Teresa Giudice: Daughters having tough time dealing with their father's possible deportation

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice says her daughters are having a hard time coping with their father's imprisonment and recent deportation order.

"The girls are really upset. It's hard for them," Giudice, 46, said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America." She and Joe Giudice have four children, ages 9 to 17. "Adults can handle anything," she added. "It's hard for children to go through this. They're asking themselves, 'Why is this happening to me? I want my daddy to come home.' "

Her husband, meanwhile, is “being very positive,” she added.

Joe Giudice, 48 — who is serving a 41-month sentence at the low-security federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, for convictions on fraud and failing to file a tax return — has lived in the United States since age 1 but never became a citizen. On Oct. 10, a judge ordered he be deported to his native Italy upon his scheduled release March 14. The family is appealing the ruling.

Her husband's father, Teresa Giudice explained, "became an American citizen before he [Joe] was 18 and then his mom did it after he was 18 . . . I don't know why they never made him an American citizen."

Their legal travails — Teresa Giudice herself served time for the same fraud conviction as her husband — has placed a strain on her marriage, she conceded. "Yeah, I mean, it's very difficult," she said. "We've been through a lot. I've gone through ups and downs, like being angry. But listen, I have to stay strong. I have four beautiful daughters that need their mommy."

Addressing those who have criticized her for remaining on her Bravo reality-TV show through these circumstances, Giudice responded, "This is how I make a living. I have four daughters to raise, and I don't understand why people would criticize me for that. I mean, I'm doing it all by myself . . . If I don't work, how are they gonna live?"