Is the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City franchise already heading for its first divorce? During the second episode of the first season, Meredith Marks and her husband, Seth Marks, revealed they had secretly separated before filming began.
“Seth and I have been together for a really long time,” she told the Bravo cameras. “We met when we were 23, got married at 24 and had a baby at 25. It was just a tornado that came through and that was it. I was young but head-over-heels in love, so I went for it.”
During an awkward dinner on the November 18 episode, Seth asked his wife if he’s told her friends that they are “separated.”
She replied, “It’s not like I’m running around talking about this to everyone. I prefer they don’t discuss it.”
Meredith and Seth wed in 1996 and share three adult children: Reid, Chloe and Brooks.
“Over the years, it just broke down,” she explained on RHOSLC of their marriage. “We moved many times. We kind of were uprooted — I was trying to start my company, he was running his business, we had the three kids. There was just no communication and hostility built, and built and built, and we just got so totally overwhelmed that we just were completely disconnected.”
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Meredith admitted it was “extremely difficult” to talk about their marital issues on the Bravo show.
“It was a very big deal for me and it was hard. It was not something I was accustomed to talking about. It was not something I really wanted to talk about,” she explained. “But I had to and was forced to talk a lot more than I even wanted to, by some of the women. And that to me is not being a good friend, you know, to me being a good friend is respecting somebody’s space and their privacy when they need it.”
In the end, though, Meredith doesn’t regret letting the cameras in.
“Initially, of course, you’re very self-conscious and you’re very aware that the cameras are there. Surprisingly, as I watched the first episode, really very little of what we filmed in the first week or so aired,” she explained. “It was obviously, like, I was uncomfortable yet. But as time goes on, you just live your life and you know, this is what you signed up for. So, what gets recorded, it gets recorded, and in my view, I am who I am love it or hate it. If you hate it, take a pass. No problem. I mean, I have to live my life and I can’t be something.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET. Scroll through for everything we know about Meredith and Seth’s marriage:
