Margaret Josephs spoke out about what went wrong with “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” and why she is “over” what’s gone down over the past few seasons.
Amid rumors that the Bravo reality show is in danger of a full reboot due to the toxic cast dynamic, Josephs said the cast members took things in the wrong direction by dragging out storylines.
Speaking on the “Taste of Taylor” podcast, Josephs, 57, told podcast host Taylor Strecker, “I think we have just gotten too far. My honest opinion is I think people handle things wrong. I think people drag it out too long. I think people don’t know how to move on.”
In the interview, Josephs described co-star Teresa Giudice as a “grudge holder” who “beats a dead horse.” “She drags it, she revives it, she gives it CPR, and then kills it again. And you know what? It’s not good for TV anymore,” Josephs said. “I’m just over it. You cannot drag [expletive] out. Move on.”
Josephs also called out co-star Jackie Goldschneider for crying “all season” over a past affair rumor storyline about her husband, Evan.“Cut me a break,” Josephs said. “I go, ‘Drop this [expletive]. Who cares?’ You have to be upset for a little while, but we don’t need to drag it out the whole year. Two, three episodes, drop it. Keep it moving. Because resilience is a great quality in people and a lot of Housewives don’t have a lot of resilience.”
Margaret Josephs Wants to Bring ‘Levity’ to RHONJ
BravoThe cast of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Josephs said she’s ready to bring back petty “Housewifery.” “That’s what we need,” she told Strecker. “We don’t need the dark deep [expletive]. We need to bring levity to these shows, the petty nonsense.”
“I wish we’d film at Christmastime,” she added. “Christmas tree wars, making fun of people’s Christmas trees. That’s funny. Shady [expletive] like that. It’s gone too far.”
There weren’t Christmas tree wars, but there were other battles during RHONJ 14. Things came to a head in the season 14 finale when the cast members gathered for a luncheon to air out their grievances. But the group ended with no resolution, and they didn’t have a traditional reunion later.
Of her co-stars, which also include Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral, Rachel Fuda, and Jennifer Fessler, Josephs said, “One bad apple can ruin the bunch. You are only as good as your team.”
Margaret Josephs Orchestrated a Gag For Season 14
PeacockTeresa Giudice.
Josephs and Giudice have been embroiled in a long feud, partly stemming from rumors about the questionable past of Giudice’s husband, Luis Ruelas.
In the penultimate season 14 episode, titled “Don’t Trial This At Home,” Giudice called a meeting alongside her lawyer James Leonard Jr. to claim that Josephs met with Ruelas’ ex, Vanessa Reiser, to get dirt on him. It would later be revealed that Giudice’s close friend Goldschneider did the same thing.
Josephs attempted to bring her own brand of levity to the episode when she jokingly sent a funeral floral arrangement to Giudice’s house as she filmed the takedown scene with Aydin, Catania, Goldschneider, and Cabral.
A delivery man interrupted the meeting with the flowers and an accompanying card addressed to Giudice and Leonard. “With deepest sympathy, Sorry for the loss of your dignity. Love, love, love Margaret,” the card read.
Giuidce refused the delivery and told the driver to tell Josephs to “stick it up her [expletive].”
On Strecker’s podcast, Josephs explained why she sent the flowers.
“I knew they were having that burn meeting. I was like, ‘I’m going to make this like a joke,’ you know of the meeting,” she said. “Because it is a joke. And I was like, ‘Let’s make this laugh, because they’re acting so serious and so this and so that. So that morning, I really, I just called production. I said ‘What time is this scene? They told me what it was and all I did was like call up a florist in her area. … So, they rushed it over. I paid double, it was like $450.”
“Of course, I was thinking what could I send over there? You know what I’m saying?” Josephs added. “Because it really was the death of their dignity. And you know, obviously I’m pretty shady.”
