Jennifer Aydin and Bill React to Margaret Josephs’ “Meal Ticket” Comment

Margaret Josephs and Jennifer Aydin don’t always see eye to eye, but there’s one comment in particular from the March 31 episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey that has the Garden State ladies at odds with one another. 

While the women were spending some time at the Jersey Shore with their husbands, Jennifer and Margaret exchanged a few words. During The Real Housewives of New Jersey After Show, Jennifer explained that she felt Margaret’s comments at dinner were “out of line,” and that she didn’t think “she had a right to get that mad at me, and I don’t think she had a right to get that mad at her husband in front of everybody else.” When Jennifer confronted Margaret about it the next day, Margaret replied, “You know why you never fight with your husband? Because he’s your f—king meal ticket for your whole f—king family.” 

Jennifer reacted to the “meal ticket” comment during the After Show, saying, “Use him as a meal ticket? I gave him five children. If I’m not f—king entitled to what I have, supported him for all of these years, then that’s a crime. I paid my dues.” 

To share more about her experience raising her family, Jennifer opened up about her pre-RHONJ days in a series of Instagram posts, in which she detailed what life was like when she welcomed each of her five children into the world. From recounting some of the Aydin family’s most difficult hardships to describing the days when they “couldn’t afford much,” she finished her streak of posts off a message about having to do things independently.

“[By the way], Bill has never come pumpkin picking with us. He doesn’t come to the kids birthday parties. If I waited for his schedule, we would never get things done and I always want to make sure that my kids were included in all activities. I don’t want to ever deprive them because of his schedule, so I learned how to do things on my own, and with my mother and siblings for help. What does all of this cost? How about a meal? It’s the least he can do,” she wrote, adding the hashtag “meal ticket” to the end of her post. 

During the After Show, Margaret reflected on the comment, and whether she regrets saying it. 

“That’s not a nice thing to say. And by the way, I would never normally just come out and say that, but you threw a bomb at me. And I said, well of course, who is going to fight with their meal ticket?” Margaret said. “I’m not happy I said that to her. It got me in a bad moment. I didn’t have to hit so low. It was a little low.” 

As for Bill Aydin’s take on the situation? “I work hard to provide for my wife,” he shared in the After Show. “We have five little kids. To each their own.” 

Want more RHONJ? New episodes air every Wednesday at 9/8c or catch up on the Bravo app.