Jen Affleck Reflects on Doing ‘DWTS’ Postpartum and If She Was Overlooked: “I Wish I Did Get Recognized”

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is back for season three, but Jen Affleck has been on television screens for the past few months during her time on Dancing With the Stars. 

The MomTok member hasn’t been shy in sharing her aspirations of appearing on the competitive ballroom dancing show, and that dream came true this fall when she joined the season 34 cast. While Jen has since been eliminated from the show, viewers get a closer look at her journey leading up to Dancing With the Stars on the latest season of Mormon Wives.

The women were given the opportunity to audition for the competition series on season three, where it was promised that one of their cast members would earn a spot in the competition. The audience, too, got to watch as a few of the MomTok ladies interviewed with Deena Katz, which led to the casting director ultimately choosing both Jen and Whitney Leavitt to join the show. 

Jen joined Dancing With the Stars more than two months after giving birth to her third child. The Mormon Wives star has been incredibly candid about what it was like navigating the experience postpartum, but she ultimately wouldn’t trade her time on the show “for anything.” 

“It was obviously a dream of mine to be able to dance in front of millions of people… but more than anything, it was a dream of mine to share my story,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Because my story has been related to mothers, and specifically mothers dealing with postpartum and prenatal depression, even though it was challenging being on the show, I was able to reach a lot more people because of it and of bring awareness to that.” 

Below, Jen speaks with THR about her time on DWTS season 34, her reaction to being partnered with the newest professional dancer, if she believes she was overlooked in the competition, if she felt pressure competing against one of her Mormon Wives co-stars and who she believes is going to win the mirrorball in a little under two weeks. 

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Season three tackles you learning about the opportunity of Dancing With the Stars, to actually getting it. What has it been like capturing that journey from the beginning, when you first realized there was an opportunity to even go on the show?

Well, what’s crazy about that is I have been, I swear, manifesting and pushing this since I can remember, since I even started social media. Honestly, in fact, the reason why I even did reality TV was not only so I could share my story, of course, but so I could even have a chance to go on a platform such as Dancing With the Stars. After season one came out, I really pushed for that. In fact, I went to my manager and I was like, “How can I get invited to the show? I’ve never been to a show.” And after I went, I was like, I have to be on. I am willing to do whatever it takes. And so I pushed for it, I talked about it, I made it a storyline and then finally it became an opportunity. And I was ecstatic. What I really appreciated was the fact that MomTok, even though a lot of the girls auditioned for the spot, I think everyone was very supportive in me doing it, just because it had been something I talked about for the longest time. It was a dream of mine. And clearly I wanted it bad, because I was willing to even go on [DWTS] six weeks postpartum. The fact that it even became a storyline, and I was able to talk about my dreams and be open about that, made the journey even more exciting.

Do you think that you pushing for Dancing With the Stars and bringing this potential idea of Mormon Wives going on [the show] led to you and Whitney being cast?

Oh, absolutely. I don’t think it would have been an opportunity if I hadn’t pushed for it, to be honest. I mean, I really did bring it up, and I even pushed when it wasn’t an opportunity. I had a friend of mine, Ezra [Sosa], who’s a pro even come on [Mormon Wives.] That was even before it ever became an opportunity, so I really was making it my whole everything. And now, I’m sad it’s over, but so grateful I was able to get a chance to be on.

Are you ultimately happy you jumped at the opportunity to do the show while you were postpartum?

Absolutely. It was obviously a dream of mine to dance in front of millions of people and be on stage. But more than anything, it was a dream of mine to share my story, and because my story has been related to mothers, and specifically mothers dealing with postpartum and prenatal depression, even though it was challenging being on the show, I was able to reach a lot more people because of it and of bring awareness to that. I think there are a lot of moments where mothers go unseen and unnoticed, and I want to bring that forward and talk about it. And the fact that I was able to do that in a positive way, being freshly postpartum and dancing, something that I love to do, it made everything more impactful.

A lot of people did forget that you were postpartum. There’s this argument that you might have been overlooked, and that the judges could have overlooked that piece of your story as well. I know they didn’t mention [in your package] that you had the flu [during Dedication Night]. Do you agree that you were overlooked on Dancing With the Stars?

I do think so. I don’t know if they intentionally meant to do that. There are a lot of storylines. There’s a lot of contestants, and there are a lot of things going on in each person’s life that probably even got unnoticed. But I definitely do think that it wasn’t talked about enough, and I wish I did get recognized for that. But you know what? It’s OK if I didn’t get recognized from the judges, because I got recognized by millions of other moms who could see that, and that’s all that mattered to me. I think there’s a couple of things that didn’t go noticed, being postpartum, not having a dancing background, those were the main two things, and being sick, of course. That would have changed how people perceived my routines throughout the season (laughs).

There’s also this argument that having two people from the Mormon Wives cast pit you against each other. Does having one of your co-stars on Dancing With the Stars put an added layer of pressure on both of you to outdo one another?

