Married at First Sight star Clara Berghaus has slammed Chris Williams' decision to divorce Paige Banks less than three weeks into their marriage on Season 12 of the Lifetime reality series.
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Although Chris promised Paige during their honeymoon she'd be the No. 1 priority in his life, Chris suddenly had a change of heart and told Paige that he wanted a divorce and to reconcile with his then-pregnant ex-fiancee, Mercedes Myrick, with whom Chris confessed he was still in love.
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On Wednesday night's episode of Married at First Sight: Unfiltered, Clara and two of her Married at First Sight co-stars, Virginia Coombs and Haley Harris, watched back a Season 12 clip in which Chris revealed to his friend, Pastor Dwight, he had asked Paige for a divorce.
"You currently have a diamond, period. Those are rare," Dwight says in the clip. "Let's just consider Paige. Let's consider her feelings. Let's consider everybody that's involved."
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"Yeah, with all due respect, I'm really done with the conversation," Chris snaps.
Unfiltered host Jamie Otis -- who starred on Season 1 of Married at First Sight -- asked Clara for her perspective on that footage.
"We know Paige is a warrior, an absolute diamond, as [Dwight] said," Clara shared. "It's horrible to see [Chris]' friends can see how amazing she is and he can't."
She added, "Yeah, it seems like par for the course, for me."
Jamie then asked Clara for her thoughts on Chris wanting a divorce just three weeks into his marriage Paige.
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"Oh goodness, I think it speaks to your character," Clara said. "I think it says that you clearly didn't make the vow that you said you did."
Clara expressed sympathy for Chris' loved ones given so many people had been involved and invested in the marriage other than the bride and groom, Paige and Chris.
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"I just personally can't imagine bringing the people in my life into something like this -- saying 'yes' in front of my family and my friends and God -- knowing that he puts God on such a pedestal -- and then three weeks later being like, 'Naw, I'm good,'" Clara explained.
Even Haley, who seemed unhappy in her marriage to Jacob Harder and realized she wasn't attracted to her husband during their honeymoon, said she wasn't thinking about divorce at this point in the extreme experiment.
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"We have quite a few problems," Haley acknowledged.
"But at the end of the day, I think we're committed to seeing this through. So I don't want to say that we're necessarily giving up just yet, but we're still figuring it out."
Virginia pointed out that divorce seems like "such a last straw option."
"Absolutely," Clara agreed. "Absolutely."
"Especially given the situation we're in where we have so many resources," Clara said, referring to Married at First Sight experts Pastor Calvin Roberson, Dr. Viviana Coles and Dr. Pepper Schwartz.
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"I don't know, divorce really, really seems like a last [resort]."
Chris and Mercedes had been engaged just three months prior to Chris signing up for Married at First Sight.
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Chris -- who repeatedly called Mercedes' pregnancy "devastating" and "disturbing" news when he initially revealed it to Paige and his fellow Married at First Sight co-stars -- claimed he and Mercedes had split in May 2020, but he told his buddy and fellow MAFS star Vincent Morales, "That wasn't the last time we had sex, for sure."
While Chris seemed set on dumping Paige and trying to win Mercedes back, his storyline with Paige is still playing out on the Lifetime reality series.
After a tense conversation with Married at First Sight expert Pastor Calvin Roberson in which Chris revealed he wanted to part ways with Paige, Chris allegedly whispered in Paige's ear that his fear was falling in love with her.
A confused Paige subsequently met Mercedes face to face in attempt to take some control back in the situation, and Mercedes announced that she had no intention of taking Chris back.
Paige was also convinced she was finished with her relationship until Chris called her to meet up at a bar. Chris didn't have any new revelations to share with Paige but confessed he was afraid of "making the wrong decision trying to make the right decision."
"I feel like I'm doing the right thing in my mind, raising my baby possibly with the mother of my kid. But I'm married. I signed up to be married," Chris lamented.
Chris told the cameras he had rejected everybody, including Paige, because he was trying to focus on the news of his baby. As a result, he admitted to being "negligent in my responsibilities as being a husband."
Chris told Paige that she didn't deserve this at all and should never be a man's "option." Chris claimed he would definitely want to be with Paige and treat her right under different circumstances.
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Chris asked Paige what she wanted, and Paige replied, "I wanted you to give us a chance."
Chris therefore suggested they should reset, start over and begin fresh -- and Paige agreed to a clean slate for the both of them.
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