Jen Affleck and her husband, Zac, revealed how she tricked him into getting pregnant. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives couple also addressed their separation, how they met, and allegations surrounding his finances.
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Back in season one, Zac took heat from fans after he seemingly shamed Jen for going to a male strip club with friends. He then reportedly threatened to leave her if she didn’t quit the show. Before season two, the couple separated, and Zac decided not to return to medical school.
On The Viall Files podcast, Jen and Zac addressed how reality TV almost destroyed their marriage.
“We were so vulnerable and we shared everything about our religion and our life and our marriage,” expressed Zac, via Us Weekly. “I honestly think we went a little bit naive into the show — just not really knowing what to expect or what reality TV even is.”
“They were really interested in the dynamic of these Mormon wives with their husbands. To be honest, in the first season there’s a couple of other couples that were somewhat active [in the church]. But really Jen and I were the most active and strongest in the church at the time,” he went on. “So I think they were really intrigued of that dynamic.”
Jen then expressed her own perspective.
“Hopefully people within the Mormon culture can look at our relationship and reflect on theirs and say like, ‘Hey, I think we kind of struggle with that too. Or maybe my husband has fed into the patriarchy and isn’t treating me right.’ I want to be an example of that. People aren’t going to like that, unfortunately,” she said. “I have lost a lot of friends and respect because of that … I don’t care. I’m showing up.”
The couple later addressed how they met.
“There’s a Mormon dating app called Mutual. It’s kind of like Tinder but it’s just for Mormons. I was moving after my freshman year of college. I had just gotten back from my LDS mission to the Dominican Republic,” said Zac. “I got the Latina fever and was looking for someone spicy.”
At first, Jen ignored Zac’s message. But they ended up going on a date, which Zac called the “most significant night” in his life.
“We ended up dating and then Jen was going to go on an LDS mission after that. She decided to not turn in her papers and she gave me an ultimatum,” he added, joking that she joined “a reality TV show” instead of embarking on her Mormon mission. “That was years later. Back then, she was going to go on a mission and she said, ‘I’m not going to go on a mission and I think we should get married.’”
“So I started saving up my money. I actually took a loan from my dad and bought a ring and proposed. We got married like 10 months later,” he said.
Zac also spoke to the claim that he gambled away his medical school tuition.
“My medical school tuition — that never happened. I hadn’t even been accepted to medical school when that season was filmed. There wasn’t even a deposit to pay for school because I hadn’t been accepted into a school yet,” he said. “So a lot of those things that were said by the girls were hurtful and untrue and has led to a lot of backlash on social media, which has been really sad.”
But Jen disagreed with Zac’s claim that she didn’t pay the tuition. “It was my plan,” she said. “I had a conversation with your parents and said, ‘I would like to pay for med school.’”
“I don’t want to argue that,” he responded. “The reality is my dad had saved up a bunch of money. He wanted to help pay for that. He had saved that money aside … He directly paid that to the school. That was never money I ever saw or touched. That was directly from him to the school. Then once I withdrew from medical school, that wasn’t money I got to keep.”
As for Zac’s reaction to no longer being the primary breadwinner, he said, “It still sometimes makes me insecure. Sometimes I’m at home on a random Tuesday as a stay-at-home dad or I’m at the trampoline park with my two kids and I’m like, ‘What the hell am I doing with my life?’ … I’m grateful that that’s even a possibility. I still think I want to figure out what I want to do. But back at that time, it was really hard because this dynamic had switched.”
Zac then revealed that their second baby was a total surprise to him.
“We had one and then a second baby back to back. Jen — like, six months after she gave birth — she got pregnant again with her second baby,” he said. “I got tricked into it. She took out her IUD without telling me.”
He called this time period “stressful,” and he explained that it all happened before they started therapy. But Jen found humor in the situation, saying, “Whoopsies, I forgot to tell you [I took my IUD out].”
Jen also shared more details behind their separation, which took place between the first and second season.
“I basically told him when I was in a place where I want to walk away from the relationship, ‘I’m doing [the show]. This is what I feel right about. You can come along with me. You can support me in this or you can walk away,’” she said. “I was not opposed to divorce. I was truly doing what I felt was right. Because of that, I feel like our relationship has never been stronger because I have found my voice and I’m still in the process of that.”
