The ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey star’ is pushing her friends to the brink as her expectations go overboard.
The Big Picture
- Loyalty is crucial in the NJ
Housewives
series, but Margaret Josephs’ approach to relationships may be worsening the situation. - Teresa Giudice’s influence causes rifts in the group, as Jackie Goldschneider and Jen Fessler’s new alliances raise eyebrows.
- Margaret’s high expectations of loyalty are being tested this season, leading to a breakdown in friendships on
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
.
Loyalty is the most important quality in the Garden State. The ladies of The Real Housewives of New Jersey are still thriving in a divided universe, yet when someone tries to mend a fence, it ends up tearing down an entire foundation. Margaret Josephs has proved loyalty to Team Melissa and has never wavered. With Jennifer Fessler having a positive interaction with Teresa Giudice and Jackie Goldschneider rebuilding a friendship with Teresa and Jennifer Aydin, Margaret is feeling personally let down. She’s tried to express her displeasure but has hit a brick wall due to two women who are fine playing the middle. Margaret is right to have discomfort over the situation, but the way she has gone about it has forced Jackie and Jen Fessler into a corner. If Margaret loses her friendships with her long-time friends, it’s because she tried too hard to control the situation. Margaret is not allowing a calm conversation to occur. Going on the attack is never a good thing in Jersey, and she doesn’t even know Teresa called her a dog yet!
Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey has been an interesting journey thus far. With Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga no longer opting to film with one another, with some exceptions of course, the cast has continued to be divided. Even to the point where some of the ladies are getting upset that they’re not being included in certain gatherings. Ladies, not every party has to include drama, relax! Regardless, with the aftermath of the Season 13 Reunion, some of the women are still on the defense in regard to Teresa and Louie Ruelas‘ private eye fiasco. For Margaret, seeing her good friends betraying her trust felt like a slap in the face. But how she’s expressing her feelings might actually be worsening the situation. Loyalty is expected, but it must always be earned.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Another installment of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives” reality show. In this series, they focus on housewives living in New Jersey.
- Release Date
- May 12, 2009
- Cast
- Teresa Giudice , Melissa Gorga , Joe Gorga , Dolores Catania , Gia Giudice , Milania Giudice , Jacqueline Laurita , Margaret Josephs
- Main Genre
- Reality TV
- Seasons
- 14
Margaret’s Hatred for Teresa Is Infiltrating Her Friendships
At the end of the day, The Real Housewives of New Jersey has been and will always be the Teresa Giudice show. As the longest tenured cast member, Teresa’s presence overrides every other woman’s story, for better or worse. She somehow has seeped herself into every situation, even just by name. Her overreaching influence has caused some of the strongest relationships to be tested. For Margaret Josephs, she’s been on the defense ever since her family was shockingly and wrongly attacked by Teresa and Louie. So when her friends give Teresa the time of day, Margaret is right to be confused and hurt. How she’s approaching the dueling situations has been off course, though. At Dolores Catania‘s annual baseball charity fundraiser, per usual, there was drama. Margaret took this moment to approach both Jackie and Jennifer Fessler about their loyalties to her and neither took too kindly. With Jackie in the locker room and Jen Fessler on the field, Marge’s timing couldn’t be worse.
When it comes to Jackie, Margaret was shocked to learn that she’s mending a relationship with Teresa and her biggest rival, Jennifer Aydin. As Jackie had put it, no one can tell her who to be friends with. It’s truly the quote of the season said by nearly every woman. But the rationale for Jackie’s desire to bond with these women lacks reason; Teresa and Jen Aydin have continually tried to destroy this woman. Season after season, they have broken Jackie down — Margaret had every right to question it. With Jackie getting defensive, it proves that she might have some guilt or the inability to properly explain why it happened. But pushing her to the brink has caused Margaret to look bad. The way that she had handled Jackie was not the smartest; it should have been in private in a calm setting. The stress level at the baseball charity event was already at an alarming level, knowing the Gorgas and Giudices would be awkwardly interacting, so nothing positive was going to come out of that moment.
For Jen Fessler, she and Margaret have had a very long friendship. In fact, she came into The Real Housewives of New Jersey universe because of Marge. But this new side of Jen Fessler is lacking authenticity. She has been wrongly won over by Teresa, hook, line, and sinker. Knowing the situation surrounding Margaret with Teresa and Louie, Jen Fessler should have had her guard up. She claimed to Margaret that she defended her and Rachel in her conversation with Teresa, but when Jen Fessler is in a situation with Teresa and her minions, she kowtowed and changed her stance and stories in hopes of fitting in. But once again, attacking Jen Fessler on the baseball field after already attacking her at Joe Gorga‘s birthday, Margaret should have anticipated Jen Fessler to react poorly and shut down. She expects Jen Fessler to blindly be on her side, but Margaret should know that a strong friendship is a two-way street. Jen Fessler is allowed to explain her stance calmly.
Jackie Goldschneider and Jen Fessler Are Not As Innocent as They Claim
Margaret has grand expectations of loyalty. Everyone deserves to feel that their friends maintain that attribute. The only problem is, there is a deep and dark history surrounding the women of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. When these women go hard on their take-downs, they go to the ends of the Earth to destroy their lives. With history playing a major factor, Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler are not that innocent, either. From Marge and the viewers’ perspectives, it seems like their acceptance of Teresa has come overnight. There are major pieces of the puzzle missing and the story is not fully realized.
Both Jackie and Jen Fessler are “friends of” this season. Their motivation to give the women and fans a moment in the Twilight Zone because of their new alignments might have deeper meaning. Perhaps they are both giving their former rivals a new chance because it ensures them more screen time. Jen Fessler has been stoking the flames of Teresa’s relevance. She should know that Teresa lies through her teeth when she discusses any discourse involving her rivals. But Jen Fessler seems to just want to pretend she’s her own person rather than maintaining her loyalty. It’s almost as if Jen Fessler is willing to be a villain just to be present on the show. Or she’s gunning for a full-time cast member role.
There’s a Lot More to These Housewives Than They Let On
Reality TV is a tricky space to navigate when the stars want to keep parts of their lives from public view, but these Housewives play it just right.
Jackie has stated that she partially accepted a demotion for personal reasons. Yet her approach this season has instigated new problems. Her new book, The Weight of Beautiful, has caused conflict between her and Margaret. She sent Melissa a copy of the book for media purposes as Melissa would be interviewing Jackie on her podcast. Margaret was offended that she didn’t get a copy. Rather than saying it was an oversight, Jackie double-downed and essentially told Margaret she didn’t really have the power, putting the blame on her publishers. She needed to take a page out of Heather Gay‘s book and just let her friends read it! On top of that, Jackie never reached out to her on the anniversary of Margaret’s ex-husband Jan’s death. Margaret had every reason to be upset that Jackie didn’t reach out, but once again, it was on Jackie to accept responsibility.
While Teresa isn’t physically involved, she has been the reason for more friendships being torn to shreds than any other factor on the show. Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey has been a season of shifting alliances. It’s been both sad and hard to watch. With plenty of season left to go, hopefully deeper explanations will be made about why all of these established friendships are falling apart. As far as Margaret Josephs is concerned, her expectations have gone a tad too far. Even though Margaret experienced an immense amount of pain, stress, and strife, these outside situations are pushing her to the breaking point, and it’s affecting her friendships.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs new episodes on Sundays at 8:00pm on Bravo with episodes available to stream the next day on Peacock in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com