It’s truthful to say there are some fairly loopy dishonest tales on the market — the latest Coldplay kiss-cam debacle; the Shakira jam rumors; Khloé Kardashian studying of Tristan Thompson’s paternity shocker; and who may overlook the salacious Scandoval? That’s simply to call a couple of, and we are able to go forward and add Jen Hatmaker to that checklist. The previous HGTV star simply revealed the second she discovered about her husband’s infidelity, and it’s a doozy.
Jen and Brandon Hatmaker starred within the HGTV sequence My Large Household Renovation in 2014, during which the couple — who have been married in 1993 — transformed a house for them and their 5 youngsters. In her new memoir, Awake, Jen writes (through TMZ) that at 2:30 a.m., July 11, 2020, she woke as much as her husband on the telephone with one other girl. He smelled of booze, she says, and as he drifted off to sleep, she heard him whisper into the telephone:
I simply can’t stop you.
Admittedly, that is brutal, and I can see why Jen Hatmaker writes within the memoir that second modified the whole lot for her, saying it was “the tip of my life as I [knew] it.”
She writes that she bought up and commenced digging by means of Brandon Hatmaker’s pc, the place she discovered a “path of betrayal.” Jen doesn’t specify how lengthy the affair had been happening, solely calling it a “devastating time span” during which her husband had showered his mistress with “costly and lavish presents” to the detriment of the Hatmakers’ funds. She kicked Brandon out within the morning.
Married for 26 years on the time, the HGTV star says she did not she didn’t even contemplate the likelihood that he would cheat, regardless of their admitted issues. That perception was due to their lives within the church, as they they co-founded New Austin Church in Texas in 2008, the place Brandon Hatmaker was the pastor and Jen was a Christian writer and influencer. She informed the NY Submit:
To a point, I nearly disassociated. It was so exterior the realm of what I’d have ever thought of a chance for our life, our marriage, our story. … It was so stunning and beautiful, and I nearly couldn’t course of it. I couldn’t even cry.
The shock wore off, nonetheless, and Jen Hatmaker says she suffered from melancholy and nervousness within the months that adopted, overwhelmed with cash points and attempting to boost her 5 children on her personal in the course of the pandemic. She stated she didn’t know if she was ever going to be completely happy once more.
Time has seemingly given her slightly readability on the scenario, as she admitted their marriage “had been in bother.” They didn’t have intercourse for 2 years and had simply began marriage counseling two months earlier than Jen overheard that late-night telephone name. She recalled:
There have been a variety of unaccounted absences, and the telephone was by no means ever, ever, ever out of his hand or sight. All of the warning indicators have been there, however I didn’t wish to face these.
Within the years that adopted, Jen Hatmaker walked away from the church she and Brandon began collectively, and he or she has since discovered love once more. You’ll be able to learn extra about her life-altering night time and the occasions that led her to the place she is at present in Awake, which is obtainable now.
Whereas her HGTV sequence isn’t out there to stream, fireplace up your HBO Max subscription to search out different house renovation reveals, and take a look at our 2025 TV schedule to see when to catch new seasons of your favorites.