Inside of church with episode title

Jen is not married to the fun Affleck, instead she got the one who hates fun and loves gambling.

In this episode, we discuss Jen Affleck storylines from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives:

⚪Jen vs Zac ⚪Jen vs Chippendales

Episode 98 on Spotify

Sharon: I only want to talk about Jen. Cause I wanna talk about Zach.

Caitlin: Exactly. Exactly.

Sharon: Oh, God.

Caitlin: He dims Jen’s light.

Sharon: Hi, this is Caitlin, and this is.

Caitlin: Sharon and M. Welcome to real housewives on real housewives, where we unravel housewives story threads and keep the tea blowing.

Sharon: So chic.

Caitlin: Hold onto your righteous indignation.

Sharon: This week we’re digging into Jen Affleck from the brand new Hulu series the secret lives of Mormon wives. This is Jen Affleck, not Jen Lopez Affleck.

Caitlin: Ah. Thank you for clarifying. The verses this week are Jen versus Zach, or as I call him, Zaflik and Jen versus Chippendales. So Jen Affleck is loosely related to Ben Affleck as he’s her husband’s second cousin, but they’ve never met him.

Sharon: That’s so sad.

Caitlin: That is sad. Come on, Ben, make the round. She’s now the main breadwinner while her husband goes to BYU and he’s graduated and plans to attend medical school, following in his family’s surgeon footsteps. He just looks like a surgeon to me. She currently has two kids. Three if you count her husband. Okay. Some Reddit users said that Jen was an add on, which is interesting that she auditioned for the part and she wasn’t one of the original mom talkers. which maybe explains why she’s a more serious Mormon. Like, maybe that group was a little bit more of, like, a looser Mormon club. And then when maybe that’s why Jen sticks out so much, because, a, she doesn’t have any history with these women, and b, she actually is more Mormon.

Sharon: Than the rest of.

Caitlin: Of the cast. it also explains why her husband has zero desire to hang out with these women. Yeah, because he has no history with them, clearly. And he already thinks that they’re, like, maybe not mormon enough. So, in a vulture interview, she said they asked her, how did you get involved from the show? And she said, my manager. I love how people just have managers. Yeah, I’m gonna start referring to that.

Sharon: So she must have been a pretty decent influencer.

Caitlin: My manager randomly reached out to me one day and said, hey, they’re doing a show about Mormon moms. Are you interested? We still didn’t know if it was going to be a show, but I started hanging out with the girls. So again, it does seem like for some reason, they took a really long time filming the show, which is interesting.

Sharon: Because, like you were saying they lost the play. I had no idea what it was going to be about after the beginning.

Caitlin: And they were like, well, now I don’t know what. This show didn’t take us as far.

Sharon: As we thought it would.

Caitlin: Let’s get a new scandal. Are we Team Jen or not team Jen?

Sharon: I have very mixed emotions.

Caitlin: I’ve gone back and forth.

Sharon: Okay. Initially, I really didn’t like Jen.

Sharon: I think I like her because I hate Zack. So I’m pulling for her just to do better than Zack. I don’t really know if I like her or not. She’s not the worst of them, certainly.

Caitlin: No, I’m. Team Jen needs a divorce. Yeah. it’s interesting because the divorce rate in the show feels so high and yet it doesn’t seem like Jen’s gonna get one.

Sharon: Yeah, I know. Everyone else got a divorce. Jen, come on.

Caitlin: Do you think that Jen could fit in the housewives?

Sharon: No.

Caitlin: No. And sadly, and I hate this because again, we’re supposed to be so separate from the men. But when we went through what are the verses for Jen? It is all based around her annoying husband, which means that she doesn’t have as much. She seems like a strong woman, so it sort of sucks. Yeah, but it’s like all of her party, like all of the lines, uh-huh Are all related around Zack. Like, it’s Zach. And the problem with Zack and the issue with Zack and what did Zach do now? I hate that for her.

Sharon: It’s. Sometimes she seemed like she was like at the end when they were in New York or whatever.

Caitlin: Yeah, I thought she might pull a plug.

Sharon: She almost seemed, like, stronger for a second there. But then, like, I thought she might.

Caitlin: M be like, we’re not going to New York. I have a job and it’s better than your job. And you go to some other school.

