Margaret Josephs - Caviar Dreams, Tuna Fish Budget: How to Survive in Business and Life

Caviar Dreams, Tuna Fish Budget

How to Survive in Business and Life

Margaret Josephs

Gallery Books

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Some names and identifying details have been changed.

Copyright 2021 by Margaret Josephs

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition April 2021

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Interior design by Jaime Putorti

Jacket design by John Vairo Jr.

Jacket photography by Kareem Black

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Josephs, Margaret, author.

Title: Caviar dreams, tuna fish budget / Margaret Josephs.

Description: First Gallery Books hardcover edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2021. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2020055489 (print) | LCCN 2020055490 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982172411 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982172428 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781982172435 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Josephs, Margaret | Television personalitiesUnited StatesBiography. | Fashion designersUnited StatesBiography. | Women fashion designersUnited StatesBiography. | Real housewives of New Jersey (Television program)

Classification: LCC PN1992.4.J67 A3 2021 (print) | LCC PN1992.4.J67 (ebook) | DDC 791.4502/8092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055489

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055490

ISBN 978-1-9821-7241-1

ISBN 978-1-9821-7243-5 (ebook)

When you cease to dream you cease to live.

Malcolm Forbes

Chapter One RAISED BY WOLVES

I entered this world already a mini adult, an old soul. Coming out of the birth canal, I told my mother, Spread a little wider, youre screwing up my hair. And boom, I was born.

In all seriousness, though, I never really had a childhood. I felt that I was put on this earth to protect my mother and just be her friend, rather than experience what it was like to be a little girl. Did I enjoy my life? Yes. When I think back on it, in a way, I was the center of everyones universemy mothers and my grandparents. But I dont remember it being carefree.

I never ate enough and I was much too skinny, which was frowned upon in the Hungarian immigrant culture, where food was a luxury and a meaty girl was considered beautiful. Still, Marge Sr. would dress me to the nines, because looking pulled together was the most important thing to hercertainly more important than something like school. I was basically her best accessory, the perfect doll that you could mold into whatever you wanted it to be. We would go to the pool in our matching bathing suits, just like a sex-kitten Barbie and her cute little sidekick. I thought she was so beautiful, but I also thought it was totally normal to parade around poolside, twinning with my mother in full weave, eyelashes, and high heels. I didnt realize till I was older, and in therapy, that this was not the norm. At the time, I wanted to grow up and be just like her. Why wouldnt I? She got so much attention. But I just wanted her attention.

I know she loved me, but she was youngonly twenty when she had meand by the time I was four years old, she would leave me crying at my grandparents house because she was working or on a date. She would make excuses, and for some strange reason, I would have sympathy for her. I would be the one feeling guilty, which is not the way it should have been. It was some Freaky Friday role reversal.

But dont worry, I had a good way of making her feel badly too. I would bawl my eyes out, and then shed buy me presents. I learned the art of manipulation at a very young age, which has worked well for me in life, so I guess her negligence served some purpose.

I didnt have a father to step in, which meant Marge Sr. didnt have anyone to share the burden of parenting with. My father, who was eleven years older than my mother, was Hungarian too. They were both FOBsfresh off the boat. He was a handsome bad boy, right up my mothers alley. She was always attracted to men who didnt treat her nicely. And my father happened to fall into that category.

My mother didnt intend to get pregnant, but once it happened, she and my father decided to get hitched, in a romantic ceremony at the courthouse. She wore a brown-and-white polka-dot pantsuit. The outfit alone was an omen of things to come Seriously, Marge Sr., what were you thinking? I doubt she would have married him if she hadnt been pregnant, especially if my grandfather had had anything to say about it. In fact, he told her not to do it, but she didnt listen. She got married anyway, and had me, the little Marge. Fortunately, even though Margaret is a very serious name for a child, it suited my sophisticated nature. And no, people, its not narcissistic to name your daughter after yourself in Hungarian culture, though it does seem strange to most. I always answer any question about my insane life with Hey, were European, and that shuts them up. You should try it next time youre at a loss for words.

I didnt know that having no father around was abnormal, even though all my friends had one. I thought it was optional, like small fries or large? Once I was a bit older, I remember saying to Marge Sr., Mommy, wheres my daddy? And she answered, Hes not around. Were divorced, which I took at face value, because you cant miss what you never had.

What I did not realize was that there was much more to the story.

Apparently, my father was both verbally and physically abusive to my mother (I didnt find that out until years later when I saw their divorce papers). She told me there was one Easter when she couldnt make it to my grandparents house because hed beaten her up so badly that she was in the hospital, and they had to lie about why my mother couldnt be there. My grandfather would have killed him for sure, and my mother saved him.

Thankfully, after a year and a half, she finally found the courage to file for divorce when I was about two years old. Then, Marge Sr., whos known for her dramatic behavior, decided to move us out one day while he was at work. Basically, she tricked him. She acted very sweet, and as soon as hed left, she called a moving company and packed all of our stuff, and off we went. Shed already lined up another apartment for us in Edison, New Jersey.

Unfortunately, my father did not appreciate this quick getaway. He was a very jealous man, and it caused him to have a nervous breakdown. Within a few weeks after our heated departure, she was already dating classic Marge Sr. No grass grew under her feet. One eventful night, she stuck me at my grandparents house and went on a date, and my father, unbeknownst to her, had been following her and was sent into a fit of rage. Instead of taking their breakup in stride, he waited in the bushes by her apartment as she brought her unsuspecting date back. Then he casually attempted to shoot them through the window!