Teresa Giudice Stands by Former Rival Danielle Staub's Side After RHONJ Ponytail-Pulling Fiasco

Margaret Josephs drew a line in the sand on Wednesday’s Real Housewives of New Jersey, and it might surprise fans just where Teresa Giudice wound up.

After Josephs, 52, got into a heated argument with Danielle Staub, which turned physical when Staub, 57, pulled Josephs by the ponytail and dragged her down, Josephs told Giudice, 47, “it’s either her or me” — an ultimatum that left Giudice siding with her former rival, Staub.

“I’m a grown woman. I can be friends with whoever I want. Everyone needs to butt the f— out,” Giudice told audiences. “They talk s— at each other, but that has nothing to do with me. Don’t put me in the middle.”

“Margaret is a big girl, she can speak up for herself,” Giuidice added. “That’s why it pisses me off for Margaret to say to me, pick me or Danielle. We’re adults. I would never tell Margaret who to be friends with. I feel like Margaret making me choose? Shame on her.”

Giudice’s decision stunned her RHONJ costars, including Jennifer Aydin and Melissa Gorga.

“How could Teresa stick up for ?” asked Aydin, 42. “She is just a dangerous woman. She is f— unstable.”

“Teresa, that’s f—ing unacceptable,” Gorga, 40, said of Staub’s behavior.

No one was more hurt by Giudice’s decision than Josephs was.

“The truth is, I’m a little embarrassed about Teresa’s reaction to it because I’ve always stood by Teresa,” Josephs said. “I’ve proven myself to her, over and over again for years. There’s no words to describe how I’m feeling. To stand by someone like that and condone violence, I’m sorry, she’s an embarrassment and I’m really disappointed. ”

“I’ve cut Teresa all the slack in the world because of everything she’s dealing with. Where’s the reciprocation? I don’t understand,” Josephs wondered in a confessional. “If Teresa can stand by someone like that, she’s not who I thought she was.”

RELATED: RHONJ‘s Margaret Josephs Slams Danielle Staub Over ‘Horrific’ Fight — But Staub Has No Regrets

Josephs and Staub’s argument played out on last week’s episode of RHONJ.

During a private shopping even, the two got into a tense war of words related to their ongoing feud, each throwing verbal insults the other’s way.

Eventually, things escalated when Staub got into Josephs’ face and Josephs poured a bottle of water over Staub’s head. Staub then placed items from Josephs’ purse into a lit candle, claiming they were “even.”

They weren’t, though, in Staub’s eyes. Minutes later, while Josephs’ back was turned, Staub grabbed her ponytail from behind and pulled her toward the ground.

After the incident, Giudice immediately made her alliance to Staub known to Josephs, pulling Staub aside before confronting Josephs herself.

“Why’d you throw the water on her?” Giudice asked. “I’m sorry, I’m old-school Italian. This is just the way I am. … You physically assaulted her!”

That’s not the way Joseph saw it. “She was in my face. She pushed me prior to that. She broke things in your friend’s store,” Josephs said, of Staub. “She pulled my f— hair, Teresa. What kind of logic is this?”

When Giudice insisted that she was standing up for Staub, calling her a “friend,” Josephs got even more upset.

“You know what, Teresa? Could you just not ever even be a friend to me? You’re defending this f— sewer rat. Your value system has gone crazy. I have done nothing but stick by you. That you would defend this woman is really f— up,” Josephs said, in tears.

“Listen, I love you, but you’ve got to love me more,” Josephs said. “She’s evil.”

In the end, Giudice stayed firmly on Staub’s side, no matter how much her cast mates attempted to convince her otherwise.

It remains to be seen where their relationship stands now. Giudice and Staub made headlines earlier last year, when the two unfollowed one another on social media.

As for the battle between Josephs and Staub, Josephs said she suffered “whiplash” from the incident, accusing Staub of nearly breaking her neck and paralyzing her.

“It is very painful for me to relive,” Josephs recalled on Twitter. “The energy that day frightened me and to this day it still does. … My neck was snapped back, and easily could have been broken. I could not defend myself. I could have been paralyzed. Everyone was crying including production. It was horrific. I wanted to forget move on. To this day, devastated.”

Staub, for her part, isn’t sorry for her actions.

“I feel like she should have been taught that lesson a long time ago,” she said of Josephs on the Bravo after-show. “She crosses every boundary of mine; every line, every boundary. You know how many people have asked me, why haven’t I done anything to her sooner? Not just ask me, been adamant about it! Almost mad about me that I haven’t. It’s just not in me. But I guess you poke at somebody long enough… I was backed into a corner and I just, I was done.”

Asked if she had any regrets, Staub responded, “Hell no” — stressing, “My only regret is not doing it sooner.”

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.