During the season 11 premiere of the reality series in February, Teresa, 48, alleged that Jackie’s husband, Evan Goldschneider, had cheated on her with someone at his gym. The journalist, 44, confronted the Standing Strong author about the rumor — and later dragged Teresa’s eldest daughter, Gia Giudice, into the mix. When it comes to onscreen drama, however, Amber thinks Teresa has some key players on her side.

“She has the power of the network,” the Vici Fitness owner, who exited RHONJ in 2014 after only one season, told Us Weekly exclusively. “She has the power of the production team. … They create a story and they use her as a little soldier to go and do their bidding and she will do it. She doesn’t care who she hurts.”

Instead of trying to make amends with Teresa about the cheating claims, Jackie compared the situation to rumors that Gia, 20, “snorts coke in the bathroom” at parties. After the controversial moment made headlines, Jackie later told Us that the fight was blown out of proportion.

“I wasn’t starting a rumor about Gia. I was giving an analogy,” she explained. “I think that almost everyone will say that that’s an analogy and the truth is that there’s no one else in Teresa’s life that I can make her understand. When you say something about someone you love, whether or not it’s true, it hurts, you know?”

At the time, Jackie insisted that she had no regrets about her comment because she wasn’t “saying something nasty about Gia.” The college student advised her mom to apologize to Jackie in the following week’s episode and took to Twitter to address the slander.

“Saying it was an analogy is making it excusable, it’s not. My character is now being questioned,” Gia tweeted in February. “My name was used to make a point. No one should be used in that way, I am suffering the consequences for such an outlandish and untrue statement. While her marriage is happy & in tact.”

As the drama continues to unfold, Amber isn’t convinced that Teresa has good intentions at heart. “She was a miserable person when I was on the show and she just doesn’t look like a happy person now, even though she could pretend all she wants,” the Marriage Boot Camp alum told Us. “It just doesn’t work. … She’s wrapped up in this world and she can’t get out.”

With reporting by Diana Cooper

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Meredith Nardino