A Married at First Sight star has accused his new wife of moving backwards after she burst into tears over the loss of her dead boyfriend right before moving in with him.
Jaclyn Schwartzberg, 29, lost the love of her life just a year and a half before she married 29-year-old Ryan Buckley, and on Tuesday night’s episode of the Lifetime reality series he questioned if she was really ready for a fresh start.
‘I’ve risked everything for love, and now I am questioning if she is even ready for a another relationship with me,’ he admitted during his testimonial.
Hard to handle: Ryan Buckley, 29, accused his wife Jaclyn Schwartzberg, 29, of moving backwards after he caught her crying over the loss of of her previous boyfriend
Emotional moment: Jaclyn broke down while going through boxes of things she shared with her boyfriend in anticipation of moving in with Ryan
After they returned to Boston following their honeymoon, Jaclyn and Ryan had a great time showing each other their respective apartments and looking for a new place that they could call their own.
Jaclyn was living with her last boyfriend when he suddenly died, and she liked that Ryan wanted them to find a new place to live for a ‘fresh start’ – but moving also meant she had to go through the stuff she shared with her ex-boyfriend for the first time since his death.
‘I am a little anxious to be moving in with Ryan,’ she admitted. ‘The last move I had was with my last boyfriend who meant the world to me, but then he passed away.’
Jaclyn almost immediately started crying when she was going through their memories, and tears streamed down her face while she held up an empty picture frame.
‘This was going to be a picture of us skiing that winter. It didn’t happen,’ she said.
Jaclyn stressed that going through the boxes wasn’t easy because it was a reminder that plans don’t always go as planned.
Acting? Ryan was sympathetic and told Jaclyn he was there for her when he caught her crying, but he was actually stressing out over her reaction to her ex’s things
Bad timing: Jaclyn thought it was ‘insensitive’ that he confronted her about not being ready to move on with him on their first night in their new apartment
‘I’m not feeling the best right now. I feel like I am opening a wound,’ she said. However, she noted that she wanted to go through the boxes because she truly wanted to have a new beginning with Ryan and give their marriage a ‘fair shot.’
Ryan looked more than a little uncomfortable when he came to visit her and realized that she had been crying.
‘I’m here to back her up and help her as much as I can, but I mean I’m confused. I don’t really know how to perceive this whole thing going on,’ he told the camera.
‘These are the skeletons from her past coming at her.’
He added: ‘It looks like she is taking steps backwards.’
Ryan tried to gauge the situation and find out what Jaclyn’s emotional reaction meant for them as a married couple, but he didn’t share the concerns that were running through his mind.
She looked pleased when he appeared to be sympathetic to the situation, telling her: ‘This is where I want to be. This is what a husband does. I am not going to let this be a wedge between us because that’s not the right thing to do.’
Happier times: The two were all love-dovey when they visited their respective apartments earlier in the week
Ready to move on? The two ended up choosing an apartment right in the heart of Boston, and Jaclyn insisted she was excited to move in with him
Jaclyn told the camera that it was very important for Ryan to understand the emotions she still felt over her loss had nothing to do with him. It meant a lot to her that he was there to help her, and she insisted she was excited to move in with him — even though it didn’t look like it.
However, Ryan completely changed his stance once they were in their new apartment. While they were sitting down together, he admitted that two weeks wasn’t enough time for him to truly understand her past.
Ryan said the hardest thing in their marriage right now was Jaclyn’s recent loss, which was stressing him out.
‘Things that scare me is that your past is still haunting you,’ he told her. ‘I want to make sure you know that I am here for a fresh start.’
Jaclyn couldn’t figure out where this was coming from because Ryan seemed fine earlier in the day. When he said he was uncomfortable going through her old boxes, she told him that she thought it was something they were doing together.
Ryan told her that he was an outsider and from his perspective it looked like she still had ‘feelings’ and was moving ‘backwards.’
House hunting: Shawniece Jackson, 29, and Jephte Pierre, 26, also agreed to find a new place that they could both call home
Show and tell: Shawniece happily showed her new husband her organized room at her family’s house before they went apartment hunting
Oh no: Shawniece was shocked whens she saw how messy Jephte’s bedroom was
Jaclyn thought it ‘felt insensitive’ that he was accusing her of going backwards on their first night in their new apartment, but he didn’t stop there.
‘I don’t come with any baggage or any like past feelings for anybody,’ he said. ‘I know exactly what I want and my biggest fear right now is that your not over your past.
‘You said you are over it enough, but are you over it enough to make this work?’
Jaclyn and Ryan weren’t the only ones having problems, as Jephte Pierre, 26, wasn’t even willing to share a bed with his 29-year-old wife Shawniece Jackson.
