The past few years have been an anomaly for Gia Giudice. For the first time since 2009, when she was 8 years old, she hasn’t been starring in a reality show on Bravo.
Giudice, now 24, spent the next 15 years being filmed for The Real Housewives of New Jersey, which starred her mother, Teresa Giudice before being put on hiatus in 2024. But when the network came calling again, this time for a new show called Next Gen NYC, Giudice didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“My life is so out there,” she tells me breezily over coffee in New York. “Even though we’re not on TV, it doesn’t matter. There’s a new story every week. So at this point, I’m embracing it.”
While Giudice may be a reality TV veteran, Next Gen NYC offers an enticing new opportunity. This time, she’s one of the stars of the show, along with fellow Bravo kids Brooks Marks, Riley Burruss, and Arielle Biermann. This crop of “next gen” stars is joined by fellow child of famous people Ava Dash (mom Rachel Roy, dad Damon Dash), as well as crop of fresh faces like model and influencer Emira D’Spain, “NYC nightlife royalty�” Charlie Zakkour, and party planner Georgia McCann. The show follows the crew as they try to make it as young, hot, 20-somethings in NYC, following along with the fun, excess, and of course, drama.
For Giudice, having a show where her life and career (she’s spent her time off from Bravo graduating college and building her influencer brand) are the main storyline feels completely new—and exciting.
“[Housewives] was more so talking about drama that our moms were dealing with or issues that our moms were facing, and how we can help our moms. Now with Next Gen, it’s about us,” she says. “What we’re doing with our daily lives, drama between friends, living life in New York City…I think a little more relatable for the younger generations, more so than dealing with our moms.”
Glamour chatted with Giudice about the advice her mom gave her about being a Bravoleb, what she’s been up to since graduating, and what we can expect from the new show.
Brooks Marks and Gia Giudice on Next Gen NYC.
Bravo/Getty Images
Glamour: The last time we saw you on The Real Housewives of New Jersey you were in college and considering law school. What have you been doing since?
Gia Giudice: I was a major in criminal justice and a minor in sociology at Rutgers, and I had two internships, one at an immigration firm and one at a public defender’s office. Then my senior year is when my influencing career started picking up and also when I started taking more advantage of it. I was kind of checked out.
I didn’t know where influencing was going to take me yet, but I was optimizing on a lot of content. I graduated college and then I worked at a marketing corporation where I shadowed the law team while I was studying for my LSATs. But then my influencing career picked up and I was getting super busy and trying to juggle both. I know a lot of people are like, “oh, she didn’t do the LSATs.” People are judging me for not going, but meanwhile people switch their major up until their senior year of college or even post-grad. So that’s the biggest thing that people really dive deep into me about or nitpick me about.
But it’s very common to change your post-graduate plans during college.
I said I’d do it when I was in sixth grade, and they haven’t let it rest on that one thing. But I was doing three things at once and it was just so unsustainable. I just couldn’t keep up. My mom looked at me one day and was like, “you’re in your twenties once. Embrace this, live this era out of your life, or who knows, maybe it’ll be your entire career path, but just have fun with it.” That’s what I did. I put a pause on law school and decided to do this full time.
You had an interesting pathway into influencing because your platform has been growing since you were a child, and it was your decision whether to take it. How did you decide that you were going to lean into being a public figure?
More opportunities were brought to me junior and senior year of college, more so my senior year of college. And I was just like, there’s no reason not to. I think the main thing is maturity and growing into the space and also realizing the amount of opportunities that could come from it. I think in high school I was a little too immature. I also had an ex who didn’t really like it. Also, senior year I realized the financial aspect, what it would bring in. So it was mainly maturing and realizing what’s out there.
Have you always had a public Instagram and a lot of followers?
Yeah, I’ve always had one from high school. I always have a lot of followers on my Instagram, but I always had a private Instagram too until I turned 21. And then when I turned 21, I deleted my other Instagram and started taking advantage of all the resources that I had.
What do you enjoy about influencing?
It’s exciting. As much as people have this perception that influencers don’t do much, I’ve been in the city every single day this week. I am in the city basically every single day Monday through Friday. It’s not easy. It’s a lot of back and forth. You’re constantly on your feet. You’re constantly on the go. But it’s exciting.
I think I like the thrill. If I was sitting at a desk, I know myself, I would doze off, I would get bored. It is just not my cup of tea and not everyone can handle a desk job. I really can’t. I get super bored. But this, I like it because I constantly don’t know what I’m doing the next day. I don’t know what’s happening next. I could find out about a job the day before, but I like being on my toes and I like when my schedule’s completely booked. When I’m not doing anything, I dunno what to do with myself.
What do you think draws people to your account?
I think with the show [RHONJ] ending, the fans are still really intrigued about my family’s life, what we’re doing, especially when we go see my dad, because that’s been a missing piece that Housewives doesn’t capture. My dad was such an authentic personality on reality TV that everyone still loves. Also my traveling, “get ready with me” videos, what products I’m using, my fashion tips.
You were on Bravo for most of your life, but have not been on for the past few years. How did you first hear about Next Gen NYC and why’d you decide to return to reality TV?
Brooks [Marks]. He’s very connected to a lot of people on the cast organically and introduced me to a lot of people on the cast. I was obviously familiar with the Bravo kids—Brooks, Ariana, and Riley—but I didn’t know anyone else. He introduced me to everybody.
…I thought it would also be a really great opportunity and something fun to do. And once I got to know the cast a lot better. I love all of them. They’re all amazing, and we had a really good season. I think at first anyone is going to be nervous, but it turned out to be something really great.
How did your mom feel when she found out, and will she be on the show?
She was super happy. Yeah she will be on, very little though. I think a couple FaceTimes, maybe one or two in person cameos.
Did she give you advice on stepping into this role or was she like, you’re a pro?
A little bit of both. I think no matter what you learn from yourself every season. Even from not being a main character on Housewives, I would look at myself and say, “oh, I’m never doing that again.” I think you learn each season how to improve and how you want to grow, what you want to do if you don’t want to do that. That’s just kind of the beauty of reality TV, you see yourself in a really raw form. My mom said, “be mindful of what you do. Perceive yourself on tv, how you are, and how you would want people to view you, because you can’t really change that after people get a first impression.”
What was your favorite part of filming?
I would say showing my career to the world more, because I feel like I try to show it to them as much as I can through my social media, but they can see it firsthand. And just being in New York City as well, I fell in love with the city a little more filming here.
You are currently living in New Jersey, but are you considering moving to NYC?
Yeah, I don’t know where in the city, or I’m considering right across the water in Edgewater or Jersey City. I would love to move in with my boyfriend and he works in Jersey, and then my sisters are in Jersey. My family’s in Jersey. I’m a very family oriented person, so I would like to go back and forth not too often, but at least every Sunday for Sunday dinner. But what made me really think about the move is how often I need to be here.
What can viewers look forward to this season?
I think they are going to enjoy an unfamiliar face that they don’t know about that isn’t in the public eye, and now is going to be. I would call him the Scott Disick of the group. You either hate to love him or love to hate him. I would say that’s the biggest one. I think people are expecting a lot from [the Bravo kids] but other cast members bring a lot to the table.
What do you think people are going to learn about you that they might not expect from the show?
I think the fun, lighthearted side of me, and also seeing me in the workspace, which I’m really excited about. On Housewives, it was a little dark. It was a lot around my family. So I’m excited to get away from that.