Sharon: And he’s like, maybe he should just.

Caitlin: Go to medical school by himself.

Sharon: Do we think he’s going to make it through medical school?

Caitlin: No, I do not. So I don’t think they should move because it’s going to cost a lot of money and they’re already paying off his gambling debts.

Sharon: Seriously?

Caitlin: Okay, let’s talk about versus Zach. And let’s talk about Zack. He looks like a surfer dude. He speaks like a jerk. He’s mad every time we see him.

Sharon: He’s so ugly. Yeah, he’s like, got that. It’s like a Monet where, you know, oh, my God. Like, if you just look, if you like, squint, you’re like, oh, he’s supposed to be a hot blonde guy. But then you look at it oh.

Caitlin: But it’s that guy.

Sharon: And he’s got this huge jaw.

Caitlin: You know how they say women are mousy?

Sharon: And his face is. It’s weirdly curved, and then his hair is, like, thinning but long. And it kept getting bigger. It was bad.

Caitlin: It’s like when I go to Florida and my hair gets bigger. That was happening to Zach. But he was in the same state the whole time.

Sharon: Yeah, and Utah is not humid.

Caitlin: It’s not as humid as Florida. No, no. It’s like he was also just mad at every single event. He was mad at the grad party. No, I do think it was unfair. Was it Jesse’s husband that was drinking and they were pulling up?

Sharon: That was obnoxious.

Caitlin: That was obnoxious. That was not cool. That was, like, a bad. Like, you’re at a college party and the people don’t want to drink. Don’t push it.

Sharon: Yeah, exactly.

Caitlin: Like, don’t be a bullshit.

Sharon: You’re being, like, a high school bully. You’re totally right.

Caitlin: But then he was also mad at the baby blessing and made her uninvite a bunch of people that she invited. They kept showing the footage of her inviting everybody, and then she had to take the. And then she acted like it was just her idea, but it was. Everything was Zach’s idea. every single thing.

Sharon: Well, he didn’t know them, and he just didn’t.

Caitlin: He didn’t like them. and he’s embarrassed by his parents.

Sharon: Clearly.

Caitlin: His parents are pulling the purse strings.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: I mean, he’s gambling, which he has a gambling problem, we learned. And he’s wasting their money, and they need more money, and he’s wasting her money, and he probably still needs his parents money, so he can’t piss them off.

Sharon: And initially, I was like, something doesn’t add up here, because, ah, they were like, okay, his family is clearly rich. And then she’s like, well, I am the one putting him through school, and, I’m the breadwinner. And I was thinking, like, wouldn’t his family support, like, I can’t. But it’s because they give him money.

Caitlin: And he gambles it, and he gambles it.

Sharon: Cause they did give him money, and.

Caitlin: She said that he gambled it away.

Sharon: So later on, that kind of comes out, and then you’re like, oh, that makes sense now. Cause something just wasn’t really.

Caitlin: She’s supporting him. Cause he used up the money that his parents gave him to support him. Yeah. he also. We’ll talk about Vegas when we get to the versus chippendales. The Vegas thing makes me really, really angry. So we’ll save that. What’s wrong with this man? That’s my question.

Sharon: I think.

Caitlin: Is there anything that could make him likable? Or do you think he’s just one of those people who’s just rotten from the inside out?

Sharon: I think he’s rotten from the inside out.

Caitlin: Yeah, I think so too.

Sharon: He’s one of those Brandi Redmond’s husband. Wanna punch him in the face.

Caitlin: Yep. Exactly. That’s exactly what he is. I think the show is like, very yay, girls. Boo boys. Do you think that that’s fair? It almost feels like that’s the thesis they put on it. I’m not sure they show that, though.

Sharon: But I think it’s kind of like you said, how they only showed us the husbands that clearly suck.

Caitlin: Right.

Sharon: And, the ones that might have been normal, we didn’t see. So all the ones we saw did suck. So it was boo boys. And then they had the women. Even the women who like Demi. Her husband might have been normal, but she saw the one like, we hate men. And the women that actually had the crappy men, they were like, great.

Caitlin: We love men.

Sharon: We love our men.

Caitlin: These men are fun.

Sharon: So I don’t know. Yeah, all kinds of mess.

