Going back to the start. Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner are trying to rekindle their spark the simplest way they know how, thanks to their therapist.
“Our couples therapist told us a good way to avoid divorce is by having FUN *together*❤️,” the former Bachelor Nation personality, 35, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, August 12, alongside a playful pic of her and Hehner, 37. “Before we were mom and dad we were spontaneous, silly, and adventurous💯…it honestly feels so good to just laugh with each other again…🙏😭.”
The reality stars met on season 1 of Married at First Sight and tied the knot in 2014. They share daughter Henley, 3, and son Hendrix, 15 months, but experienced plenty of challenges on their road to parenthood, including multiple miscarriages.
Earlier this month, Otis shared a tearful photo after a “heated” therapy session — but she’s not willing to give up on her husband.
“We are gonna spend more time doing the things that made us fall in love—after we got married.😜😂🥰,” she wrote on Thursday, noting that she planned to “be super present with my fam bam and keep working on fighting for my marriage.”
She noted, “I never knew how much choosing to be PRESENT helps, but it really does!🙏 Sending you loads of love!❤️❤️❤️.”
The registered nurse’s candid post comes several months after she admitted that she’s been “in a rut” since being diagnosed with postpartum depression. During a May episode of her “Hot Marriage, Cool Parents” podcast, Otis claimed she has a “hard time trusting” Hehner after previously catching him in lies.
“I’m begging for help in every aspect of my life … I’m angry and sad and hurt and I don’t know what to do,” she said at the time. “I literally have to manage every aspect of our life. … Needless to say, we’re obviously working on our marriage. I’m just at a loss. I feel completely deflated.”
Otis went into more detail about the “rough patch” in her marriage in an Instagram post promoting the vulnerable podcast episode. “I had this mental breakdown a couple weeks ago and since then Doug & I have been really trying. We aren’t giving up on each other🙏❤️ So yeah, our grass isn’t always green. But we both vowed to water the ish outta it til it’s vibrant with life again🙏🌱,” she wrote.
The Wifey 101 author and the business development manager have made their family their primary focus — and were already thinking about expanding further after welcoming baby No. 2 last year.
“I definitely, definitely, definitely want more kids,” Otis told Us Weekly exclusively in June 2020, adding that she wanted to start “trying immediately” given her past fertility struggles. “We want four kids for [sure]. I also really would love to adopt in the future as well. … I believe that God is going to give us what we deserve and what we can handle.”
