Married at First Sight alum Elizabeth Bice has revealed that her estranged husband Jamie Thompson's announcement of their split caught her totally off-guard.
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As Reality TV World reported this past summer, Jamie filed for divorce from Elizabeth on June 23, just two months after dropping the bombshell via social media that Elizabeth had left him and they were separating.
Elizabeth, who wed Jamie on Married at First Sight's ninth season in 2019, explained to Kevin how Jamie's actions during their marriage were unforgivable and she never felt like she was enough for her husband, whom she alleged was critical, demanding and verbally abusive to her.
One aspect of the pair's breakup that apparently crushed Elizabeth was Jamie's choice to publicly announce their relationship status without consulting her first.
"He totally blindsided me!" Elizabeth told Kevin on the Kickoff Special, which aired Wednesday night on Lifetime.
In April, Jamie announced how the couple had been separated for one month already via Instagram, and then in late June, he posted about how he officially filed for divorce from his Married at First Sight stranger spouse.
Elizabeth claimed she and Jamie were not on the same page about these public disclosures at all.
"I was sitting down having brunch with my best friend for her [April] birthday, and all of a sudden, my phone just starts going off and my friends are like, 'Oh my god, are you okay?'" Elizabeth recalled.
"And I was like, 'What are you talking about? I'm at lunch.' And Jamie totally blindsided me. I was not emotionally ready to handle the emails, the DMs, the texts, the calls. I was just trying to enjoy my beautiful Saturday morning."
Elizabeth added, "I did not agree with him to go announce this on social media. I did not."
Back in late April, Jamie admitted he wasn't sure if Elizabeth was going to be angry at him for speaking about their separation publicly, without her input or blessing.
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"I don't know. I'm really trying to do this in a tactful way. I don't want to say anything bad about her. I'm not here to bash Beth and drag her out behind the woodshed, so to speak, as we say in the South," Jamie noted.
Jamie said that prior to his April 22 separation announcement, he and Beth had talked about potentially going public with the news of their breakup in a united fashion.
"If we could've worked together to address this publicly, we probably could've worked together to work on our marriage," the Married at First Sight alum said.
Jamie was clearly slamming Elizabeth for her desire to leave him and have space from him.
But Jamie -- who confessed to having said mean things "out of anger and frustration" -- insisted at the time he still loved Beth "a lot" and cared for her "tremendously."
"We just can't seem to get to the point where we can have enough healthy conversation to start discussing what this looks like going forward," the Married at First Sight alum said.
"Initially, I wanted her to be here and work on things together when she left. I thought this was going to be a three or four-day thing... It hurts. It's not what I want."
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In May, Elizabeth broke her silence and told her Instagram followers in a Q&A session that she wasn't in the best place to talk about her relationship.
"I'm not ignoring [your messages]," Elizabeth wrote one month after Jamie's breakup announcement. "[I'm] just not [quite] ready to open up. But I appreciate you supporting the journey."
Elizabeth subsequently took to Instagram in mid-June with a video titled, "Let's talk Separation."
Elizabeth wrote in the caption, "Okay, it's time to address this moment happening in my life... I think you all deserve some honesty. I am healing and finding my new path and really appreciate all of the love and support. It means the world to me!!!! Xxoo Beth."
Elizabeth began the video by "getting the elephant out of the room" for her fans.
"I know everyone wants me to talk about my separation right now... And I don't want to gatekeep what's going on. Everyone who follows me has pretty much followed me because I was on the show where I married a stranger, and I totally welcome that. Welcome to my life! I'm not upset my relationship is in the public eye," Elizabeth said.
The Married at First Sight alum reasoned, however, "But come to find out, I'm a real human and I have these real emotions, and I'm just not ready to talk about some things in public yet. There are a lot of emotions that come with getting out of a long-term relationship, and when that time comes, I will talk about those."
"But I can't even form sentences right now," she admitted, "because I can't even put my emotions together."
Elizabeth proceeded to reveal that she was having an extremely difficult time post-split from Jamie.
"I still cry in the middle of the night right now, guys, okay?!" the Married at First Sight alum confessed.
"So that being said, I totally respect everyone's comments and concerns, and I love you for that -- I do. Just give me a little bit of time... because I can't!"
But Elizabeth assured her fans that she'd get to the point of sharing eventually, adding, "So stick around and watch the show."
