Jen Affleck is opening up about finally coming to terms with her jealousy of Whitney Leavitt and having a heart-to-heart with her fellow former MomToker. 

In the brand new Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County, a California-based spin-off starring Jen and a new crop of Latter-day Saints (and sinners), Jen finally gets the opportunity to sit down with Whitney and admit that much of their rift during Dancing With the Stars Season 34 and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 5 resulted from her feeling envious. 

During their sit-down, Jen explains to Whitney that not only was she jealous of Whitney’s success on the show and outside of the series, but she was seriously struggling with her own husband, Zac, not supporting her in the same way that Whitney’s husband, Conner, did. It’s those revelations that eventually lead the women to hug it out and call it water under the bridge, which Jen says puts her in a much better place moving forward. 

“Honestly, that moment was everything, and it was so healing for me, honestly,” Jen tells DECIDER in a chat. “Reality TV is hard because when you expose your life and issues to the world, it just makes things harder when the world is involved.” 

So much of what happened while they were both competing on Dancing With the Stars got out of hand, she says, and it ended up leading to negative feelings towards Whitney, which she does not feel good about. It was that realization, as well as some serious evaluating and taking a hard look at her own life that Jen says she knew she needed to try and make things right and move forward with a clean slate. 

“I do feel like we were pinned against each other, just through all the things that we were doing, and I really wish that wasn’t the case. I knew that I wanted this next chapter to, obviously, [be different]. There’s a lot of things that have happened with my relationship, and there’s lot of things that I’ve experienced in my own life, but I also didn’t want to be a victim of everything, and I knew I needed to take accountability for where I went wrong. And I think that’s just life, we’re all gonna make mistakes.”

As of now, Jen says she and Whitney are in a really good place and supporting each other on their individual journeys, Whitney as she continues to pursue a career in the entertainment industry and Jen as she prepares to welcome baby number four while divorcing her husband of seven years. 

“We’re in a way better place, we just fully support each other,” she says, adding that even now, people want to find beef between them, even when it’s not there. “It’s so funny, there’s still drama online and the world’s still trying to pin us women against each other and it’s just like, why? Do you know what I’m saying? Like, why? Because we are on the same page. We support each other.”

It was only through reconciling with her true feelings about how everything went down between her and Whitney that Jen says she was able to fully understand why she needs to separate from Zac and figure out who she is. Right now, Jen says that she’s just focused on maintaining those strong, positive relationships in her life and being the best mom to their three kids, especially as she prepares to welcome their fourth child any day now and as news continues to circulate regarding her divorce.

“It’s been hard, It sucks. And I think it’s gonna suck for a while, but just trying my best to focus on the positive and focus on this baby,” Jen told DECIDER. “I’m trying to be the best mom that I can be for my kids and show up for them because it’s hard for me, but also, most especially it’s [hard] for them too.”

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County is now streaming on Hulu. 

If you’re new to Hulu, the basic (with ads) price is $11.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.

If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.