Many of the The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast push the boundaries of what it means to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). But the women winding up at Chippendales in Las Vegas was quite the shock in the Hulu reality series and resulted in some of the season’s biggest moments.
At the end of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives episode 6, the seven women — Whitney Leavitt was absent — got on a party bus for a night out in Sin City. Little did they know that Jessi Ngatikaura planned for them to go to Chippendales, a risqué show known for its male striptease performances.
It was a total surprise to the other women. Although some of the ladies were uneasy about the show to come, it didn’t seem like an actual problem until they realized they had the VIP package that included a backstage experience where they could meet the Chippendales dancers and rub them down with oil ahead of the show. Jennifer (Jen) Affleck, Taylor Frankie Paul and Mikayla Mathews stood back from the action.
After they hung out with the dancers, Jen expressed how uncomfortable she was. “I’m shaking. I’m literally shaking right now,” she said. When the other women questioned her, Jen said she was afraid of being associated with them, believing taking pictures with them made them look bad.
“I definitely think this goes against everything we believe in as Mormons. I think it’s disrespectful to my husband. It’s disrespectful to our marriage. Even though this is all a joke, I do feel like from the church’s standpoint, this looks really bad,” Jen said in an interview. She explained to Mayci Neeley that if she were to go up on stage with the dancers (the Chippendales shows typically involve audience participation), she would become “a divorced woman,” continuing , “...Zac would literally divorce me over something like this.”
At this point, the women had clued their men in on where they were. Taylor’s and Mikayla’s partners weren’t happy about it, but Zac took it to a new level. Zac called Jen, and she explained she didn’t know where they were going. “Can you just stop for a second and just like think of me as a person and my character? Can you think about me, please?” Jen asked before breaking down crying. Taylor comforted her, and Jen said Zac had told her he didn’t want to be married to her if she did things like this.
The situation continued into episode 7. Jen, Taylor and Mikayla left before the Chippendales show started. Back at the rental house, Zac sent Jen a text message: “I’m done, Jen. Not interested in talking. I can’t do this anymore with you.” However, the kicker was that Zac was laying into her via text while taking part in a frowned-upon activity himself: gambling… with the $2,500 Jen gave him because she’s the breadwinner while he’s in medical school.
When the ladies woke up the next morning, Jen wasn’t there. She left at 2 am to go to Zac. Jessi and Demi Engemann had been with her before she left, and they read all the texts Zac was saying to Jen. He called her disgusting and said he didn’t love her anymore. He was even threatening to take their two kids and move back to his parents’ house. Zac also insulted the other women and their marriages, taking jabs at some of them being divorced and accusing Jessi of cheating on her first husband.
It’s key to remember: Zac was gambling during all of this. Taylor’s boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, revealed Zac had been up gambling until 1:30 am. Demi then revealed how Jen said Zac’s family gave them a chunk of money to help support them while he was in medical school, and he blew right through it by gambling.
After being away for most of the day, Jen met up with the ladies and revealed Zac apologized and felt bad for how he treated her and handled the situation. She added, “At the end of it, like yes, like he has these narcissistic traits about him and like they come out in like situations like this like every few months,” Jen said. “But like, who’s to say in another marriage that won’t be the same thing?”
Jessie said that she was disgusted with Zac and believed the other women agreed. Jen understood where the ladies were coming from and recognized how Zac acted, breaking down in tears again.
As a married woman myself, I’m all about respecting your partner’s boundaries — within reason, of course. But Zac’s discomfort with Jen being at the show at all was not the problem with this whole Chippendales situation, because it seems like an agreed-upon boundary. It’s how he acted and spoke to her — all while being hypocritical by doing something non-LDS-friendly himself.
First off, it’s not like Jen stayed when she knew how upset her husband was. She respected his feelings after they spoke and she went home. But is saying that you don’t love someone anymore and threatening to take away their kids the appropriate “punishment” for your wife seeing — not touching, not licking, not cheating with — some shirtless men? I’m glad that Jen at least acknowledged that her husband has “narcissistic traits,” and I like that she’s gotten more of a voice in their marriage, which could partly explain why Zac has control issues. But no one controls someone in any kind of relationship.
Since Jen and Zac are clearly one of the more religious couples on the show, it makes sense Zac had a strong reaction to Chippendales. But is he going to look in the mirror and have a strong reaction to himself gambling away large chunks of money? Or is anyone going to look at why expectations are different between men and women as far as the church is concerned?
I feel empathy for Jen, because it seems like she’s trying to be more of herself while still trying to be in a happy marriage. Plus, she is only 24 years old and has two young children. I have no doubt that it will be tough for her to watch these scenes back, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives starts streaming on Hulu on Friday, September 6.