Caitlin: Should Jen leave him?

Sharon: Yes.

Caitlin: Does he dim Jen’s light? They said that 45 times. Oh, my gosh, they do. And you know what’s worse? It’s almost worse knowing that she wasn’t part of the original group, that they may have cast her into the show. And everyone read her husband so fast. Cause often they say narcissists can kind of hide behind it. And, people don’t understand. They don’t see he was so bad at hiding it. Like, maybe be a little bit.

Sharon: That’s what I was curious about. Like, in his everyday life. Like, did the women like him, or was it like they all, ah, everyone knows he’s in.

Caitlin: It seemed like because they were just so, like, this is awful. This isn’t good for you. Get out. I mean, and they were really strong about that. Yeah. And they hadn’t known him that long.

Caitlin: So that’s a problem, I think she said again, vulture article. Since filming, we’ve done therapy nonstop. If we continue in our relationship, there are changes that need to be made. If they’re not made, we might have to look at other options. But as of right now, I do think he’s trying his best to make those changes.

Sharon: Oh, boo.

Caitlin: I just feel bad because she can’t see it.

Sharon: Yeah. And she’s that to me. Sounds like I’m putting on the strong face and I am this strong woman, but I don’t believe it.

Caitlin: 1St second and she can see the red flags, but getting out of it is even scarier. And it’s like, well, that is so much scarier. And her life isn’t on the path then she wanted it to be. I can see moments in my life where I haven’t seen the things that I should have seen. And that’s what it feels like with her. And it’s so hard to watch.

Sharon: And especially because it’s like she is not getting anything from him. No, she is paying for him. That’s the thing that’s training her. he’s gonna be in medical with the kids. No, it doesn’t. I mean, she said that she has.

Caitlin: To clean the place and financially, you’re right, she can get herself out of it. She’s got the thing. Just don’t let him take your job away. Which is what he wants to do.

Sharon: Exactly.

Caitlin: Which is also scary.

Sharon: And your job, her job is most likely time limited. Unless, I mean, I guess young influencing is a young, unless like, her audience grows with her. I mean, we don’t know. This is a new era. It’s a new job field.

Caitlin: This was not on our original career.

Sharon: I don’t know, can she last or is it just a few years? But yeah.

Caitlin: But either way, I do think that influencers have to push when the moment is hot.

Sharon: Yeah, strike when they are hot. Absolutely.

Caitlin: And it’s scary because he’s saying to her, oh, I don’t like the other women and this isn’t good for our family and stuff. But then at the same time, she’s also said, he is uncomfortable with me being the breadwinner. It’s like you can see so much that he just wants to take the money away and that’s terrifying.

Sharon: And she said that she likes this. And he’s like, yeah, I don’t care.

Caitlin: I know.

Sharon: Like he just literally said, I don’t care.

Caitlin: I know. That was like, oh, my goodness. Yeah, we’ll talk more about what he said too, in the Chippendales, part because.

Sharon: Oh, I forgot. We weren’t even there yet.

Caitlin: We’re not even the worst part. Okay, well, like, who wins in Jen versus Zack?

Sharon: I guess Zach wins because she’s still with him.

Caitlin: I don’t like that. Boo, Zack. Okay.

Sharon: Booze Affleck.

Caitlin: Yeah, well, you know, Ben Affleck’s not looking so great right now, either. Maybe it’s kind of a family thing. Yeah. Okay, let’s talk about versus Chippendales. So, for background information, this is nothing compared to the Erika Jane Shaw magic book live. Sutton could have handled this. And if Sutton can handle it, Jen can handle it. Okay, should Jen. This is my one question. Should Jen have seen this coming? Based on what she said to him when she said, if we saw a magic mic. And then he said, it’ll be hard to raise two kids on your own as a single mom to throw things at my tv. But I didn’t.

Sharon: Yeah. Oh.

Caitlin: Then in the next breath, he said, now, how much money are you giving me to gamble? It was like, let’s talk about your sin, but okay, can you bankroll? Not even. Just, can I go gambling? He had no reason to go on this trip except to gamble, which proves that he kind of has an addiction. I think it was both to control her and to gamble. Oh, my gosh. It was literally the same breath he was fighting with her about, you can’t go see naked men, half naked men. But also, where’s my money?

