For most people, appearing on the reality TV show Married at First Sight might be the wildest part of their dating history. Jess O'Connor is not most people. O'Connor, a 31-year-old dental hygienist from Cambridgeshire, UK, appeared on the seventh season of the British version of Married at First Sight. While she didn't go on to find lasting love with her groom, she got plenty of attention for revealing a twisted story from her dating past that left her with some lasting trust issues.
The reality TV star recently took to TikTok to reveal all of the shocking details of discovering that her boyfriend (prior to her time appearing on the show) had not only cheated on her, but that she had caught him in the act with the last person she would have expected: her own stepmother. Both fans of the Married at First Sight show and people who stumbled on the story on TikTok are kind of obsessed with learning more. The video has over 1,700 comments, because we know people love to discuss drama and dish the dirty details when it comes to a good cheating story. Jess was surprisingly composed as she shared what really happened the night that her boyfriend and her stepmom took the concept of "all in the family" way too far.
She had been planning on a future with her boyfriend.
Jess explains in the NSFW video that the incident between her then-boyfriend and her stepmom took place several years ago, when she was in her 20s. She'd been with the boyfriend for four years and the two had just purchased a home together. They were even planning on getting engaged and she thought of him as one of the family, so it wasn't unusual for the couple to spend the night at her father and stepmother's home.
As Jess tells it, she went upstairs for the night and left her boyfriend and stepmom hanging out together. Nothing seemed off, until she woke up at 5 a.m. and discovered she was alone in bed.
She couldn't believe what she saw when she went downstairs.
Jess went downstairs to find her man and instead, found some troubling clues in the family dining room: two piles of clothes, an empty bottle of Champagne, and some dusty handprints on the table. But even worse was her next discovery!
She explains, "I instantly knew what had happened, I could even see handprints on the table! I saw him sleeping on the sofa under a blanket and I ran to him and pulled the blanket off him screaming. He then pulled up her lacy [underpants] instead of his own! I was in complete shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing."
No! Not him in her underwear!
While the betrayal of the boyfriend is heartbreaking, the fact that it involved her stepmother was even worse.
Her stepmother had been her 'second mum' for years.
O'Connor's stepmother had been a part of her life for years. In fact, she says, her stepmother "had been in my life for 25 years and she did that to me … she even knew my family before I was born. The most upsetting thing about it all was how they both betrayed me like that."
In the immediate aftermath of getting busted, her stepmom admitted what happened right away, including to her husband, who vowed to divorce her. The incident destroyed more than O'Conner's and her boyfriend's relationship, it took down a marriage, too.
The fallout and aftermath were painful.
Obviously, an incident like that is totally devastating. O'Connor shared that she felt suicidal and needed years of therapy to begin to trust again, saying, "I paid for therapy and my friends got me through it, too. It took a long time, but I did it!"
The only upside was that, according to O'Connor, her family is closer than ever. "Even though it was awful, it has made my dad, my siblings and I all even closer. We've all been on holiday together since it happened. It's weird how something so bad can bring you closer, but we needed each other. I love my dad and I am so glad we're so close now," she said.
Following this viral video story (which has over 1.6 million views and counting) some media, including The Sun in Britain, have tried to reach out to O'Connor's former stepmom for comment, but she has declined to give her side of the story.
The good news is that since this incident and her appearance on Married at First Sight, O'Connor has found new love with someone she calls the love of her life!
