Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jesse Draper She shared her truth about her relationship with her estranged husband Jordan Ngatikaura – and what ultimately led to their breakup.
“I felt so trapped in that marriage. I couldn’t do anything right. I was very depressed emotionally, and I was very unhappy,” Jessi said on the Wednesday, March 25, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “He made me feel like I couldn’t go, and to my children, I was really angry.”
Jessi and Jordan married in 2020 and share son Jagger, 5, and daughter Jovi, 3. Jessi said on Wednesday’s podcast episode that she told Jordan on March 13 that she wanted a divorce. She applied on Thursday, March 19. They don’t have to tell their children.
Before their divorce, Jessi had an emotional affair with the Bravo star Marciano Brunette after meeting while filming The Vanderpump Villa. On Wednesday he said he was “the first person who treated me well” but admitted that it was “wrong” for him to kiss Marciano. Jessi and Jordan took a 90-day break after the drama and decided to work on their marriage.
Jessi said she was “too scared” to leave her marriage, adding that what happened to Marciano was a cry for help.
“I felt like that last year to be honest, I was afraid of being alone, I was afraid of hurting him, I was afraid of the unknown and the children,” she said. “There was just a lot that bothered me about that.”
Finally, Jessi “woke up one day” and “something changed.” He realized that it was time to end his marriage.
“Over the past year, I’ve told him, a few different times [that] I want a divorce. But he always calms me down,” he said.
Jessi said Jordan will “hate” her podcast episode and may call her a “bad mom” for doing the interview. (Us Weekly reached out to Jordan for comment.)
“I’m not happy to go and reveal this, like it sucks for our children, I had to accept that I will tell my children about my mistakes,” she said. “I don’t want my daughter to be treated the way I was treated.”
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from Jessi’s “Call Her Daddy” episode:
How Dakota Mortensen Affected Jessi Draper’s Marriage
Jessi said it always felt like Dakota was “another woman” in her marriage to Jordan.
“He was talking to Dakota on the phone all the time. [Jordan] he was with her when he filed a police report,” he said, talking about the allegations involving Dakota and his ex-girlfriend. Taylor Frankie Paul.
“We just didn’t want to record and say something wrong on camera, we don’t know the full story yet,” he explained why. Mormon wives production set for season 5. “We didn’t want to process all this information first and then talk about it. We just thought that, for everyone’s mental health, let’s take it easy and not record right now.”
Taylor Frankie Paul as star of ‘The Bachelorette’
Aside from discussing her marriage, Jessi explained how “different” Taylor was while filming season 22 The Bachelorette. (ABC pulled the season dates before its premiere after a 2023 video of Taylor’s altercation with Dakota was leaked.)
“He went into a period of really, really amazing confidence,” she said. “It was like old Taylor all over again. I’m so sad, because I really wanted people to see this side of Taylor, and maybe one day they will, who knows. But I felt like it was a good thing for her.”
Escort Allegations Against Jordan
Jessi said Jordan walked out of their marriage before anything happened with Marciano. He suspects that he has had relationships with escorts in the past Mormon wives season 1 premiered in 2023.
“I had an escort service come to me, they sent me screenshots of her phone numbers and messages, and she was trying to meet them,” she said, adding that “there is a lot of evidence.”
Claims of Emotional Abuse
Jessi said Jordan had a “history of emotional abuse” in their relationship, saying she should have gotten a new phone number because he would check her social media accounts and “listen in” on cameras in her home.
She also elaborated on Jordan’s alleged “controlling” behavior, saying she would tell him “how to run my business,” “tell me how to run it” and ask “constant” questions about his whereabouts. Jessi felt like she was being “dumped” all the time before their breakup.
“I think Jordan is looking for someone who is humble. I was like that at first. Then it started in a place where I could say, ‘No,’ and I was fighting back,” she recalled, saying that’s what made things “really bad” before their breakup.
Elsewhere in the episode, she revealed that she admitted to being emotionally abused.
“We started going to therapy during our breakup, and in therapy, she finally admitted, like, ‘I know I brought you to this place. I’m the instigator of this. I started this cycle, and it was emotional abuse.’ He said all those words to me,” she said. “He may deny it now, but he has said all that.”
Alleged Blackmail Behind Marciano
Jessi suspects that Jordan made the TikTok videos with texts that she sent to Marciano.
“Whenever he’s mad at me, he’s like, ‘I’m going to send myself. I’m going to ruin your life,'” she said. “I shouldn’t have done what I did, I’m very sorry for it. I want to make that clear. … But I will say that having your partner let you down like that, it was something I couldn’t let go of.”
Season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives finally allowed Jessi Ngatikaura to tell her side of the story after she went public with her affair with Marciano Brunette while married to husband Jordan Ngatikaura — and she’s revealing more details to Us Weekly. “It was surreal [rewatching season 3 back],” Jessi, 33, told us exclusively […]
How Their Sex Life Changed
Jessi got to the point where she didn’t want Jordan to touch her anymore.
“Since we broke up and got back together, my body has told me,” she said. Whenever he tried to sleep with me, I would cry.”
She admitted to sleeping with Jordan after filing for divorce.
“I was drunk and sad, and I said, ‘I miss my family,'” Jessi said. “It was a good closing of the chapter.”
Specifying the Prenup
Before discussing herself and Jordan, Jessi shared that her last name change was actually a business decision. When it comes to what she has to offer Jordan after their divorce, she said she “can’t take” his business.
“I don’t need to give him anything from my businesses, but I will have to pay alimony and child support, which is very likely,” she said. “I might have to make some kind of payment. We’re not there yet.”
