fans joked that Teresa had 'learned nothing' from her previous legal problems, referring to her and her former husband Joe Giudice pleading guilty in 2014 to 41 counts of bank, mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud.
Joe also admitted to not filing a tax return from 2004 through 2008.
Teresa was ultimately sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, while Joe was hit with a 41-month sentence, though he was allowed to serve his sentence after hers was completed so that one parent could be with their children continuously.
Although Teresa claimed to have merely signed forms without knowing of Joe's criminal activity, one fan wondered if 'Maybe juicy joe wasn't the head fraudster after all' in light of Teresa's ongoing tax problems even after they divorced.
However, a small number of users defended Teresa and urged her to focus on her least critical fans.
During a 2022 appearance on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, Teresa claimed that she only went to prison because the government wanted to 'make an example' of her.
'I know in my heart I was not supposed to go there. I know I only went because I'm in the public eye,' she claimed. 'Listen, I'll shout it out to the world.
'I signed two contracts that Joe was flipping [for] two homes he was buying,' she alleged after having already served her sentence. 'That's all I did. I knew nothing about what he was doing. I mean, I have nothing to hide. Like, I did my time already, you know?'
Following her ex-husband Joe's sentence, he was forced to move to Italy ahead of deportation hearings.
He had lived in the US as an undocumented immigrant, as he was born in Italy before his parents brought him to the US when he was one year old, but he reportedly never pursued citizenship seriously before his legal trouble, meaning he would almost certainly be deported after serving his sentence despite his efforts to stay in the country.
Joe moved to Italy in 2019, and Teresa met her future husband Luis during a 2020 vacation on the Jersey Shore.
The couple got engaged the following year, and later in 2021, Teresa told host Andy Cohen on the after show to Watch What Happens Live that she didn't plan to sign a prenup with Luis.
'I mean, I would [sign a prenup], you know, if he said so. I'm so very easy about that,' she claimed, before alleging that Luis 'definitely' had more money than her.
'I would never take anything from him, I'm so not like that,' she said, via People.
Earlier in the episode, Teresa's daughter Gia, 21, wondered why her mother would need to sign a prenup, to which an exasperated Andy replied: 'Why wouldn't she sign a prenup?!'
Teresa then jumped in to say that she considered calling off her first wedding to Joe after he had her sign a prenup 'a week before' their wedding in 1999, though she said her mother ultimately talked her out of walking away.
