“Mormon Wives”’ Jen Affleck Admits She and Husband Zac Are Working Through a Lot ‘Behind Closed Doors’ During Fourth Pregnancy (Exclusive)

The reality TV star opened up to PEOPLE about marriage and a challenging year

NEED TO KNOW

• Jen Affleck has had a challenging year
• The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star opens up to PEOPLE about her marriage, prenatal depression during the first trimester of her fourth pregnancy and moving to California to film a Mormon Wives spinoff in Orange County
• “It’s been a lot the past couple of months, I’ll be honest,” she says

Jen Affleck is opening up about her marriage and a challenging year.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, 27, would be joining the cast of the Hulu series’ spinoff, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County. Affleck and her three kids — Nora, 4, Luca, 3, and Penelope, 1, all of whom she shares with husband Zac — moved from their home in Utah to California, where production is now finishing up for the show’s first season.

But behind the scenes, Jen admits in an interview with PEOPLE to promote her partnership with Quest Nutrition, things have been challenging.

“It’s been a lot the past couple of months, I’ll be honest,” she says. “But I do feel like I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and just trying to count my blessings every single day.”

Amid her move, Jen learned that she was pregnant with baby no. 4, celebrating the news with a chic maternity photoshoot where she dons a flowy yellow halter-neck dress and shows off her baby bump.

But her first trimester was difficult: Just three weeks after she arrived in Orange County, she got an infected wisdom tooth. “I have to go into surgery, I can’t go under, I can’t take the meds because I’m nauseous and throwing up,” she recounts. “I mean, I was just going through it.”

She also faced a bout of prenatal depression, sharing in a vulnerable Instagram post that her mind had gone to “some really dark places” during her first trimester and that the experience “scared” her.

Asked why it felt important for her to share her experience with her millions of followers online, Jen says, “I definitely feel like everything that I’m experiencing right now is for a reason, and I do believe that it’s supposed to help people.”

“I think I’m in a very unique and interesting situation, where maybe people can’t relate with being Mormon and having four kids at such a young age, but I do think there are different things that people can relate with,” she tells PEOPLE. “I think there’s always going to be hate, and there’s always going to be criticism, but as long as one person is benefiting from me sharing my story, that’s all that matters to me.”

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During her first trimester, Jen says she also relied on her husband Zac to look after their children while she was “deathly ill.”

“I could not be there for my kids, and so Zac really had to show up,” she says. “I mean, he didn’t really have a choice.”

Jen adds that the pair — who wed in 2019 and whose previous marital struggles were showcased on the first season of Mormon Wives in 2024 — have been continuing to work through their relationship as she enters this new chapter.

“There’s a lot that we’ve been navigating behind closed doors,” she shares, “but I do have to say, I wouldn’t have survived the first trimester without him.”

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