When Margaret Josephs married Jan Josephs in 1994, she thought their relationship would last forever. She helped to raise his 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.” What happened? Enter Joe Benigno.
Margaret met Benigno as a contractor working on their 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 said. “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.”
She stands firm on her decision to end their 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.“