The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jen Affleck admitted to struggling throughout 2024 amid speculation about her marriage to Zac Affleck.
Jen, 25, took to TikTok on Tuesday, December 31, to share a video of her crying, which she captioned, “The hardest year of my life. But one that will forever change me and who I want to be.”
The footage was accompanied by audio of Queen Latifah’s speech from the movie Last Holiday. “Wasted too much of my life being quiet,” the sound said. “I was afraid, I guess. You know how it is. You keep your head down and hustle and hustle.”
Jen received an outpouring of support from her costars in the comments section. Her friend Taylor Frankie Paul, also featured on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, shared a similar message via her TikTok amid rumors she split from Dakota Mortensen.
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“2024 was the worst year of my life,” Taylor, 30, wrote in one video. Another read, “I didn’t think my 20s would be so trying, so full of gain, joy, learning lessons, loss, pain, confusion, love, betrayal, shame, guilt, heartbreak, happiness and sadness all mixed.”
Taylor shared highlights from her 20s, which included ups and downs with ex-husband Tate Paul and her romance with Dakota. The video ended by showing Taylor alone with her kids. Dakota, for his part, shared a TikTok of him moving into a new apartment after the holidays.
@jenniferaffleckk The hardest year of my life. But one that will forever change me and who I want to be.
Season 1 of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered in September 2024 and followed a group of Mormon mom influencers in Utah. While Taylor and Dakota’s issues were largely at the center of the series, Jen and Zac’s marriage also had its moment. Initially, Jen was presented as a devout Mormon with a seemingly perfect home life, but her costars — and viewers — got a glimpse at her marital issues toward the end of the season when Zac claimed she had “no values or morals” after a girls night out in Las Vegas.
“Zac’s making me feel like I did do something, like I cheated on him or something. I clearly didn’t do anything, and he knows my heart and my intentions,” she said during a confessional. “And so it’s so upsetting that he doesn’t believe me or trust me. I would never do anything to jeopardize our marriage and it makes me sad that he doesn’t feel that way.”
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Jen defended Zac when the episodes were released in September 2024, exclusively telling Us Weekly where the couple stood.
“Ever since we finished filming, we’ve been doing nonstop therapy and it’s been great,” Jen said at the time. “So if anything, [watching the show] is just going to be exposure therapy at this point. We’ve healed and now we’re ready to talk about it once it comes out.”
Jen also shut down suggestions that her husband was the reason for her leaving MomTok, saying, “It had a lot to do with just me and just figuring out everything. There are so many factors — not just our relationship — like religion, friendships and my children.”
She continued: “In order to make the right decision for me and my family, I really had to take a step back and ask myself, ‘How am I going to move forward and what’s best for us?’ You’ll just have to wait for season 2 to see what happens.”
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The couple have since moved from Utah to New York while Zac attends medical school. When The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was renewed for season 2, however, viewers questioned the status of Jen and Zac’s marriage. The pair haven’t directly addressed the rumors.
“Choosing to step away from social media has been one of the best things I’ve done for my mental health,” Jen wrote via Instagram Story in December 2024. “I can’t lie — these months have been some of the toughest I’ve faced, but they’ve also helped me gain clarity about myself, my relationships and the mother and friend I aspire to be.”
Zac’s own Instagram account is private and his bio reads, “Official Fan Page of Jen, Nora and Luca @jenniferlaffleck.”
