5 New Details About RHONJ Margaret Josephs/Danielle Staub Feud — Including How She Feels About Danielle's Engagement
Danielle Staub is set to become a duchess on Monday.
Instagram Danielle Staub officially became divorced for the third time on Feb. 21. On Feb. 28—one week later—she became engaged for the 21st time. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star first shared on Feb. 25 that she had found love after her separation from Marty Caffrey. Their marriage lasted from May 2018 to August.
Staub met Oliver Maier in October through a mutual friend. It took a while for their romance to build, but when it did, it escalated quickly. Just a few days after sharing their first public couple’s pic, the pair became engaged. It will be a brief engagement, too. After their getaway to the Cheval Blanc mansion in St. Barth, where Maier proposed, they plan to say their vows in New York City on Monday.
Not only will Staub become a married woman — she will become a duchess. Maier is the Duke of Provence. He told PEOPLE his family owns 15 vineyards in the south of France and two castles. Staub claims she did not know he was a duke. All she knew was that she was happy.
“I’m madly in love,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m feeling elated and excited for the next stage of my life. I’m going to marry the man of my possible dreams and hopefully I’ll spend the rest of my life in bliss.”
Not everyone is wishing the happy couple well. Margaret Josephs, a recent addition to the New Jersey Housewives cast, has some opinions about the couple’s whirlwind romance. Here are the 5 details about the RHONJ Margaret Josephs/Danielle Staub feud.
1. She thinks Staub is a “cockroach.”
Josephs told Us Weekly that she’s “not shocked” about Staub’s love life on the fast track. “Cockroaches always survive,” she said.
Staub has jabbed at Josephs outside of the show. She spoke on the Wendy Williams Show about the upcoming season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and her status as a “friend” on the show rather than a cast member. Staub is not happy about her role, or lack thereof.
“Just a friend,” she clarified on the show, “I’d love the answer to why that is but maybe you know some people.”
She then addressed whispers that Josephs has something to do with it: rumor has it that Josephs is close to a RHONJ producer.
“Well, that’s the funny thing about rumors. Wouldn’t we all like that kind of power?” Staub said. “I mean, who is this? She’s been here a minute. We haven’t even seen her in season two have we?”
Josephs joined the show for its eighth season, which premiered in 2017.
2. Josephs took to Twitter to address that Staub is not a full-fledged housewife.
The housewife from Englewood, New Jersey shared more of her thoughts with a Real Housewives fan account on Twitter.
Even though Staub appears to desire a full role on the show, she claims her upcoming role as wife and duchess is not something she wanted.
“I wasn’t open to it,” she told PEOPLE, “I was ready to just go out with my girlfriends in Manhattan. I didn’t want this.”
She didn’t even like Maier when she first met him.
“I quite frankly couldn’t stand him when I first met him. He’s so strong-willed, and at first, I read that as rude, and arrogant and entitled. It wasn’t until I got to know him that I saw the other side.”
3. Josephs predicts Staub is going to have a spinoff show.
The real housewife even came up with a name in her chat with Us Weekly. “She’s going to get her dream come true, spinoff Dirty Danielle.”
Staub was on the RHONJ for its first two seasons. She is best known for the “table-flipping” episode with Teresa Giudice. By that time, she had been engaged “nineteen times.”
She returned to the show in 2017 along with Josephs.
Staub would not be the first former RHONJ cast member to have a spinoff: Caroline Manzo’s spinoff Manzo’d with Children aired for three seasons. Staub said on the Wendy Williams show that she is still not a fan of Caroline but would be willing to make up with her sister Dina Manzo.
4. Josephs claimed Staub’s fiancé was the boyfriend of Danielle’s best friend.
Reality Blurb pulled from a Twitter interaction between Josephs and a Staub fan on Wednesday, shortly after Staub went public about her new beau but before their engagement was announced.
The Staub fan jabbed at Josephs and her past relationship: Josephs had cheated on her ex while she was still married to current husband Joe Benigno.
Josephs turned the “classy” tables on the user and tweeted, “Yes a very classy move she’s sleeping with one of her best friends boyfriends she knows for one week true love for sure!”
The tweet has since been deleted, but she still holds that her own marriage is very happy.
5. The two were at each other’s throats throughout all of season 9 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
The tension between the two exploded during the season finale — through their partners. Benigno, Josephs’s husband, pushed Caffrey — he and Staub had recently wed — into the pool at Jennifer Aydin’s house.
The physical altercation came from a heated argument over their wives. It was a continuation of an argument the two had during Caffrey’s bachelor party. Caffrey accused Benigno of being “jealous” because Josephs doesn’t look like Staub.
“You wish you were me,” Caffrey said, “you keep staring at Danielle’s tits because your wife doesn’t have any. She doesn’t have the body that Danielle has.”
Josephs was right there to hear Caffrey’s comments, and let him know her two cents. “What man would say that about somebody else’s wife?” she asked.
Caffrey continued to goad the couple, eventually claiming that Josephs emasculates her husband.
“When you go home tonight, she’s going to bitch slap you,” Caffrey said. That was the last straw for Benigno.
After her husband pushed Caffrey into the pool, ruining his suit, watch and phone as Staub later claimed, Josephs let Staub know her “husband’s in the pool.”
Alison Cerri is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.