At the start of the episode, he insisted he didn’t want to rush things with his new wife because he had never lived with anyone before and he really felt like he could fall for her.
The two seemed to be getting a long great when the showed each other where they lived. Because Shawniece lived with her family, they couldn’t stay at her place, and he joked that she was ‘downgrading’ by moving in with him.
Bedtime routine? Shawniece wanted to stay over Jephte’s apartment, but he refused to share a bed with her
Bad sign? Jephte opted to sleep on the floor in the spare bedroom in his Boston apartment
Harsh response: Shawniece even got down on her knees to give him a kiss goodnight, but he told her to leave him alone
Shawniece admitted she likes to have everything organized, and she was shocked when she saw how messy Jephte’s apartment was. They quickly agreed it would be best to move into a new place that they could call their own.
However, it was unclear why he even had her stay the night in his apartment. After sleeping in different beds throughout their entire honeymoon, Jephte opted to curl up on the floor in the spare bedroom of his place instead of sharing a bed with Shawniece.
‘With my husband sleeping on the floor and sleeping in separate bedrooms, it makes me nervous,’ Shawniece admitted. ‘It’s like, okay, are you not attracted to me? Do you not want me? What’s is the problem? What is the issue?’
‘I want us to be husband and wife, and I don’t feel wanted because he’s on the floor,’ she added.
Shawniece sweetly set up his blanket for him, and she even got down on her knees to give him a kiss goodnight after he was settled. But he just ended up getting annoyed with her.
‘Leave me alone,’ he said after she gives him a big smooch.
Breakdown: Shawniece cried to her mom that Jephte wanted nothing to do with her, and her mother was shocked to hear that they were sleeping in different rooms
Another fight: Later that night, Shawniece cried when she was with Jephte, tellin ghim that he made her feel unwanted
When Shawniece went to meet her mom for lunch, she burst into tears while describing how Jephte wanted nothing to do with her.
She admitted that she was ready to just give up and shut down. While her mom urged her to take more time, she looked appalled when she learned that they were sleeping in separate beds.
Shawniece’s feelings of woe came home with her, and she started crying for a second time that day when she and Jephte were moving boxes into their new bedroom.
‘I had a hard time today. You just close me out instead of allowing me to be in, and I am tired of feeling like I am not wanted. That is the worst feeling in the world,’ she told him.
She reminded him that they were in this together, and she couldn’t do it all alone.
‘I just want you to let me in,’ she said.
Next step: Molly Duff, 25, and Jonathan Francetic, 28, didn’t have any problems finding a place to live that they both agreed on
Relieved: Although she thought he was a little too childish on their honeymoon, Molly was happy to report her new husband was acting more mature now that they were home
And while Molly Duff, 25, and Jonathan Francetic, 28, weren’t fighting, they weren’t be very intimate either.
On last week’s episode Molly confessed that she was turned off by her new husband because he acted like a 12-year-old boy on their honeymoon, but she was feeling better about him once they got back to Boston because he was acting more mature.
She was pleased to see that his apartment reflected the ‘classy’ side of him, and they both noticed that they decorated their respective apartments in similar ways. The only thing that was different was the amount of closet space they took up.
When Molly caught glimpse of his closet, she asked where his clothes were because there weren’t that many things hanging up. He eventually understood her initial confusion when he caught glimpse of her stuffed closet.
Molly admitted it was the first time that Jonathan looked genuinely concerned during this process.
‘He always says I have a good sense of style. Where does he think that comes from?’ she joked.
Um? Molly couldn’t figure out why Jonathan hardly had any clothes in his closet
Concerned: Jonathan couldn’t get over how many clothes Molly crammed into her closet
Feeling lucky? Jonathan hoped moving in with Molly would help them become more physically intimate
Like the other couples, they also agreed to find a new place to call home, but Jonathan had even more pressure on him because he lost his job when he agreed to be on the show.
‘I think it is pretty admirable and sweet that Jon is willing to lose his job for love,’ Molly said, but she made it clear that she wasn’t willing to give up her beauty regimen.
‘I’m always going to get my hair done. I am always going to get my nails done. That’s part of my budget,’ she told her husband.
Luckily for Jonathan he had enough sense to encourage her to keep paying for her beauty appointments. He even had a friend watch his beloved cat while they were in their new place because Molly was allergic.
The one thing Jonathan was ready for was consummating their marriage, but Molly seemed to be dead set on taking things slow.
‘I am definitely attracted to Molly, we’re just not physical yet, but I am hoping moving in together is a turning point,’ he said during his testimonial.