Who was Jen Hatmaker married to? Former HGTV host recounts being cheated on after 26 years of marriage

Jen Hatmaker has recently revealed how she discovered that around five years ago, her ex-husband, Brandon, was cheating on her. The details were addressed in Jen’s memoir Awake, which is arriving on September 23, 2025. Notably, Hatmaker has built a huge fan base for her appearances as the host of My Big Family Renovation on HGTV.

According to People magazine, Jen recalled the date in the memoir as July 11, 2020. The television personality said that Brandon was reportedly speaking to someone on the phone late at night, and her children were sleeping.

Jen wrote that she eventually went to check on Brandon’s computer after hearing the latter’s conversation. Hatmaker referred to the same by saying:

“I hear five whispered words not meant for me: ‘I just can’t quit you.’ My husband of 26 years is voice-texting his girlfriend next to me in our bed. It is the end of my life as I know it.”

Jen Hatmaker said that although she was controlling her emotions at that particular period, a lot of things happened for the next four hours after she heard her husband speaking on the phone. Moreover, her children had no idea of anything that was happening inside the house.

Jen said that her parents and siblings were at the house by the morning hours after she told Brandon to pack and leave. As per the New York Post, she also battled problems like depression and anxiety for a long time, along with struggling with the issues emerging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hatmaker addressed her experience while speaking to the outlet and said:

“To some degree, I almost disassociated. It was so outside the realm of what I would have ever considered a possibility for our life, our marriage, our story.”

Jen Hatmaker reveals more details related to her relationship with Brandon

According to US Weekly, Brandon served as the CEO of a community called The Legacy Collective, which aimed to help with sustainable solutions to systemic social problems around the world.

He was training to become a pastor when he exchanged vows with Jen Hatmaker. Furthermore, Brandon wrote multiple books, including Barefoot Church Primer, Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture, and A Mile Wide: Trading a Shallow Religion for a Deeper Faith.

Jen said in her new book, Awake, that there were no intimate moments between her and Brandon for two years, as stated by the New York Post. The duo also had to go for marriage counselling, which helped them to get s*xually connected. Hatmaker explained the same by saying:

“I thought that we were trying, but we actually weren’t. There were a lot of unaccounted absences, and the phone was never ever, ever, ever out of his hand or sight. All the warning signs were there, but I did not want to face those.”

Jen Hatmaker said that she and Brandon never attempted to resolve the issues between them. The former wrote that Brandon once told her that the reconciliation needs feelings, which did not exist at that particular period, and they were not supposed to return ever in the future.

Back on September 22, 2025, Brandon responded to the claims made by Jen in the memoir on Substack, saying that the affair brought a lot of pain, humiliation, and confusion to the lives of those who were close to him. He further stated:

“There are no excuses. But I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to have an affair. I didn’t fall out of love overnight. Our love was coming to a slow and painful ending. And I privately mourned the death of our marriage years before our divorce.”

Jen Hatmaker and Brandon supported same-sex marriage for a long time. Jen has also been an author of other books like Mr. Understood: Rebuilding the Feminine Equation and Make Over: Revitalizing the Many Roles You Fill.