'The Family Chantel' recap: Pedro Jimeno tells Chantel Everett he wants a divorce after learning he could still get U.S. citizenship

The Family Chantel featured Pedro Jimeno flat out asking Chantel Everett for a divorce after consulting with a family-law attorney to discuss his options and immigration status during the Season 4 episode that aired Monday night on TLC.


The Family Chantel broadcast began with Chantel revealing she and Pedro hadn't said a word to each other while traveling home from the Dominican Republic. Chantel didn't understand why her husband didn't want to talk to her when she had put so much effort into saving their marriage.

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Pedro explained that he and Chantel had grown apart and they "didn't have the same love as before." He thought Chantel trying to smooth things out with his mother and get Lidia on her side actually made their dynamic worse.

Chantel didn't think a separation would improve their marriage and she preferred to work on their communication, but Pedro wanted to work on himself -- and he wanted the same for Chantel.


Chantel had no experience with separation in her own family, and so she didn't know what was to become of her relationship. Chantel had yet to give up hope, but Pedro blew up an air mattress in another bedroom so he could sleep apart from his wife.

Meanwhile, Alejandro was shown telling Nicole that he was a changed man and had already shown her how divorce papers. Nicole, however, worried about what her mother Lidia was going to think since Lidia didn't like Alejandro and considered him "manipulative and toxic."

Alejandro wanted Lidia to just hear him out, but Nicole didn't think that was going to happen. Alejandro thought Lidia was jealous of her daughter's happiness since she never found a lasting relationship or marriage, and he accused Lidia of wanting her daughter to be as miserable as she is.

Alejandro told Nicole that she was out of time and needed to make a decision, but Nicole wasn't going to let him rush her.

Alejandro therefore told Nicole that she was making a mistake, and Nicole walked away from him. Alejandro wanted Nicole to choose between him or her family, and she wasn't going to deal with an ultimatum.


"I don't want to put an end to my relationship, however, I need my mom and my brother and I just want to be happy," Nicole explained in a confessional. "So I have to do what's best for me."

Back at Pedro and Chantel's home, Pedro told the cameras that he needed space but would be willing to help Chantel if she needed space. Pedro intended to be a gentleman without sending his wife mixed signals about their relationship.

Chantel admitted that Pedro moving into a different room didn't feel any different because she had been feeling alone in the relationship for quite some time. Chantel said Pedro refused to talk to her, and if he wasn't talking, he was "badgering" her.

"He wants the separation. It's just one more step towards divorce, and is this really what he wants? Does he really want a divorce and he's just too scared to say it?" Chantel questioned in a confessional.

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Lidia was then shown telling Nicole that Pedro had separated from Chantel in order to see if she could change because she wasn't supporting him or helping him at all. Lidia also suggested that Chantel was lazy and didn't want to work, and Nicole was happy to hear this.

Nicole also told Lidia that if she wanted to fix things with Alejandro, that's her decision and her problem if she must deal with the consequences. Lidia gave advice and listened, and so she opted to be calm and let Nicole live her own life and make her own mistakes.

Chantel later met up with her best friend Destinee at a restaurant. Chantel believed that Pedro was sleeping in a different room because he still saw value in their marriage and wasn't quite ready to end it, which gave her a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Chantel shared her side of the story about visiting Pedro's mother in the Dominican Republic, and then she revealed how Pedro didn't want to talk to her or see her.

"He told me he doesn't like it when I wait up at night for him, even if all I say is, 'How was your day?'" Chantel lamented.


Destinee advised Chantel to give Pedro the space he needed because she'd end up driving him away by wanting the "old Pedro" and the old things Pedro used to do for her.

"He just doesn't have it in him," Destinee told her pal.

Chantel confessed she had been crying at Pedro's door at night and begging to salvage their relationship but he was unresponsive to that type of behavior. Chantel thought her emotional outbursts may have actually caused harm to their relationship because she looked desperate.

Chantel wondered if Pedro's "space" was going to last weeks, months, a year or more, and she feared the separation ending in divorce. She hoped Pedro was trying to clear his head so they could get back together and be happy again.

"I want to wake up one day and for this all to be a terrible dream," Chantel cried to Destinee. "I want to go to sleep and for my husband to walk inside and kiss me on the cheek. I can't [handle this]."


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Destinee told the cameras that she felt heartbroken for Chantel and didn't know what would happen if Chantel's marriage really came to an end. Destinee asked Chantel to stop crying and be brave, even if that meant moving into a separate bedroom as well.

Chantel thought that was a good idea and said she'd do anything to save her marriage.

