Jennifer Affleck‘s marriage to Zac Affleck caused a lot of concern for her costars on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives — but are they still together?
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Jennifer, 25, expressed her gratitude for the show because it allowed the couple to work on their issues.
“I definitely think it was the best thing to happen to our relationship. While watching the show, a lot of people are going to think that maybe this would break our relationship apart. But if anything, it did the opposite,” Jennifer shared before the first season premiered on Friday, September 6. “Being on camera and having those moments happen made us take a step back and actually look at a relationship and make us just see what we have to change.”
Jennifer is proud of the progress she and Zac, 27, have made, adding, “Ever since we finished filming, we’ve been doing nonstop therapy and it’s been great. So if anything, [watching the show] is just going to be exposure therapy at this point.”
After filming wrapped on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Jennifer and Zach found a way to move “past everything” for the sake of their future. “We’ve healed and now we’re ready to talk about it once it comes out,” she noted.
The reality series, which follows a group of Mormon mom influencers, introduced Us to Ben Affleck‘s second cousin Zac and his wife. Initially, Jennifer was presented as a more conservative Mormon, but it wasn’t until the end of the season that her costars — and viewers — got a glimpse at her marital issues.
Zac got very upset when Jennifer and the rest of her MomTok friend group went to a Chippendales show while on a girls trip to Las Vegas. He told Jennifer that she had “no values or morals,” which caused her to leave the outing early.
Jennifer’s costar Demi Engemann claimed she saw text messages in which Zac threatened to end their marriage, said he didn’t love her anymore and made his wife come to his hotel room in the middle of the night to work out their problems. Demi also accused Zac of having a gambling problem, which is forbidden by the Mormon church.
“I think that there was a lot of things that Jen was doing at the time — and I think she would admit this — that were kind of driven by Zac’s insecurities,” Demi told Us in a separate interview. “I really do feel like she has found her voice. She’s now, like, ‘Hey, we are individuals as well as a couple. I have every right to do what feels right for me too within certain boundaries and respect for the relationship.’ But I think she has found her voice and I’m excited to see how that dynamic shifts.”
Their costar Jessi Ngatikaura, meanwhile, has continued to question “the influence” Zac has on Jennifer. (The season 1 finale ended with Jennifer thinking about moving with Zac to New York City after he convinced her to leave MomTok.)
“He’s the man of the house and has a lot of opinions on things,” Jessi noted to Us. “So I don’t think Jen would ever make that decision [to leave] on her own because she loves the friend group and she loves being around us. I would say that he definitely has a lot of influence on her decisions.”
While speaking with Us, Jennifer made it clear that she was the one behind the decision.
“It had a lot to do with just me and just figuring out everything. There are so many factors — not just our relationship — like religion, friendships and my children,” she continued. “In order to make the right decision for me and my family, I really had to take a step back and ask myself, ‘How am I going to move forward and what’s best for us?’ You’ll just have to wait for season 2 to see what happens.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is currently streaming on Hulu.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi