Yahoo News 'MAFS' Alum Jamie Otis Cries After Husband Doug Hehner Recalls Drug Overdose She Never Knew About
'Married at First Sight' alum Jamie Otis shared that the couple "are nine and half years married" and she is still learning the depths of her husband’s past drug addiction
Jamie Otis is opening up about learning of her husband Doug Hehner’s past drug overdose after being married for nearly a decade.
On Thursday, the Married at First Sight alum, 37, shared an emotional video detailing how she learned about the scary incident while recording the couple's podcast, Hot Marriage. Cool Parents.
“We are recording the podcast and somehow [it] always becomes a therapy session for us,” she said as she broke down in tears. “[In a listener’s] five-star review, someone mentioned the loss of her brother from drugs and then it just caused Doug to feel like he could open up a little bit more about all that he was going through and a time that he almost died from his drug addiction that I didn’t even know about.”
In the caption, the former reality star shared that the revelation didn’t come as a total surprise as she had expected Hehner, 39, was “hiding something from me — I didn’t know exactly what though.”
Related: Jamie Otis Shares Tearful Video After Talk with Therapist: 'A Glimpse Into My Reality'
“I remember a time during the holidays that I was with his family & they said, ‘When Doug’s ready to tell you, he will,’ ” she recalled. “I asked Doug what on earth they were talking about but of course, he didn’t say.”
“I felt like an outsider looking in. It hurt to know there was some sort of secret that no one wanted to tell me,” she added. “Little did I know — my hubby was only hiding bc he was ashamed. He felt guilty. He felt embarrassed. And his family was protecting him.”
“It's taken us nearly a decade, but my husband told me everything ... we sobbed together & I feel like we have grown more over one conversation than we have in all of our marriage.”
She concluded the post by sharing that she was “proud” of her husband for speaking out, adding, “He is no longer hiding. He is free. And I can see his genuine happiness.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼.”
On the latest episode of Hot Marriage. Cool Parents, Hehner recalled overdosing on opioids at his parents’ home 12 years ago, telling his wife, “There was one time where my sister had to wake me up because she heard me coughing in my sleep. I don’t know if I ever mentioned this [to you].”
Otis — who married Hehner in 2014 during the first season of Married at First Sight — responded, “You’ve never told me this. Doug, you have not told me so many things and we’re like nine and half years married and I’m still learning.”
He explained that he never brought up the experience because of feeling “ashamed,” adding, “It’s really difficult [because] you want to black out a lot of the bad things that happened.”
Hehner further detailed the experience and told listeners that his sister heard him gurgling in his sleep before emergency personnel arrived at the family’s home. “I was unresponsive and [had] shallow breathing, from what they said but I wasn’t waking up," he recalled.
While in the ambulance, Hehner remembered feeling grateful to have survived, sharing, “I was just thankful to be alive, how close it could have been to not being here. I haven’t thought about that in a while.”
Despite only learning of the overdose while recording the podcast, Otis reassured her husband, saying, “Addiction is a disease.”
Earlier this month, Otis — who shares Henley, 5, and Hendrix, 3, with Hehner — reflected on learning of her husband’s drug overdose after recording the podcast.
“Doug's told me he ‘lost his life & almost died’ bc of his addiction, but I had no idea the true extent of it until today,” she shared in part on Instagram. “We were recording our podcast when @doughehner told me how he *genuinely* almost died while he was addicted to drugs. 😢.”
“It's wild to think we've been married almost a full decade and I'm just learning the true extent of his addiction now,” she continued. “The shame and hurt he's been feeling all this time.”
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“It hurts my heart to think he never felt safe enough to open up and share.😢 He said that past girlfriends left him when they found out .... I *hate* to admit this, but God knows, if I had known prior to falling in love with him I would've asked for a divorce too.😢”
She concluded the message by sharing her gratitude for finding Hehner on the Lifetime series, writing, “Im thanking Jesus, the universe & all my lucky stars for bringing my hubby and me together. It's the most bizarre way to get married...married at first sight ..but I genuinely believe we are soul mates.💯🙏🏼❤️”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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