Jen Affleck Reveals The Reason She & Zac Didn’t File For Divorce Together
“The goal was to file jointly, but...”
Jen Affleck is ready to start a new chapter of her life, but turning the page hasn’t been easy. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star’s divorce from her husband of seven years, Zac Affleck, shocked fans in the lead-up to her spin-off series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County. Now she’s opening up about the difficult decision and why one key element of the split drastically changed in the months since she first began looking into divorce.
Jen and Zac’s divorce news broke less than a week before SLOMW: OC’s premiere, after TMZ reported that she filed for a legal separation on Nov. 3. However, on the new show, which filmed in the spring and summer of 2026, Jen said that she plans to jointly file for divorce alongside Zac. She tells Elite Daily that those plans had to be altered.
“The goal was to file jointly, but that changed,” Jen says. “That goal is the reason why the divorce took so, so long.”
She calls the split “the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” adding that “it’s been hard for [Zac]” as well: “Divorce is hard, and I’m the one who has wanted it.”
Jen also had to make another pivotal decision as she distanced herself from her ex. Zac does not appear on SLOMW: OC at all, a notable difference from his frequent presence on the original show.
I wanted to leave him out of this. And it was the best decision I made.
“I thought with this next chapter, I wanted to leave him out of this. And it was the best decision I made,” Jen says. “Going into this spin-off, I felt I needed it to be my own thing. There’s a reason I didn’t want to involve him.”
Despite starring on a new series and keeping up her influencer life, Jen says that she hasn’t been reading the comments on social media. “I haven’t really seen anything [people are saying],” she says. “I’m doing my best to stay offline right now.”
However, shortly after our chat, Jen makes headlines by sharing a TikTok video of Zac criticizing her body. “I’m trying not to post for the sake of my mental health,” Jen says. “But it’s just hard.”
