A wise person once said that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — and the couples on Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars were about to find that out. On the Friday, January 27, episode of the relationship-rehab show, the stars had to face how their relationships with their parents colored their relationships as adults. Bad Girls Club alum Gabi Victor was at Victor Tarrats‘ throat as they fought all over the house. Chatting with some of the other guys, it became apparent that Victor resented Gabi for getting pregnant (he had been with another woman at the time).
Meanwhile, Amy Duggar and Dillon King both resisted acknowledging how their childhoods were now coloring their marriage, but the negative effects of their upbringings were painfully clear (at least to everyone else).
Amy Breaks Down Over Her Mother
During an exercise in which the campers listened to a younger version of themselves talk about their lives, Amy broke down in tears. “The last thing I want is to be compared to someone with severe depression,” she said. “There were times that it was so loud and crazy in the house that I would sleep on the trampoline outside.” Reliving that painful memory made her “angry” and “sad,” and she got even more upset as the actress playing her as a child explained that her parents’ fighting was her fault. “I was a mistake,” the child said. Amy then admitted that it had been her own father who had told her that.
But that paled in comparison to her memories of her mother. Amy had actually found a suicide note her depressed mom had left that read, “I can’t be your mom anymore.” Asked to dig deep, Amy finally admitted that she felt the need to be constantly sunny and cheerful to keep up appearances so that she could hide her pain.
When it came time for Dillon to face his younger self, he resisted more than Amy. Though the experts tried to show Dillon that his need to flash expensive clothes and watches was clearly the result of his parents showing their love for him through material gifts, Dillon didn’t seem convinced. (Amy was, though.)
Ashley Admits Her Dad Was an Alcoholic
J.P. Rosenbaum insisted that his mom had no bad traits, but Ashley Hebert cut right to the truth about her father, admitting that he was an alcoholic. “He was absent the majority of my life,” she added. The younger version of Ashley described her mother as “perfect” and recounted how, after her parents split, her mom remarried really quickly. “I think that’s what I’m going to do,” the child version of Ashley said. “Maybe I’ll get married on a TV show.” Ashley laughed at this, but she still got the deeper message.
As for J.P., his younger self was as closed off from emotions as his adult self. Though he continued to argue that he was in tune with how he was feeling, the rest of the couples in the house said he was very closed off. Around that point, Ashley actually began to cry, saying, “I feel like I became an adult so young.” The experts pointed out that Ashley was probably overly attentive to her child (she only had one at the time of filming) because her own parents had been so absent.
Later, when Judge Lynn Toler gave evaluations, she figured out a way to make J.P. and Buck Thomas cry — and gave them a bag of onions to chop. (This might not have been particularly effective therapy, but it at least lightened the mood in the house.)
Amy and Dillon Have a Throw-Down Fight
After the evaluations, Amy was clearly steaming and ended up initiating a fight with Dillon in their bedroom. “Your ego can get the best of you without even trying to be that way,” she said. “Sometimes you are a little like that.” He said something in response that only made her more upset. She told the camera, “I think Dillon is not aware of how he talks to me. I just feel really small when he talks to me like that.”
When she told him she didn’t like his tone, he repeatedly asked, “Are you serious?” He then said he was “so tired of hearing, ‘yap, yap, yap.'” In a voiceover, Amy said, “I don’t know about our marriage, and I have a lot to think about.” Dillon’s response? “Honestly, I don’t care.”
Tell Us: Do you think Amy and Dillon’s marriage will make it through boot camp?
Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars airs on We TV Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.