Sharon: Yeah, I want to go spend all our money.

Caitlin: Oh, my gosh. So what do you think? Why do you think he. I guess because he’s just so controlling. Was there any reason he tagged along to Vegas? Cause Dakota kind of had a reason.

Sharon: The gambling. Yeah, I think it was more the gambling than the controlling thing, even.

Caitlin: And he has no trust.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: I mean, she even said that, and I wish that that had resonated more with her. He does not trust you at all, and you have given him no reasons.

Sharon: And he doesn’t want her to go have fun.

Caitlin: No. Oh, he doesn’t know.

Sharon: He wants her to be miserable without having fun. Ruiner. She needs to be home and miserable, not having fun somewhere else.

Caitlin: Yeah, exactly.

Sharon: Exactly.

Caitlin: When she could be at home having no fun with him.

Sharon: Exactly.

Caitlin: He comes off as, like, this poor little rich boy.

Caitlin: And she has this mom who, like she was saying, is a cleaning lady. Get the hospital where Zach’s dad is a surgeon. And that just makes him look even more spoiled, because here’s Jen, who’s saying, I had a harder life. And even though we were saying on Reddit, her family was saying, dude, maybe we weren’t that poor. And you’re making her sound really awful. But at the same time, she has this hardworking moment who’s, like, doing a job and the dad is the surgeon, and then. Which is also a hard job, but then you’ve got Zach, who’s just acting like, how do I spend my parents money?

Sharon: How do I spend my wife’s money?

Caitlin: How do I spend my wife’s money? Like, he’s just this little spoiled brat in the whole thing. And it’s like, we’ve got this girl.

Sharon: Who’S probably not working.

Caitlin: exactly. Everyone else seems to be doing a good job. it’s like, I don’t understand what he even brings to the table. Like, you think he was fun at one point? What?

Sharon: I think he probably looks apart. Yeah, there’s probably got this. Like, I could picture him being a football player. He’s got this sort of, like, all american type look. Like, from far away, he looks like it should be attractive, but he’s really ugly.

Caitlin: You’re right.

Sharon: And, oh, he’s gonna be a doctor. So that seems like he’d be smart.

Caitlin: It seems like a smart choice on her part.

Sharon: On paper, you’re like, oh, he’s gonna be a surgeon. And he’s religious, and he comes from this nice family.

Caitlin: He’s a good on paper guy. Yeah, interesting. But he’s not good with paper because he spends it all.

Sharon: He’s not good with green paper.

Caitlin: Okay, let’s talk about the texts and Zach threatening divorce.

Sharon: Oh, my gosh.

Caitlin: And not just once. Like, people get mad and they say things they don’t mean, and I get that. But this was hours and hours and hours of it. And then the fact that he would just, like, ghost her when he didn’t want to talk.

Sharon: Right.

Caitlin: And basically, like, trap her in this fear cycle. Like, it was cruel.

Sharon: Yeah. And do you think he was drinking, or do you think he’s just that much of a jerk? Like, he’s a jerk.

Caitlin: I was almost hoping he was drinking.

Sharon: I was hoping he was drunk, but I honestly don’t think he probably.

Caitlin: I was just high off of gambling, I guess.

Sharon: Like. Yeah. yeah. I just.

Caitlin: It was so painful to watch.

Sharon: You know what? I wish she would just call us bluff. Leave.

Caitlin: And, you know, the thing that I didn’t understand is if she’s gonna show the other women all these texts that were awful and prove all this and kind of show it on the show, like, I think she wanted him to see how bad he was and changed, and that’s what she’s hoping and that’s what she’s waiting for. But it also felt like she wanted someone to say, leave, and they did. Like, they said to you, it’s okay. Like, we’ve got your back. You’ve got money. Get out.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: And she still couldn’t do it. And that’s just makes me sad for her.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: Do you think she’ll be back for season two or do you think Zach will have his way?

Sharon: I think only if she’s divorced.

Caitlin: Yeah.

Sharon: If he’s there, I don’t think he’ll. No way.

Caitlin: Because partially, if they do, in fact move to New York, that makes it difficult.

Sharon: Right. And I just don’t think he would after the way he came off.

