In 2020, HGTV star Jen Hatmaker and ex-husband Brandon Hatmaker made headlines for his or her break up, which got here alongside accusations that he had been having an affair. Now, 5 years later, Jen has dove into the dishonest allegations in her memoir, Awake, whereas Brandon has damaged his silence on the scandal, admitting that he had been untrue to Jen within the “lowest second” in his life.
In Awake — out September 23 — Jen recalled waking up at 2 a.m. in July 2020 to listen to Brandon whispering on the cellphone with another person.
“I simply can’t give up you,” she heard him say earlier than he fell asleep, in response to The New York Put up.
Jen described the second as “the top of my life as I [knew] it.”
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“To a point, I virtually disassociated,” she advised the outlet. “It was so outdoors the realm of what I might have ever thought-about a chance for our life, our marriage, our story.”
After going by means of Brandon’s pc and discovering a “path of betrayal,” Jen kicked Brandon out of their house, and their marriage ended after 26 years.
Brandon responded to Jen’s guide in a September 22 put up on his Substack, writing, “The bottom second of my life was my very public affair 5 years in the past. I brought about a lot ache, a lot humiliation, and I introduced a lot confusion into the lives of many individuals that I cherished. It was the end result of a three-year private spiral by which I had misplaced my anchor, felt no hope, and was the loneliest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Jen and Brandon tied the knot when she was 19 years previous. They welcomed 5 youngsters collectively and later appeared on HGTV’s My Huge Household Renovation.
Maintain scrolling to be taught extra about Brandon and the dishonest scandal:
Who Is Brandon Hatmaker?
Brandon was finding out to be a pastor when he married Jen, and the previous couple went on to discovered their very own evangelical Austin New Church in Oklahoma in 2008. Brandon can be the founding father of and CEO of The Legacy Collective, “a giving group targeted on partnering, pioneering, and funding sustainable options to systemic social points all over the world,” in response to Google Books. Moreover, he’s the creator of 2009’s Barefoot Church Primer, 2011’s Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Shopper Tradition and 2016’s A Mile Huge: Buying and selling a Shallow Faith for a Deeper Religion.
Tina Hatmaker, Brandon Hatmaker Courtesy of Brandon Hatmaker/Instagram
Jen Hatmaker Accused Brandon Hatmaker of Dishonest
In Awake, Jen revealed that, after listening to Brandon’s mysterious cellphone name, she found that his affair had been occurring for a “devastating time span.” Brandon even allegedly purchased his girlfriend “costly and lavish items” that put their household into “monetary chaos.”
“It was so surprising and beautiful, and I virtually couldn’t course of it,” Jen advised The Put up. “I couldn’t even cry.”
She added, “There have been lots of unaccounted absences, and the cellphone was by no means ever, ever, ever out of his hand or sight. All of the warning indicators had been there, however I didn’t need to face these.”
Brandon Hatmaker Addressed Jen Hatmaker’s Dishonest Claims
Brandon shared how tough it was to relive his previous errors in his Substack put up.
“Whereas that was the bottom second of my life, a really shut second, is having to relive it as we speak. Even more durable, to look at others who I really like, having to do the identical. I’ve owned my errors, I’ve made amends, I proceed to do the work, I’ve labored laborious to revive relationships, and I’ve began over,” he wrote.
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He continued, “With the discharge of Jen’s new guide, it has stirred the pot fairly a bit. Lots of you’re new to our story and listen to the promotion, learn the articles, and watch the interviews. I’ve seen a handful of statements which were thrown on the market that inform solely a bit of the story. With out context, there have been many issues stated that go away it as much as the reader or listener to determine tips on how to fill within the blanks.”
Branded added that he “didn’t simply get up someday and determine to have an affair. I didn’t fall out of affection in a single day. Our love was coming to a sluggish and painful ending. And I privately mourned the demise of our marriage years earlier than our divorce.”
“Let me be clear about one thing, I perceive what it means to sit down within the penalties of my actions. By no means do my circumstances excuse my actions,” he continued. “The aim of this text is to not make excuses or rationalize something, The aim is to easily add context to a handful of areas the place the overwhelming majority, and practically each new follower, is lacking.”
Brandon additionally denied the insinuations that he didn’t combat for his or her marriage, detailing his solo visits to counseling for 3 years previous to his affair, and that Jen was the first parental determine to their youngsters, saying that he “will all the time dad or mum the place acceptable.”
Is Brandon Hatmaker Nonetheless a Pastor?
Brandon revealed by way of Substack that he “stepped down from church workers” in 2015.
“Whereas I battle as we speak to seek out my place in it — I nonetheless love and have hope for church. In truth, if I’ve any shred of dignity that is still, it was that I had stepped down from church management actually years previous to my affair,” he defined. “Church management will be actually laborious. I all the time tried to show with honesty, and integrity, and empathy. However after a very powerful 12 months main, some tough well being points, some horrific household points, and a really traumatic expertise the place I used to be concerned in an incident the place a detailed good friend died (the place I felt at fault), I discovered myself educating on stage one Sunday morning in 2017, feeling for the primary time an absence of hope.”
Is Brandon Hatmaker Married?
After his marriage to Jen ended, Brandon moved on with a girl named Tina.
“From that second [after our divorce] my focus was my youngsters and my future. Not lengthy after that I met Tina. She could have saved my life. Not figuratively, however actually. That’s one other story I hope to share someday. … It’s been assumed by some that Tina, my spouse, was my affair accomplice. She was not,” he wrote in his Substack put up.
Brandon praised Tina by way of Instagram in April 2025.
“Life’s fairly superb proper now, and I can’t assist however really feel grateful. I truthfully couldn’t ask for a greater accomplice — for as we speak, for the wins forward, and all of the moments in between,” he captioned a photograph of himself and his spouse, tagging Tina’s account, which is about to personal.
