Brandon Hatmaker Addresses Ex-Wife’s Cheating Allegations

HGTV alum Jen Hatmaker made some explosive claims in her upcoming memoir that her ex-husband Brandon Hatmaker cheated on her in 2020 after 26 years of marriage then allegedly abandoned her and their five children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 51-year-old author begins her 14th book Awake: A Memoir – hitting shelves this Tuesday – with the moment she overheard the 53-year-old ex-pastor murmur ‘I just can’t quit you’ on the phone to his mistress, whom he’d been with for a ‘devastating’ amount of time.

Jen admitted they hadn’t had sex in the two years leading up to her discovery despite them going to a marriage counselor, and alleged Brandon caused ‘financial chaos’ in their family due to the secret ‘expensive and lavish gifts’ he gave his mistress.

The Hatmakers share three-week-old grandson Weston and five children – son Gavin, 27; daughter Sydney, 25; son Caleb, 23; son Ben, 22; daughter Remy, 19 – two of whom were teenagers at the time of their split.

In response, the Frontera Capital Partners CMO penned a lengthy letter on Substack titled ‘We are all bigger than our lowest moment’ designed to ‘add context’ to the breakdown of their marriage.

‘The truth is that people in a healthy marriage don’t just wake up one day and decide to have an affair. I didn’t fall out of love overnight. Our relationship was coming to a slow and painful ending. And I privately mourned the death of our marriage years before our divorce,’ Brandon wrote on Monday.

‘To have an affair was extremely new to me and not who I truly am. I had completely lost myself. My anger had turned to resentment, which turned to entitlement. There’s no affair story that isn’t gross, or secret, or deceptive. Mine was no different.’

Hatmaker added: ‘We grew into two different people and we changed so much over the years. I think we both just needed something that the other couldn’t provide.’

The AI-driven marketing strategist admitted himself into the residential treatment center Milestones by Onsite in Cumberland Furnace, TN after ‘causing so much pain’ and bringing ‘so much humiliation into the lives of people that I loved.’

’12 hours a day of counseling, group therapy, and trauma education without the distraction of a phone, TV, or the internet,’ Brandon explained.

‘It was life altering for me. When I got home it was a whirlwind. I had gone through three-and-a-half years of therapy crammed into 31 days.’

After his trauma treatment, Jen claimed Hatmaker made ‘no reconciliation effort’ and said that feelings of love weren’t there ‘anymore and they won’t be coming back.’

But the Oklahoma Baptist University grad wrote that his ex-wife (born King) told him ‘For me there is no path back to reconnection’ after he had asked if their marriage problems were ‘insurmountable.’

Brandon also refuted any idea of him being a ‘deadbeat dad’ and happily listed all the ways he’s shown up for his children since 2020.

‘Jen was certainly the sole parent who had to carry them emotionally through the trauma of my affair,’ Hatmaker admitted.

‘But I was always available, was constantly engaged, and always supported them… and still do.’

The self-described ‘work in progress’ quickly moved on with a much younger woman called Tina, whom he made his second wife in 2022, but stressed that she was not the mistress.

‘In no way was Tina involved or a part of my divorce in 2020. Jen verifies this in her book,’ Brandon clarified.

‘To be blunt, I was suicidal. When I met Tina, she made me feel human again. She was the first one to help me realize that I didn’t want to die. I just wanted to live better…Without Tina, and a small handful of friends who stood by my side, I may not be on this planet.

Hatmaker – who ‘stepped down from church staff’ in 2015 – claimed that only 5% of Jen’s tell-all is about his affair and their divorce: ‘It feels like it’s been 95% of the promotion!’

Meanwhile, the For the Love podcaster is in a long-distance relationship with fellow author Tyler Merritt, whom she calls ‘the love of my life.’

Jen is next scheduled to bring her 15-date Awake Book Tour to the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Upper West Side this Tuesday.

The Hatmakers first found fame a decade ago co-starring in HGTV shows like Tiny House and Brother vs. Brother as well as My Big Family Renovation in 2014.