Relationships are hard work — something Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner have freely admitted throughout their marriage.
The couple were introduced to one another during the first season of Married at First Sight in 2014 and committed themselves to spending the rest of their lives together. Otis had previously searched for love during season 16 of The Bachelor in 2012 and on season 3 of Bachelor Pad.
In August 2021, the Wifey 101 author described “a heated call” she and Hehner had with their couple’s counselor, which “ended [with] us holding each other & trying to figure out our next steps TOGETHER.” After eight years of marriage — and plenty of challenges along the way — the duo agreed they were “not giving up on each other,” she wrote via Instagram.
“I will fight for my family! I mean, sometimes more than they even want me to…🙈😆,” Otis added at the time. “But right now, I’m fighting for my marriage. For my children. For ME.🙏❤️.”
The Chef’s Connection host and her husband share daughter Henley Grace and son Hendrix Douglas. Their road to parenthood wasn’t easy, however, with Otis suffering multiple miscarriages. In 2016, she lost son Johnathan 17 weeks into her pregnancy and it “tore [her] world apart,” she recalled five years later.
“I looked at my baby who was so broken & bruised,” she wrote in a July 2021 Instagram tribute, marking what would have been her firstborn’s 5th birthday. “It was like all that was stolen from him-from me-was laid bare for me to see. I instantly felt like I failed him bc of choices I made way before he was born.”
While pregnant with Hendrix in 2020, the New York native was “so nervous” that she might have an early delivery following her past fertility struggles. She previously told Us Weekly exclusively that she “totally” planned to tell her kids about how she fought for her family.
“I mean, one day [Henley’s] going to ask … and I’ll explain it to her,” Otis said in November 2019. “How, I don’t know. But I have time to think about it. We’ll take it day by day. … So many people have had to mourn in private because it’s so taboo to talk about.”
Focusing on expanding their family took a toll on the pair’s romantic life, they revealed on their “Hot Marriage, Cool Parents” podcast. “I don’t feel like having sex, because I’m frickin’ depressed,” Otis said in September 2020 as she worked through postpartum depression. “I don’t feel sexy, I don’t feel hot; I’m anxious, I’m insecure.”
Hehner was “the most patient man in the world” while they took a break from the bedroom, his wife noted. “I’m shy and scared. I also didn’t have postpartum depression after [our daughter],” she continued. “I can’t explain it, the way I feel. It’s not OK, and I’m trying to figure it out.”
Scroll down for a timeline of the reality stars’ relationship highs and lows:
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