Married at First Sight star Jamie Thompson has announced he and wife Elizabeth Bice are trying out a separation and that their relationship may never recover.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
RELATED: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS RE-MARRIED? (PHOTOS)
Jamie posted one of the couple's wedding photos with the following quote written across it: "Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a leap forward."
Jamie shared in the caption, "A lot of you have been asking and I've been avoiding the questions... So, I just wanted to share that I'm taking some time away from my wife to focus on myself and my personal growth."
Jamie said while his time away from Beth is "not easy," he believes "it's necessary."
"Taking this step may be difficult, but I know it's necessary for me to become the best version of myself," he continued.
"I can't say what the future holds for Beth and I, but I know I will be a stronger version of myself regardless. #selfcare #mentalhealth #personaldevelopment #personalgrowth #takingtimeforme #marriedatfirstsight."
Jamie then conducted a Q&A session via Instagram Stories with his followers, during which he revealed more information about his split from Elizabeth and what caused their marital strife.
"At first, it was not [a mutual decision]. Beth was actually the first one to leave," Jamie revealed of their breakup on April 22.
"The fighting had gotten really bad, I'm not going to lie, and I said a lot of things I really shouldn't have said. I said them out of anger and frustration."
But Jamie explained, "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."
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."
FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!
Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!
"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," he said.
Jamie revealed that he knew he needed to "take a step back" from Beth at the three-week mark of their separation, when he felt Beth wasn't trying to work on things or save their marriage.
"I wasn't getting any sense of desire to fix this. The only thing I was really hearing, coming from her side, was blame," Jamie claimed via Instagram Stories.
"And I'm not perfect, I make a lot of mistakes. 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."
RELATED: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Jamie admitted that he and Beth felt "pressure" to create "an image of happiness" on social media, even though their relationship was falling apart for months.
"To me, that's not real. We took a lot of heat coming off the show. We were our most authentic selves, our most raw selves on that show, and I just want to be honest... A lot of people are invested in our life, and I feel like I owe you guys an explanation," Jamie said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I don't think being apart and growing and evolving is always the best solution. I don't know, it's just my opinion. Why would you need to be apart to work on yourself?" Jamie shared, seemingly criticizing Beth's need for some space.
"It almost seems like maybe you shouldn't be in the marriage at that point... If you get to a point where things aren't evolving or getting better, then that's where I'm at today. I've got to step away and take care of myself."
Jamie went on to admit that he's not sure if Beth will be angry at him for speaking about their separation publicly.
"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 prior to his April 22 announcement, he and Beth had talked about potentially going public with the news of their breakup together.
"If we could've worked together to address this publicly, we probably could've worked together to work on our marriage," Jamie said.
While Jamie and Beth appear to be on the outs, Jamie insisted he's "absolutely not" ready to date 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 in his Q&A.
"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."
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 said, for the time being, he and Beth are both going to therapy and he's working on anger management.
Jamie acknowledged he and Beth probably "should've been going to therapy" together and they swept a lot of fights under the rug.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jamie, however, insisted on Sunday, April 23 that he still loves Beth "a lot" and "cares 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," Jamie 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."
But Jamie said he recognizes they both probably needed a little space.
"And now I'm like, 'How do you keep reaching somebody who doesn't want to be reached?' She just wants her own space, and honestly, I've got to do what's best for me and take my own space too," Jamie said.
Jamie admitted he definitely "lost" himself trying to please Beth in their marriage, although he wouldn't call her a "demanding" person. He said he really wanted their relationship to work.
"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.
"The desperation of a new life really hurt," Jamie recalled of trying to settle down in Colorado.
Jamie and Beth's split came as a surprise to fans given they just celebrated their four-year anniversary earlier this month.
"I think we were both struggling to make each other happy... Why were we relying on each other to make our own selves happy vs. just being happy on our own?" Jamie noted.
ADVERTISEMENT
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 explosive and volatile arguments.
Elizabeth sometimes got overly emotional over things that bothered her and memorably flipped over their living-room table, while Jamie 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 lasting marriage.
Both spouses recognized by "Decision Day" that they didn't want to live without the other.
Married at First Sight is currently airing its sixteenth season Wednesday nights on Lifetime.
RELATED: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS RE-MARRIED? (PHOTOS)
Interested in more Married at First Sight news? Join our Married at First Sight Facebook Group or click here to view our Married at First Sight newspage!
ADVERTISEMENT
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
