Jen Affleck had a tough season on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. She's not letting that stop her from pursuing her Dancing With the Stars dreams. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images)Jen Affleck isn't new to sharing her ups and downs on social media, but being flipped and spun through the air is a new kind of content for the influencer and mom of three. As she spends between five and eight hours in a studio every day preparing to compete on Dancing With the Stars, she's still bringing her kids along for the ride. There's one in a stroller behind her in the background of a recent viral post.
Everyone wants to know how she's training for the ultra-athletic competition show Dancing With the Stars just weeks after giving birth in July. Truth is, she doesn't really know if she can do it or how successful she'll be. She just has to try."With my second baby, I ran the New York City Marathon three months postpartum," she tells Yahoo casually. "So I thought, 'You know what? If I can do that, I think I can do this!'"AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe 26-year-old first broke out as an influencer on TikTok, known for sharing videos of herself dancing on her kitchen countertops. She then became part of MomTok, a group of young Mormon moms from Utah who found viral fame online and now star in Hulu's reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
Jen's trajectory on the show has not been easy. The first season featured an explosive fight with her husband, Zac Affleck. In the second season, they reunite after being separated, which causes tension and disappointment in her friend group. When she found out she was pregnant with her third child, the difficulties in her marriage and the drama within MomTok compounded her prenatal depression. She stopped filming six episodes into the season to seek mental health treatment.
It would have been easy for Jen to leave the limelight entirely and revert to a life offscreen, but she's not really in the business of taking it easy."I was a bit traumatized after Season 2, to be honest. The easier thing would have been to just leave [the show] and to not come back, but I definitely knew that if I didn't come back, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life," she says.
Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty ImagesIt was scary for her to return to Mormon Wives, but going on Dancing With the Stars, regardless of what other people's expectations were for her body, was a no-brainer. She's watched the show as long as she can remember. Her moves might be TikTok-famous, but she doesn't have any formal training.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I have no dancing experience besides being Latina and just growing up dancing ... at parties," Jen says. "That's really the only experience I have. That and dancing on countertops."After just a week of ballroom practice, she was covered in bruises and blisters, shocked by how demanding the sport was on her body. She says she felt like an old lady. A lot of people have told her that she shouldn't do the show and that she should relax instead. But she knows what she needs."Honestly, it's doing what I love that helps me get out of the rut ... that helps me feel more inspired in life," she says. "Dancing With the Stars is filling my cup, and because I'm filling my cup, I'm able to give more to my kids, my family and the world."'I'm becoming a better version of myself'Trying to find a way to keep depression at bay is what made Jen famous in the first place. She says she was stuck in her house as a stay-at-home mom when she started sharing videos of herself dancing to cope with postpartum and have fun with her kids. Other young mothers have re-created her posts, which she loves. From there, her influencer career took off.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe transition from TikTok celebrity to reality TV celebrity was a big step for her."With social media, you're able to edit yourself in the way that you want to. With reality TV, you have to let that go," she says. "It's scary and it takes a lot of vulnerability."Jen Affleck (left) and the cast of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives pose for a photo at a party that was featured in Season 1. (Fred Hayes/Hulu/Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection)That vulnerability has been good for her personal growth."I feel like my life in general hasn't even really changed," she says. What really has changed is more awareness to myself, my relationship, and through that, I feel like I'm becoming a better version of myself."Jen admits she's had one "crazy moment" that made her realize that she's an actual, recognizable star, though: She met Ben Affleck and his daughter, and his daughter was a huge fan. That's all she could say about the encounter - we'll find out when Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 3 is out on Nov. 13.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was a momentous interaction for her. In the