In her first televised interview since serving a federal sentence for bankruptcy fraud and conspiracy, "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice compared her stay at a Connecticut prison to "living in hell."
Giudice spoke with ABC News' Amy Robach in an interview that aired on "Good Morning America" Tuesday, the same day her tell-all memoir about her stay at Danbury Federal Correctional Institution was set to be released.
The reality star, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes in 2014 along with her husband, said conditions during her 11 1/2 term at the prison were "horrible."
"I mean there was mold in the bathrooms. There was not running water constantly. The showers were freezing cold ... I mean, the living conditions were really horrible. Like, horrible,” she told Robach. "There were some nights that we didn't even have heat... It was -- it was hell."
The "Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again" author described her routine at the prison that typically houses women convicted of white collar crimes and was the same institution where writer Piper Kerman served a term before writing the memoir "Orange is the New Black."
Giudice said she worked in the institution's kitchen, wiping down tables after breakfast three days a week and exercised as much as three times a day, practicing yoga, pilates and running around the institution's outdoor track.
She also talked about her fellow inmates, who she described as "amazing" but thrived on drama.
"Yeah, it was nothing like being on 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey.' Let me tell you ... when you go to prison it's a whole different – there's a lot of drama," she said. "That's all there is, is drama. And I never lived with so many women in my life before. I mean that's all they – they thrive on drama. It was crazy to me.”
The 43-year-old Giudice was released from the prison on Dec. 23 and was under house arrest until Friday.
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Her husband, Joe Giudice, is expected to start a 41-month sentence in March at the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
The pair, who admitted to hiding assets from bankruptcy creditors and submitting phony loan applications to get some $5 million in mortgages and construction loans, were allowed to stagger their sentences in deference to their children.
Joe Giudice is not an American citizen and could be deported to Italy when he's released.
