It’s not really an old-school Real Housewives of New Jersey fight until Teresa Giudice takes it there. In the currently airing Season 12, the formerly incarcerated reality star has been at odds with her once-close friend Margaret Josephs. Simply put, Giudice doesn’t like when anyone questions her boyfriend(/now-fiancé) Louie Ruelas about his intentions or his past. The drama has escalated even more on the show of late, and Josephs revealed that watching it back is evidently “worse” than living it.
During the April 19th episode, things got positively fiery down in Nashville, where the group is on vacation. Of course, it was over Louie Ruelas. Again. It eventually culminated in Teresa Giudice throwing a drink at Margaret Josephs and nearly flipping another table in the process of the confrontation. As the Marge tells it, she wouldn’t know the full extent of her co-star’s fury until recently. The Real Housewives of New Jersey alum said to Us Weekly:
I actually feel worse than when I lived it because I didn’t know what she was saying off camera [or] what she was saying downstairs. To hear her say that she’s coming to beat me up, I mean, she’s pushing 50, saying she’s gonna come beat me up? You know, that’s upsetting, obviously, it’s more upsetting to watch it back.
Teresa Giudice has been going up against several members of the cast this season about her new man. First, it was hints from her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga that there were behind-the-scenes arguments going on in their family group chat. (Supposedly, some kind of gag-order is in place concerning the topic of Louie Ruelas’ history, which allegedly includes domestic violence.) Then, “friend of the show” Traci Johnson caught heat over the same subject from the RHONJ vet, and Johnson to this day doesn’t understand how her husband bringing something up on guys night is reason enough to be mad at her.
Now, the drama is knocking on Margaret Josephs' door for the umpteenth time, due to her apparently breaking Teresa Giudice’s “love bubble.” And to be honest, it’s equally as upsetting as a viewer to see the demise of what used to be a pretty quirky/fun friendship. Josephs told the outlet that she never thought things would ever get violent on New Jersey yet again, saying:
That was disappointing, it’s just like, you know, threatening physical violence [isn’t right]. I mean, this isn’t Mob Wives. I mean, cut me a break. … I was calm. I was never going to do something back. What is disturbing to me is after the ponytail pull [during season 10, in which Teresa encouraged Danielle Staub to pull Margaret’s hair] and that year, she said she was gonna do everything to make it up to me. … We also decided after the ponytail pull, there will never be any physicality amongst us and that went totally down the tubes.
Margaret Josephs shared that she’s given her castmate “one too many passes.” She also added that the Real Housewives of New Jersey crew just filmed the Season 12 reunion special with Andy Cohen, and Teresa Giudice didn’t have “any remorse” for what transpired between them. This apparently includes Giudice’s comments about Josephs in the heat of the moment, which have been perceived as body-shaming. Josephs recalled that it was “degrading,” as well as being not the best form, given how the show is addressing Jackie Goldschneider’s eating disorder more in-depth this season.
For her part, Teresa Giudice has only stated publicly in the wake of this season that her friendship with Margaret Josephs might not survive in the long-run. And sadly, Josephs seems to be of the same opinion, too. Tune in for the Nashville drama picking up where the fight’s cliffhanger left off in the next episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, airing April 26th at 8 p.m. EST on Bravo as part of the 2022 TV schedule.
