Jen Affleck Says She Experienced Suicidal Ideation While Filming Mormon Wives Season 2

Jen Affleck is looking back at a difficult period in her life.

The expectant MomToker talks about her decision to take a pause from filming The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives at the show’s season 2 reunion.

In an update on her mental health, Jen says she’s “doing way better now,” but was struggling in the thick of shooting season 2.

“I dealt with something that a lot of pregnant women deal with, which is prenatal depression. And unfortunately, I had to go through that during what was also one of the hardest seasons of my life,” she explained.

“Looking back and thinking about all of season 2, to be honest, it’s a bit of a blur just because I was barely surviving. And I dealt with a lot of suicide ideation. It’s really hard to talk about, but that was definitely one of the hardest times of life, and I felt like I couldn’t turn to anyone.”

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Jen explained that she didn’t want anyone to feel responsible for what she was going through, but the feelings were intensified by her pregnancy.

“Your body’s going through so many changes, and to be honest, I’m just grateful for all of the love and support I did receive during that time because without it, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

Touching on some of the problems in the marriage viewers saw play out during the show’s first season, Zac acknowledged both of them and the marriage itself were under “a lot of stress.”

“She just had back-to-back babies. I was in the process of trying to get into medical school. And we had a lot of things in our marriage that still needed to be worked through and that just kind of led to this big explosion, which was Chippendales and everything that happened there,” he acknowledged.

“It really was just a result of me taking out my frustrations and insecurities directly on my wife and I knew I hadn’t been the best version of myself and who I wanted to show up for.”

The two have worked hard on getting the marriage to a better place, which includes “about nine hours of therapy a week,” according to Zac.

“Working on individual trauma, childhood trauma, and then stuff in our marriage,” he explained. “And that kind of changed everything in our relationship. I don’t think it’s perfect but I would say the way we communicate, the way we go about things, is night and day different.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.