Prison was of course very different from the glamorous life Teresa is used to, but living without having her makeup and hair done and wearing fancy clothes didn't break Teresa but showed her true self. "It was Teresa Giudice, the person that I am. Everything that you just said, I don't need any of it. I was fine just being just who I am," Teresa told Amy.
Though the low-security prison in Danbury has been described as something of a "country club," Teresa, who was known as Inmate No.65703-050, said it was quite the opposite. "It was no country club, trust me, at all. There was mold in the bathrooms, there was not running water, constantly. The showers were freezing cold," she said. "It was hell. It was definitely living in hell."
Teresa revealed that she kept herself busy with her job in the kitchen. "I wiped tables three days a week. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, that was my job," she said. "I got paid 12 cents an hour. I spent it at the commissary. My first paycheck was $1.60. The only thing they give you is toilet paper and maxi pads, so I just bought my essentials."
However, the worst part of prison was not what Teresa experienced there, but what she left behind at home. "Just being away from my daughters and Joe, that was the worst part," Teresa told Amy.
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Teresa actually found a lot of support in prison, which is something that surprised her. "I have to say the girls were amazing there. Anytime anybody new comes, we all help each other," she explained. "You'd think that people are terrible that are in prison, which I totally don't feel that way now."
That doesn't mean some of Teresa's fellow inmates weren't difficult to get along with. However, the days of Teresa flipping tables when faced with a confrontation seem to be long gone. "I wasn't scared. It's not like I was terrfiied, but I know I could hold my own. But I mean, there was fights that went on," she explained. "Believe me, they were trying to start drama with me, but I just walked away."
And being on The Real Housewives of New Jersey for six going on seven seasons didn't really prepare Teresa for all of the drama she would face in prison. "It was nothing like being on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, let me tell you," Teresa said. "And I thought Real Housewives of New Jersey was drama. When you go to prison, there's a lot of drama."
Teresa also addressed her husband Joe Giudice beginning his 41-month prison sentence in March and the possibility of his subsequent deportation. "We're just taking one day at a time. I'm just happy to be home," she said. "We're just enjoying every moment, like living in the moment. We really are."
Watch her full GMA interview below!
Source/Photo Credit: Bravo, ABC