Dr. Jen Armstrong and her husband, Ryne Holliday, went through a lot during production on The Real Housewives of Orange County season 16. However, it is one particular struggle that stands out in Jen’s mind when it comes to their marital troubles.
Following the series’ latest episode on Wednesday, which featured Jen drunk at Heather’s house, Jen explained what made her extremely “frustrated” with Ryne.
“It felt like it was one-sided, that I was the only one trying. And I don’t think that’s ever going to work,” Jen said of her efforts to work things out with Ryne on the March 2 episode of the RHOC: After Show. “If you just keep giving out and giving out [and] you’re not getting it back in return, it’s very frustrating. It’s like, how long can you do that? How are we moving forward? Is it getting better? Is it getting worse?”
According to Jen, she became “very frustrated” with Ryne because she felt he wasn’t doing his part.
“I felt it was extremely one-sided, me giving it out and not getting it back,” she shared.
As fans saw on Wednesday’s RHOC, Jen sought help from Heather and her husband, Dr. Terry Dubrow, amid her issues with Ryne because she felt she was “able to lean on [Heather]” for advice. And ironically, Heather was in the business of giving advice at that very time.
“We have this new show that we’re working on called 7 Year Stitch where we help couples because we feel like we’ve managed to survive the reality show curse. So far, so good and you know, we’ve had our own share of problems over the years that we’ve managed to work through,” Heather explained of the 25 years she and Terry have spent together.
After learning Jen was having a hard time in her marriage, Heather took it upon herself to implement her knowledge on her castmate.
“I want to see people stay together… and it was a very odd, art imitating life moment for me where we’re filming 7 Year Stitch and then I have this friend, Jen, who’s having similar issues with her husband to one of the couples we’re working with on 7 Year Stitch,” Heather explained.
After Jen suggested she and Ryne join Heather and Terry at their home, where Jen hoped Ryne would be able to see what a healthy, functioning marriage looks like, Heather was immediately on board. And while Jen certainly had a bit too much to drink, Heather believed her intentions were good. That said, she noticed a red flag in Jen’s friend group.
“What struck me the most is some of the people she was hanging out with were girls that were going through divorces and hadn’t had successful relationships,” Heather explained. “And my whole thing is, if you want to be successful, you hang out with successful people. So if you want to have a successful relationship, hang out with people who have successful relationships so you can emulate it, so you can see what you’re doing right.”
“So that’s what I wanted to do when Jen came over, was like, introduce her to a couple of my best friends, who’ve been together for many, many years and how does that work?” Heather added.
RHOC Live Viewing – This is also the live viewing thread for tonight’s new episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County season 16, which airs at 9/8c on Bravo.
Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo