Kathy Wakile is coming out swimming against her estranged cousin-in-law and former Real Housewives of New Jersey co-star Melissa Gorga.

The RHONJ alum told Page Six Radio that Melissa manipulated the timeline of their lunch reunion while appearing on Jeff Lewis Live in July 2024.

During said interview, Melissa explained that Kathy and her husband, Rich Wakile, purchased a lot in the same Franklin Lakes neighborhood as her and her husband, Joe Gorga.

The 46-year-old then claimed she hoped that Joe would run into his cousin and reconcile, which is when Jeff Lewis encouraged Melissa to “build that bridge.”

“I’m gonna do it,” Melissa responded.

However, Kathy now dubs Melissa’s response “strange,” explaining that they ran into each before Melissa’s appearance on Jeff Lewis Live and the RHONJ couple avoided her and Rich at the event.

“We had run into each other prior to her being on ‘Jeff Lewis’ and doing that interview,” Kathy said on Page Six Radio, explaining that she and Rich are on the board of local charity which hosted an event that the Gorgas attended.

“I didn’t see them, but they saw me and didn’t say hello,” she insisted.

“The next day, Melissa texts me, which was very nice. She reached out and said how sad it was that we were at the same event and we walked by each other and didn’t say hello,” Kathy continued, adding, “Shame on [Joe] if he saw me and didn’t come up to me.”

In her text, Melissa allegedly wrote, “I think that there’s things we should talk about. Would you be open?”

Kathy admitted that she agreed to talk over lunch.

“So we met for lunch and [then] she went on ‘Jeff Lewis’ and acted like, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea, Jeff,’ when we had already had our lunch,” Kathy explained, noting that Melissa was “making it seem like it was Jeff’s idea” to meet up when in fact they “had already met” and “cleared the air.”

Kathy dubbed the lunch “fine” but admitted she doesn’t “think it went as [Melissa] would’ve liked it to go.”

She added that there wasn’t “anything harsh said” however she did “reminded [Melissa] of the things that went down.”

When asked if she believes Melissa’s motivation for reaching out was for a storyline on RHONJ, Kathy said, “I think that could’ve been a really good part of it. Could’ve been, like, potential storyline, but I’m not a storyline. I am my own life.”

As for claims that she and Rich moved into Joe and Melissa’s neighborhood, Kathy noted that her family had already been living in that neighborhood for a decade.

“So if anything,” she said, “they moved to our neighborhood.”

Meanwhile, Melissa reacted to Kathy’s comments in a statement to Page Six, stating: “Kathy asked Melissa to please not tell anyone about the lunch and asked her not to mention it on her podcast or [in the] press. Melissa honored Kathy’s wishes and never said it happened.”

Tell us – Do you believe Kathy’s version of events or Melissas? Sound off in the comments!