Teresa Giudice Hits Back at Fans Saying She 'Abandoned' Daughter Gia on Special Forces (Exclusive)

While speaking with TooFab exclusively following her exit from the celebrity competition series, the Real Housewives of New Jersey star opened up about her decision to leave the challenge and how fans have reacted.

The mother of four decided to withdraw from the challenge to avoid seeing her daughter Gia Giudice, who is also on the season, take part in the training activity called milling, in which two trainees have to punch each other until DS tells them to stop.

Teresa withdrew from the competition entirely when it came time for Gia to go face-to-face against soccer player Christie Pearce.

"I'm always a mom first," Teresa told TooFab exclusively. "I'm always thinking about my kids. I would have definitely stepped in if I saw anybody punching my child and I didn't want to show her that and I didn't want her to see me fighting either. I just didn't like that challenge. The whole hitting. I wouldn't be able to sit there and watch my child get hit."

She then recalled watching the first episode at home where DS Billy grabbed Gia by the hair and dunked her under water -- saying "I was yelling at the TV. If I was there, that would have not been good" -- before revealing she did watch the milling challenge, eventually.

"I was like, 'My poor baby,'" Teresa recalled of her reaction. "But she did amazing. She did great. She did amazing and I know my child, she's very strong. I raised her that way. I just wouldn't be able to see her get hit because I would definitely have to step in. Then I knew that would not be good, the DSes would not have liked that so much. So it was better me to leave the proper way and say, 'Peace out!'"

Once Teresa's episode aired, some social media users said Teresa "abandoned" her daughter, Gia, in the comments of her Instagram posts.

"I have not abandoned my daughter," she told TooFab. "My daughter knows I did not abandon her and we both understand each other. She knows why I left. I would never be able to stand to see that. I knew she was going to be just fine."

The reality television, star who has been on RHONJ since 2009, also noted how she is "tired" of fighting and compared certain challenges to the franchise.

"I've been fighting on TV for the past 10 years, trying to always defend myself. If you watched the Real Housewives of New Jersey I'm just tired of fighting. There's a lot of things that reminded me of that, defending myself, fighting, it's just I didn't want that," she added.

"I was trying to think as a mom, 'What's the best example? What could I teach my daughter through this?'" she said she asked herself. "And that's what I wanted to show her. G and I totally understand each other."

Teresa has been in some tough situations throughout her life, from dealing with New Jersey housewives and even serving 11 months in federal prison for fraud. However, Teresa told TooFab that her boot camp was the worst of the worst.

"This was no comparison, this is the toughest situation I've ever been in," Teresa said. "I'm not kidding. This was the toughest, this is the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life."

She noted that the audience only sees a small part of what the celebrities went through.

"It was disgusting, absolutely disgusting, mud in my hair. Disgusting conditions, disgusting," she said. However, Teresa was happy she landed toilet duty on the first day.

"Nobody s--ts the first day," she said. "They were all like, 'You're so lucky you got it the first day!'"

Watch more from our interview with Teresa to hear about her spoiler-free thoughts on who makes it to the end of the series, her daughter Gabriela’s 21st birthday, what she said about RHONJ, how she felt about her fellow Bravo girls being eliminated first, as well as her thoughts on the upcoming 2025 BravoCon.

See Gia's and the rest of the competitors journeys continue when Special Forces: World's Toughest Test airs Thursdays on FOX.