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Alongside a selfie of himself looking glum, Jamie continued, "After months of deliberation with Beth, we were just unable to find common ground. I had really hoped to resolve this, but it feels like we have reached the point of no return. So, I made the decision to go ahead and file for divorce for the sake of my own mental health and wellbeing."
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Jamie called filing for divorce "one of the hardest things" he's had to do "in a very long time."
The Married at First Sight alum continued in his post, "It saddens me a lot to be at this point. I was never sure if I would get married. But, I sure didn't want to get divorced either (even if it was an arranged marriage courtesy of Hollywood)."
Jamie previously admitted in a Q&A session with his Instagram followers that he had "made a lot of mistakes" in the relationship but he wasn't willing to accept all the blame for the falling out with his wife.
"I also haven't felt like I've had any reciprocation back of, like, how to fix this and how to move forward. So she's been gone for four weeks. I think at this point, it's better for me to focus on myself and trying to become a better version of myself, honestly. That's all I can say," Jamie explained earlier this year.
In terms of what happened or what went wrong, Jamie surprisingly disclosed, "Nothing. It's basically death by a thousand paper cuts, at this point."
"I think the winter was really hard on us here in Colorado and we weren't ready for all that," Jamie elaborated. "And being stuck inside with sub-freezing temperatures daily and snow on the ground for weeks at a time -- and we're both active... people."
"So I think we just pushed each other's buttons, honestly. And five months of doing that straight, here we are today."
Jamie told his followers, "I say things I shouldn't say and I get more angry than I should get sometimes, but I've got to go take care of myself now... I've got to control myself. It's like Mental Health 101 -- focus on yourself, love yourself first before you try to love somebody else. So that's where I'm at today."
Jamie also admitted that he and his Married at First Sight wife felt "pressure" to create "an image of happiness" on social media, even though their relationship had been struggling for months.
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When asked why he couldn't work on himself while continuing his marriage -- given the couple had made a vow to support and love each other through sickness and in health -- Jamie said he and Elizabeth weren't growing and evolving together as spouses.
Jamie, however, insisted he would need to take some time before he's ready to begin dating again.
"I'm good on the dating streets. I think for me, right now, I just want to take some time to work on myself. Dating is not going to solve anything. Finding that perfect someone is not going to make life great all of a sudden," Jamie reasoned.
"It kind of sucks because I'm 39-years-old and I would like a family at some point, and I was hoping that was going to be possible with Beth. But I don't know after all this."
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He concluded, "If I'm 45 having my first kid, or 50, you know, medicine is great these days. What are you going to do?"
Jamie also acknowledged he and Elizabeth probably "should've been going to therapy" together and that they had swept a lot of their fights under the rug -- which resurfaced and worsened later on.
Jamie admitted he definitely "lost" himself trying to please Beth in their marriage.
"I started putting my hobbies, my goals, my own personal stuff aside trying to focus on this relationship, and that's just a piece of advice -- don't lose yourself. Be true to yourself. Know yourself," Jamie told his followers.
He also said they got in "way over their heads" with moving around the country for Jamie's job -- including stops in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, North Carolina, and then Colorado.
Jamie and Beth's split came as a surprise to Married at First Sight fans given they had just celebrated their four-year anniversary in early April.
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Elizabeth and Jamie chose to stay together on Married at First Sight's ninth season, which was based in Charlotte, NC, and aired in 2019.
Back in May 2021, Elizabeth and Jamie talked about having kids together on a Married at First Sight: Countdown to Decision Day special that aired on Lifetime.
"Are we waiting? What are we doing, babe?" Jamie asked Beth on the show.
"Speaking of babies," Elizabeth began, "Jamie and I are actually thinking to start towards the end of the year now. So, like, it's in the conversation... I am going to be a cool mom!"
Elizabeth and Jamie hit it off right away when they met at the altar as strangers on Married at First Sight four years ago.
Elizabeth and Jamie were crazy about each other, as well as sexually attracted to one another, but their passion and tempers often resulted in volatile disputes.
Elizabeth sometimes got overly emotional over things that bothered her, and she once flipped over her living room table during a disagreement. Jamie, on the other hand, sometimes used his words as weapons and complained about their lack of physical intimacy. He even called Elizabeth "a materialistic c-nt" at one point.
However, with the help of the Married at First Sight's experts, Elizabeth and Jamie managed to get through every rough patch and effectively communicate, resulting in what they thought would be a happy and long-lasting marriage.
Both spouses recognized by "Decision Day" that they didn't want to live without the other.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
