"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice began her 15-month prison sentence Jan. 5 after she and her husband Joe were indicted on several different counts of fraud, as HNGN previously reported. Giudice is now set to be released a few months early — and will be home just in time for the holidays.
Giudice, 43, will be released from prison Wednesday, Dec. 23, just two days before Christmas. "She's looking forward to coming home," her attorney James Leonard told ABC News. "She's going straight home. She's not going to a halfway house. She's going to get to spend Christmas with her family and get back to her life."
Even though Giudice was sentenced to 15 months, she is being released a little early for good behavior. "She's not receiving preferential treatment," added Leonard. He also mentioned that her husband will be starting his 41-month sentence sometime in March.
"When she comes home, she will be on home confinement until Feb. 5," Leonard told the Record. "During that period, she will be able to work, she will be able to take care of business, medical [things]. She'll be out and about. And then when that period ends, she will begin a period of supervised release. The sentence that she got was two years of supervised release."
With this all happening just around the holidays, her family is excited to be able to spend this special time with her. Her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga even called it a "blessing."
"I think it's gonna be a really nice Christmas this year," Gorga told People. "I just think it's gonna be a lot of new beginnings, hopefully just a fresh start, especially for [Teresa]. I get more happy about her children seeing her. Everyone can't wait for that reunion for them... it'll be beautiful for her to be actually home with her family. It should be a beautiful thing."
As for how the family is preparing for Joe's lengthy sentence, it isn't going to be easy. "I don't know how anyone prepares," said Gorga. "Spend a lot of time with your family, that's how you prepare."
