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FIGHTING FOR FAMILY
REAL Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice has said his ex Teresa is still his "number one b***h" after they were forced apart by his prison sentence and deportation.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the Bravo dad insisted he is now focused on his "redemption" celebrity boxing match, due to take place on October 24 in the Bahamas - but revealed he doesn't rule out the couple rekindling their romance down the line.
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Joe, 49, told The Sun: "No divorce papers so far.
"We have been separated for a while, but not by choice.
"We've been separated with this whole legal crap here, me being away, but otherwise we probably would still be together.
"You know, me being away in prison and now me being here in Italy... I mean my life is over there. What kind of relationship is that?
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"Right now, I'm not even worried about that.
"The only thing I'm worried about right now is if there's no chance of me coming back to the US, obviously I need to move on.
"What are we going to do? See each other twice a year or three times a year?
"But listen, you never know. I don't know what's going to happen, I can't predict the future.
"If we decide to get a divorce, then I'm okay with that, It's been so long already I'm not even worried about it."
The RHONJ star added he and Teresa , 48, who split last year after 20 years of marriage, will always have a special bond.
He said: "Listen, no matter what, and I tell her this all the time: 'At the end of the day you're still my number one b***h.'
"She's the mother of my kids, and we've got to get along because we've got four beautiful kids and that's something to be thankful for."
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The TV personality has been living and working in Salerno in his native Italy for the past few months, where he is training for his upcoming celebrity boxing match.
During lockdown, he has been unable to go to his boxing gym, so he has been working out in the mountains using wooden blocks as weights to get in fighting shape.
His opponent has not yet been announced, but he says he is ready for anybody - even a professional fighter.
"You know there's been talk about Conor McGregor, this person, that person," Joe said.
"I really don't care who it is... I want it to be somebody that's going to be a challenge though.
"I don't want it to be someone I'm just going to beat right away.
"When I know that I'm going up against somebody that's good I've got a whole different mindset.
"If I'm thinking I'm going against somebody that I don't really think is that good, then I can't pump myself up.
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"Since we've been locked down for two months, I've been training up in the mountains.
"So I basically make my own weights up there were from blocks.
"And then I just shadow box while I'm up there, then I kick and I punch it.
"It's actually a pretty good workout up there."
Joe, who dropped 50 pounds behind bars by hitting the gym, said the theme of the fight is "redemption" following his over three-year federal prison stint for fraud.
After being released, the star then spent six months in an ICE detention center before being deported to Italy.
When asked if he had any regrets about his past, he said: "I think everything happened for a reason, you know.
"If I didn't go away, would I be fighting right now? Probably not. I probably would be real fat.
"I don't know but I don't think that I would be in shape to fight.
"But going away, gave me a whole different mindset, it humbled me, made me look at things differently and in a better way but obviously it was hard being away from family for so long."
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Joe also hit out at the US immigration system for tearing his family apart - and said he misses his four daughters terribly.
He said: "It is hard not seeing my kids. It's actually terrible what they did, but what are you going to do?
"It's tough on them, they're kids, they need their dad.
"I'm in contact with them every day, I talk to them, I text them, I FaceTime them, I do all I can in terms of being there and whatever they need I'm here for them.
"But we have a terrible system in the US."
And he claimed his time in the ICE detention center was even worse than prison.
"I could have left as soon as I was done with my sentence, my 36 months I could have just left and just came here [to Italy], which I should have done," Joe said.
"But instead I fought for another six, seven months to stay, and then it took me almost another two and a half weeks, three weeks to get out of there once I decided to leave.
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"I mean it was crazy. The best thing I could have done was got out of there.
"Oh my God. That was the worst. It's like a county jail, everybody beside you, barely having any time to go outside.
"It's ridiculous. I don't even know how I lasted in there for six, seven months, believe it or not. I really don't.
"And it's terrible that they treat people like that.
"At the end of the day everybody's a human being and depending on the crime, I think that's what it should go by.
"But this system is so screwed up that it doesn't even go by the crime.
"It doesn't matter whether you do a white collar crime or whether you kill somebody, you go through the same system. It's ridiculous."
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And while his latest deportation appeal was denied in April, Joe said he's not giving up - and hopes one day to be allowed back in the US.
He claimed: "There's always a possibility for everything. I mean, I never thought that I would be doing a fight, but I'm doing that.
"When you're on top and everybody's talking about you, that's when they're gonna start wanting you back in the country."