Sharon: Unless he was gonna do some major fakey fake damage control.

Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. But I don’t. I wouldn’t buy it.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: This was interesting because in the same Vulture article they asked her, those final episodes also show Zack gambling. Have you talked to him about that? She said the only episode he’s watched as of now has been the whole Las Vegas scene. He feels awful. Like, could we hear this from him?

Sharon: I’d like him to come back.

Caitlin: He needs to release a statement. Like, you are in the public eye now. You need to say something with the show out. We’re reliving it. It’s definitely taboo in mormon culture, the gambling. But I have many friends in the church that gamble. It’s fun. It’s a fun, lighthearted thing. Oh, right. so that’s a fun, light hearted thing. Yeah. But sin is a mic.

Sharon: Right?

Caitlin: One time and probably only costs, you know, under 100 standing near them. You know, he’s just gonna, like, accidentally, like, get sin jumping off of the magic mic. Guys, I’m sorry, the Chippendale? Yeah. How will mom talk survive this?

Sharon: I don’t know.

Caitlin: I mean, that’s what we’ve gotta ask.

Sharon: Well, she’s not gonna be in Momtalk.

Caitlin: Anymore, so I don’t think she will. I think she’s gone.

Sharon: I think she’s gone.

Caitlin: Yeah. At least. I mean, I guess at least Zach is gone then too.

Sharon: Yeah, exactly. I think she’s too. I think if she wasn’t religious, maybe she’d have a chance leaving. But, because she does seem religious, I don’t think the money she has to stop.

Caitlin: It’s not worth it.

Sharon: It’s not gonna. She’s not gonna leave.

Caitlin: And if she wasn’t as ingrained with the other women as his friend, who was she closest with?

Sharon: I don’t know.

Caitlin: I kind of can’t remember. And I think that may be part of the problem too, which kind of makes her, like, a one season, which is interesting because there is a lot, like, she’s very expressive. Like, she doesn’t let. She can’t just kind of not react to stuff. and so she was really interesting to watch. Like, I found myself looking to her in scenes over some of the other women, so I feel like it’s an unfortunate, like, loss for the show because she was a little bit different and a little more interesting.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: Than some of the other women that were kind of very, like, all had the same reactions to stuff.

Caitlin: But, yeah, I don’t think she’s coming back. All right, so I guess who wins on Jen versus Chippendales? Not Chippendales. She didn’t get to see the show. She doesn’t even know what happens.

Sharon: I know, I know.

Caitlin: And then that’s the thing too. Lay off. The second someone says, you made her feel bad and she left, and so did she left Taylor, and so did Mikayla.

Sharon: Yeah, I did get why Mikayla left.

Caitlin: I don’t know, I guess maybe she’s a little more. But I thought I read that she wasn’t Mormon anymore. I don’t know.

Sharon: I thought Mikayla. Yeah, that’s why I thought Mikayla was one of those. I kind of wonder, maybe it just.

Caitlin: Made her feel uncomfortable. Like, maybe it just wasn’t her thing, and she was like, I didn’t want to do this anyway, and if people.

Sharon: Are leaving, maybe, like, maybe she just.

Caitlin: Really thought, I don’t want to sit here and do this. I don’t know.

Sharon: What would Whitney have done if she were there?

Caitlin: Yeah, she would have gone. You think she would have.

Sharon: Oh, that’s right. She has the sex toys.

Caitlin: Yeah. She’d have to pretend to think. She would pretend that they were dragging her there. and then she’d be like, Sutton. It was like, also, I have a bunch of ones in my purse, and I wore pants. Yeah, I wore pants for this. Were they wearing pants? Maybe pants is only important for magic. Magic. It’s not important for Chippendales. And that tells you the level of Chippendales. If it doesn’t matter whether you wear pants or not, it doesn’t matter. So there we. Now we know.

Sharon: Yeah.

Caitlin: All right, that is our episode on Jen Affleck. Remember, Mormon wives bring the drama, but.

Sharon: We bring the receipts. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please hit the subscribe button. If you’d like to help support us, please share it with others and leave a rating and review. Also visit us on Instagram and Twitter. Both H underscore on underscore rh for fun pictures and polls, or email us at, rh on rhpodcast@gmail.com thanks again, and remember to stay out of the shade.