‘RHONJ’: Margaret Josephs Responds to Haters Who Criticize Her Home: ‘Andy Cohen Loves My House’
Margaret Josephs has been gracing The Real Housewives of New Jersey with her presence since 2017. Over the last few years, much of Josephs’s storyline has centered around the elaborate renovations she and her contractor husband have taken on.
RHONJ fans have commented how Josephs’s renovations seem never-ending, and some have even gone as far as criticizing her design tastes. As a fashion designer, Margaret Josephs has not taken kindly to these insults. Read on to learn more about Josephs’s story and how she has recently clapped back at her haters.
Becoming a real housewife of New Jersey
Margaret Josephs debuted on The Real Housewives of New Jersey in 2017. At the time of Josephs’s arrival, the RHONJ cast was already well established going into their eighth season. However, Margaret quickly found her place among the other housewives and has become a staple personality over the last four seasons. When she’s not fighting with the other housewives, Josephs’s storylines tend to revolve around her home renovations and design decisions.
According to IMDb, Josephs’s life has always been designed-focused. After being raised in Westchester, New York, by Hungarian immigrants, Josephs attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She earned a degree from FIT in fashion design. She went on to become a dress designer in New York’s Center. This ultimately led to Josephs creating her own fashion line. Just like her loud and proud personality, Josephs’s design style has always been bold. However, not everyone is as supportive of this bold approach as Josephs would like.
Cultivating a bold design style
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Margaret Josephs married her first husband, Jan Josephs, in 1994. The couple had one child together before divorcing in 2013. The same year, Josephs married her second husband, Joe Benigno. Much to Joseph’s liking, Benigno works as a contractor. With this skill set, Benigno has proven to be the perfect partner for Josephs and all of her renovation and design schemes.
With the couple’s love for design and architecture, Benigno and Josephs live in a 115-year-old house. While some of the other housewives can’t understand why they would choose to live in such an old home, Josephs had been very vocal about the love she has for her home. Josephs is very invested in her home and the whole renovation and design process. This abundant passion has allowed Josephs to take any criticism that comes her way in stride.
Clapping back at the haters
With her bold fashion sense, Josephs loves to throw crazy colors and patterns into every room in her house. This bold approach has drawn some haters to criticize Josephs’ overall design taste. Josephs recently sat down with Caroline Moss, the podcast host of Gee Thanks, Just Bought It! (available on Apple).
During the interview, Moss asked Josephs how she deals with the hate she receives regarding her house renovations. Josephs wasn’t shy with letting Moss know how she claps back at all the haters. In her response to Moss, Josephs made sure to let the audience know that she is professionally trained and has very expensive fashion taste. She is a real housewife, after all. Josephs states,
“I buy high-end designer stuff. I mean, my wallpaper is Missoni and Thibaut. I buy Jonathan Adler. My upholstery is custom. No chintzy in the house … People are like, ‘Oh, it looks cheap. It looks disgusting.’ People who don’t know don’t know. That’s what it is … it doesn’t even faze me. But I think people who say, ‘Your house is old. It’s shitty.’ Yeah. It’s 115 years old. I value architecture. I find it entertaining. Like, Andy Cohen loves my house. That makes me happy. Someone who I value their opinion, if they love my house, then it makes me happy.”
Over the years, Josephs has learned that the best way to clap back at the haters is to simply continue to do what she does best and pay them no mind at all.
