The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Jen Affleck and Zac Affleck gave a rare joint interview where they slammed misconceptions about their marriage, misinformation about their finances and more.
During the Wednesday, May 28, episode of “The Viall Files,” Jen, 25, and Zac, 28, first broke down what led them to reality TV — and revealed how the experience almost ruined their relationship.
“We were so vulnerable and we shared everything about our religion and our life and our marriage,” Zac said. “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.”
While Jen claimed she had the option to do the show herself, it was always the plan for them to join as a couple.
“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. But really Jen and I were the most active and strongest in the church at the time,” Zac continued. “So I think they were really intrigued of that dynamic.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered in September 2024. At first, the conversation revolved around whether Zac and Jen are related to Ben Affleck (which was initially yes, but their answer has since shifted to no). As the season continued to play out, Zac and Jen’s dynamic was questioned as they navigated ongoing issues, including allegations that he was controlling.
Pulling back the curtain on their marriage — and their beliefs — came at a price.
“Sometimes you just feel called to something and you can’t explain why,” Jen detailed. “It’s not easy being vulnerable as a Mormon and showing what actually happens sometimes in Mormon relationships. I feel like we’re doing the hard thing but doing the right thing by exposing what actually happens.”
Jen expressed hope that her involvement in the show would start a conversation, adding, “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.”
According to Jen, she has “lost a lot of friends” as a result. “I have lost a lot of friends and respect because of that,” she added. “I don’t care. I’m showing up.”
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from Jen and Zac’s joint podcast appearance:
How Jen and Zac 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,” Zac recalled. “I got the Latina fever and was looking for someone spicy.”
Zac sent Jen a message — which she initially ignored — the night before he moved to Hawaii. Despite not having plans to get into a relationship, Zac called his first date with Jen the “most significant night” of 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,” Zac said before Jen joked she decided to “go on a reality TV show” instead of 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.'”
He continued: “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.”
A major story line on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was Zac’s alleged gambling problem. The truth? According to Zac, most of the conversations about his finances were misconstrued on screen.
“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 revealed. “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.”
Jen, however, disagreed with Zac’s comment about her not paying for his medical school.
“It was my plan. I had a conversation with your parents and said, ‘I would like to pay for med school,'” she noted, which Zac didn’t see the same way, adding, “I don’t want to argue that. 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.”
Zac clarified that he was never given the money, saying, “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.”
Zac and Jen’s Other Finances
In addition to money from MomTok paychecks and reality TV earnings, Zac broke down what he was bringing to the table before they joined the show.
“The super common thing in Utah is where every summer kids go out from Utah to different states and they sell pest control or alarms door to door,” Zac said about the concept of Mormon summer sales. “People make hundreds of thousands of dollars in a summer. I have buddies who are millionaires just selling pest control door to door. That’s what I was doing to provide for a family early on.”
After taking a step back from being the primary breadwinner, Zac admitted it has been tough.
“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?'” Zac admitted. “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.”
Speaking of kids, Jen and Zac previously welcomed two kids and are currently expecting their third baby. Viewers saw how surprised the pair were by Jen’s third pregnancy but the second one was just as shocking — for Zac, at least.
“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 before claiming, “I got tricked into it. She took out her IUD without telling me.”
Zac called that period of time “stressful” and noted it was before they got into therapy. Jen, meanwhile, found the revelation about her second pregnancy more funny, adding, “Whoopsies, I forgot to tell you [I took my IUD out].”
How Their Marriage Nearly Ended
Zac and Jen went through a separation between seasons 1 and 2 of Mormon Wives. According to Jen, she was very serious about the possibility of ending her marriage.
“I basically told him when I was in a place where I want to walk away from the relationship, ‘I’m doing this. 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 recalled. “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.”
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