You know what? I never actually felt that pressure, surprisingly, just because I was so focused on my journey, and we are on completely different journeys. I mean, she is a professional dancer and has a degree in dance, and she grew up performing. And so her wanting to execute that and show people that was awesome, but just different than what I was trying to do. I was just trying to barely survive. I mean, I just had a baby. I don’t have any dancing experience, so this was all really new to me. Even performing on a stage was new to me. We were just on two completely different journeys, and I’m grateful for mine even though I didn’t last as long as I wanted to. I still got the most out of it.

Looking back to when you first joined the show and when you learned that Jan [Ravnik] was going to be your partner, what was your reaction? Because he is a new addition, but he’s known because he was an Eras Tour dancer.

I was so excited. Especially with us both being newbies, it made the journey even more exciting, because this was his first time, so we didn’t know what to expect. At times it did make it challenging, just because Jan was new to it too. Even in the beginning, with the simple things, like, Look at this camera and wave at this camera at this point. There are things that he didn’t know that we need to [do], but it still made the journey amazing, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I feel like the biggest takeaway, or the biggest blessing I got from Dancing With the Stars, was my friendship with Jan. I will forever, always cherish that.

If Jan moves on with the show next season, what would you say to the next person who gets to be paired up with him?

You’re gonna be laughing a lot, and even though you’re gonna have the best time dancing with him, just know that you’re probably going to spend more time laughing, because that guy is the funniest guy I’ve ever met.

You’ve also revealed that you and Jan are neighbors and you’re living in Los Angeles. Have the Affleck’s really moved to L.A.?

As of right now, yes. But you’ll have to tune in and watch the rest of the seasons of Secret Lives to find out what happens.

What does that mean for your future with the show? Do you still plan on being on [Mormon Wives]?

For sure. I will always be a part of the show, so don’t doubt that. But yes, it’s always been my dream to be a part of the entertainment industry. Like, creating music and acting. My goal is to end up in L.A. and stay to make sure that we stay down here.

During this time, you’ve been filming for Mormon Wives and Dancing With the Stars. What has it been like juggling filming for both of these reality shows and also still juggling your home life?

Luckily, with reality TV, it’s not like a nine-to-five where you have to always leave your kids. With reality TV, you can film and be with your kids and whatnot. But that doesn’t change that it’s still taxing, and it’s still a lot. I’ve just been doing the best that I can, and at the end of the day, that’s all you really can do, right? It has been a crazy season of life. No question.

How do you go from filming the segments for Dancing With the Stars and the live show to switching to filming Mormon Wives? Has that been hard?

Oh, yeah. It has been very hard. I almost feel like I’ve been on autopilot, just because to even get time to just, like, take a shower, that even has felt like a lot. And any break that I get, I am spending time with my kids, because they need their mom too. I really have been trying to do the best that I can. I think people are starting to catch on towards the end of my journey on Dancing With the Stars, that I was looking tired. I mean, I also caught the flu. I’m not getting a lot of sleep. I have a newborn. But if anything, it just shows that, again, us mothers, we’re really capable of so much physically, mentally and emotionally. And as moms, that’s just what you do, right? You don’t ever really catch a break. If you get sick, you don’t get a day off. You still have to show up. And that was my mentality with everything, with Dancing With the Stars, the show. Being a mom, you just show up (laughs).

Taylor Frankie Paul is the new Bachelorette, and you have this unique experience of filming both [Mormon Wives and DWTS]. She’s filming right now, but did you give her any advice on how to juggle filming two huge reality shows? What advice would you offer her for how to navigate the experience?

The main advice I could give her is to follow her intuition and follow her heart. I don’t think there’s ever a perfect or right way to go about these situations, because they’re new and it’s something that she’s never experienced before. She’s been through a lot in the past couple of years, and right now, it’s the time to just soak it all in, follow her intuition, follow her heart, and no matter what happens, we’ll be here to support her in whatever she decides and however her journey folds.

Speaking of support, which member of MomTok has been the most supportive of your journey on Dancing With the Stars?

Jessi [Draper Ngatikaura] has been the most supportive and biggest hype girl, which I’ve really appreciated.

Which Mormon Wives cast member should go on the next season of Dancing With the Stars?

Taylor. That would be so fun to watch, and I think she’d do awesome.

Looking back at your experience on Dancing With the Stars, is there anything that you wish you could have done on the show? Was there an upcoming night you wish you could have taken part in that you didn’t get to?

I was really hoping to do Prince Night. Jan and I had a plan, and he was going to be a Chippendales dancer and was going to bring out the [Eras Tour] ladder. We had a whole plan for it. It’s devastating now thinking about it, just because that was gonna be so funny and so fun, and I’m sure people were gonna die over it. But it is what it is.

Before season three, you took a mental health break and stepped away from the show. What has it been like returning to MomTok? Do you feel the support from the women given this hectic period of time in your life? Are you glad that you came back?

Yes, absolutely. I feel like season three was needed for me. During that time, I was able to see who my real friends are and who maybe isn’t. Honestly, I just feel like I’m in a good place with MomTok, and hopefully, we keep it there.

Who is going to win season 34 of Dancing With the Stars? Who’s going to take the mirrorball?

Robert Irwin, that’s what I’m betting on. He’s gonna win it by a landslide.

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All 10 episodes of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season three are now streaming on Hulu. New episodes of Dancing With the Stars season 34 air and stream on ABC and Disney on Tuesday at 8 p.m.