A joyful moment! Teresa Giudice‘s brother, Joe Gorga, couldn’t be happier about his sister’s engagement to Luis Ruelas, who popped the question earlier this week.
“I’m so excited. I’m so happy for her,” the real estate developer, 42, told Us Weekly exclusively on Thursday, October 21, adding that he cried when he heard the news. “[Luis] came in like what she needed. She needed that Superman to come in and take her life and fix it, and that’s what he’s doing. I always said she needed a beast of a man, and he is one of them.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 49, and her boyfriend, 46, got engaged on Tuesday, October 19, while vacationing in Greece. The duo celebrated their first anniversary together in July.
“A year, wow I would have never imagined how in one year I would feel so loved,” the Standing Strong author wrote that month in an Instagram tribute to her beau. “You are so kind, supportive & loving. You take great care and consideration in everything you do. You have shown my girls so much love, I adore you.”
Gorga, for his part, is thrilled that his older sister has found someone that makes her happy.
“He’s living up to everything he’s talking about, so I’m just so happy that they’re in love,” he told Us, adding that Ruelas told him in advance that he was planning to propose. “She’s ecstatic. She loves him. She’s really, really happy. She always wanted to be loved, like, really loved, and he loves her.”
The Turning the Tables author was previously married to Joe Giudice for 20 years before the duo called it quits in December 2019. The former couple share daughters Gia, 20, Gabriella, 17, Milania, 15, and Audriana, 12.
According to Gorga, his former brother-in-law, 49, knows about the engagement.
“The girls told him,” the Gorga Guide to Success author explained. “I don’t know if [Teresa] told him. I didn’t even ask that question. Don’t know, don’t care. Probably not. But it’s all good.”
Gorga’s wife, Melissa Gorga, also knew in advance that Ruelas was planning to propose, and like her, husband, she’s thrilled for Teresa.
“She’s so happy for her,” Joe Gorga explained. “Melissa’s a happy person. She’s had a great life. We’re happily in love and we have a great marriage, so Melissa just wants the same [for Teresa].”
The newly engaged couple are still in Greece, but when they get back, the Gorgas plan to celebrate their engagement with some sort of get-together.
“We’ll do something, definitely,” Joe Gorga told Us. “This is big news, this is nice. It was meant to be. It’s a beautiful thing and I love it.”
RHONJ fans in the New York City area can catch Joe Gorga’s stand-up comedy show at Carolines on Broadway on Wednesday, October 27.
With reporting by Diana Cooper