Meanwhile, Pedro said Chantel's sadness and anger wasn't helping because he wasn't sure if she was trying to manipulate him. Pedro said he wasn't about to fall for an act.

Pedro therefore met with a family law attorney, Afiya Hinkson -- who specializes in immigration -- to learn about his options and whether he should file for a separation. He also wanted to learn more about divorce and what that would mean for his status in the United States.

Pedro shared how he had received his green card six months after tying the knot with Chantel in 2016. Chantel had filed an affidavit of support for 10 years, and Pedro learned divorce would not change Chantel's financial obligation.


Chantel would be financially responsible for Pedro for 10 years or until he became an official citizen of the United States. Pedro claimed he wanted to be "fair" and not take everything. He said he potentially wanted to divorce Chantel "50/50."

Pedro learned his rights and what he could or could not get in the circumstance of divorce -- including how he could still file for citizenship as long as he's been in the U.S. for five years.

Pedro worried Chantel's family thinking he "scammed" Chantel would have a negative impact on this process for him, but Afiya said Pedro having stayed in the marriage for four years showed dedication and good intentions.

"I've given Chantel more than Chantel has given to me. I [stopped] my life for five years to give you everything that she needs, [so she] could be a professional woman," Pedro explained.

Pedro discovered he could either have a contested divorce, which started at $10,000 for an initial retainer, or an uncontested divorce, which started at $5,000.

Pedro joked about how he'd prefer living in hell rather than giving up that type of money.


Pedro said there was no way Chantel would agree to the divorce, and Anfiya explained that once Pedro served his wife with divorce papers, she'd have 30 days to respond. If Chantel refused to respond, the divorce would still happen through the court.

Pedro insisted he never used Chantel and wanted to build a life with her, and he appeared very sad because things didn't work out that way.

Chantel finally told her parents, Karen and Thomas Everett, that Pedro wanted a separation, and the couple, along with Chantel's brother River, all thought Pedro had been after a green card the entire time and not a happy, long-lasting marriage with Chantel.

"Pedro is who I thought he was all along," River told the cameras, adding how Chantel should just cut ties with him as soon as possible.

Karen and Thomas believed Chantel had been "used and abused," and they thought Pedro's actions were "jacked up."

Thomas feared the wool had been pulled over everybody's eyes and Pedro's "plan" worked.


Pedro relied on Lidia and Nicole for support and guidance.

The women were afraid Chantel may try to pull a stunt and Pedro could ultimately be deported, but Pedro put their minds at ease based on the information he had received from a lawyer.

Pedro complained about how Chantel wanted him to be dependent on her and the more he worked, the less support he received from her. Pedro claimed he had been 100% devoted to Chantel for seven years and he could no longer hold onto the good memories of the pair making love and being in love.

The episode concluded with Chantel and Pedro having a conversation in their backyard.

Pedro told Chantel how they were going different ways in life and the situation was clearly painful for the both of them.

"But, like, I can't do this no more, for real," Pedro noted. "Like, I can't. I can't do this no more. I [tried] to do the separation here under the same roof, [but it hasn't] done any good... You haven't respected my space."


Chantel acknowledged how she hadn't respected his space, and Pedro explained how he didn't like people pursuing him and chasing him.

Pedro was determined to get out of the house, and he brutally added, "I want my divorce."

Chantel stared at the ground as Pedro spoke, and then she started to cry.

Pedro apologized for letting their marriage get to this point, but he said he couldn't continue with the way things had been going.

Chantel told the cameras that Pedro couldn't even look her in the eye. She wondered if that was because he was guilty of something, and Chantel never expected Pedro to say that.

"I wanted to know if you valued this marriage and were willing to work on it, and the answer is 'no.' So there's nothing more we need to discuss," Chantel told Pedro in reply.


Pedro confessed that all the love he felt for Chantel was "gone" and there was "nothing left there."

Pedro said he felt a pain in his chest but had to be at peace with his choice.

But Chantel said she couldn't think of a single thing she had done that warranted Pedro asking her for a divorce.

"We just started the separation! I'm starting to believe that he just wanted to be single this whole time and [didn't] have the guts to tell me," Chantel said.

Pedro then drove away from Chantel in his car, and Chantel lamented about how she had given Pedro everything -- honesty, trust, and her whole self. Chantel said she had trusted Pedro when everyone else was telling her that she was being scammed.

"I trusted him!" Chantel sobbed in a dramatic and heart-wrenching manner.


"I trusted my husband because he told me that he would not leave me! He told me that! He told me that! He told me he would never do that. And I believed it. I'm just confused."

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