RHONJ: Why Fans Think Melissa is Competing With Antonia

Melissa Gorga is sharing her daughter’s return to cheerleading, but The Real Housewives of New Jersey fans think she’s “competing” with Antonia. RHONJ season 12 follows Melissa as she encourages her daughter to get back to cheer after suffering a knee injury. Melissa allowed the cameras in as she pushed her daughter back into the gym and training despite her pleas not to. When watching it all play out, viewers think Melissa is forcing her views on her daughter because of her own past “trauma.”

Antonia is Melissa and Joe Gorga’s only daughter. The couple shared how they recently moved to a new neighborhood so their son Gino could play football at a certain school. However, that forced Antonia to switch high schools mid-season. On top of being pulled away from her friends at school, Antonia suffered a knee injury that caused her to stop cheerleading for a long time. The season has followed Melissa, is fine not being Teresa Giudice’s bridesmaid, sitting Antonia down as she pleads with her daughter to start cheering again. However, Antonia told her mother that she doesn’t want to. Melissa insisted on it, saying she doesn’t like seeing her daughter give up so easily.

In the latest episode, Melissa took Antonia to a local gym to train with a fitness instructor. During her confessional, Melissa admitted she sees a lot of herself in Antonia and recalls rebelling in her teenage years after she was forced to move to Florida after losing her father. While talking to her daughter, she told Antonia the same thing, and the teen sympathized with her mother. However, one viewer took to Twitter to call out Melissa, who critiqued for her season 12 storyline, for seemingly “competing” with her teenage daughter over her own “trauma” issues. “Does it seem like Melissa is competing with her daughter over who has more trauma? Or is it just me?” Bravo Bitchfest tweeted.

Another fan agreed, adding that they were thinking the same thing. “Wtf is wrong with Melissa? She’s too much already,” they quipped. “Her daughter has more trauma just having her as a mother.” One viewer noted how Melissa said she didn’t want to mess up Antonia’s high school experience in the same way in the same way that was done to her. “So to try and make sure of that….you yank her out mid-hs?! Like, are you actually trying to give her trauma like u?!” the fan declared. It was definitely a full-circle moment for Melissa, who explained physical fight with Jennifer Aydin, when she realized she was inflicting the same experiences on her daughter that she had growing up.

Fans have also been critical of Melissa and Joe for forcing Antonia to change schools so that one of their sons could play football. “They could have kept her in the school and drive her there,” one critic wrote. RHONJ fans aren’t going easy on Melissa when it comes to her style of parenting. Now that Antonia is older, Melissa’s way of handling her teen is under more scrutiny than when her daughter was still a little girl. She’ll likely get grilled about it at the reunion since it is her central storyline this season.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m ET on Bravo.

Source: Bravo Bitchfest/Twitter