RHONJ's Margaret Josephs Has One Regret From Her First Marriage - Exclusive
"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" cast can have problems letting things go — even things that happened long before an inaugural hair extension was ever plucked from a cast member's head in a fit of unbridled rage. For one, Danielle Staub's alleged past as a Miami stripper who was supposedly wanted dead by Pablo Escobar's cartel sparked Teresa Giudice's infamous Season 1 table flip, and that happened more than 20 years before the series was even invented (if it happened at all).
Seasons later, Jennifer Aydin ignited an explosive argument with Margaret Josephs over her past affair which, firstly, didn't involve Aydin in any capacity, and secondly, took place 10 years prior. Thus, a headline-grabbing scandal was born — but Josephs has always been open about her first marriage and the affair that led to her second. As she tells Nicki Swift, her ex-husband Jan Josephs has a tendency to roll his eyes at her penchant for TMI.
Life is messy. Sometimes things don't work out, and sometimes you fall in love with someone you're not supposed to. Margaret was married to Jan for nearly 10 years, and she's been with Joe Benigno almost as long. At this point, the affair seems like water under the bridge. She's still close friends with Jan, who she describes as "like having a crazy uncle," but that doesn't mean she doesn't have regrets.
In this exclusive interview, Margaret dishes on the one regret she has from her first marriage.
If Margaret Josephs did it all over again, she 'probably would've left sooner'
When Margaret Josephs married Jan Josephs in 1994, she thought their relationship would last forever. She even helped raise his three children from another marriage. "I was madly in love," she tells Nicki Swift. "I could still say marrying my first husband was one of the top five best moments in my entire life ... I cry if I watch the wedding video. I adore and love my ex-husband very much." So what happened? Enter: Joe Benigno.
Margaret met Benigno when he was a contractor who worked on the couple's home. At the time, her marriage was fizzling out and she felt an undeniable spark. Thus began the pair's fated love affair — but if Margaret could've done it over again, she probably would've done it differently. "It does hurt a lot of people," she says. "I mean, obviously there's always collateral damage. But yeah, I think I would've just left sooner and been more upfront about things. No one ever thinks what's going to happen happens. Life is a whirlwind, and you and you can't change the progression of it."
At the end of the day, she still stands by her decision to end the marriage. "Hurting him and hurting my family was very upsetting to me," she says, "but ultimately, if you as a person are not happy, you can't make anybody else happy around you."
You can catch Margaret Josephs on her weekly podcast, "Caviar Dreams, Tuna Fish Budget."