But TLC’s newest show “You, Me & My Ex” might be different.
At first glance, this new reality series is all about the drama.
Sounds intense, right?
But one group featured on the show isn’t as dramatic or messy as one would think.
Want to learn more?
A few years later, how many years were are you guys married for?
No, I’m just kidding.
We had McKayla together, our daughter.
So now we just all raise our kids together.
We have family dinners.
We go to events together, school events, sporting events, whatever it may be.
How are you all getting along?
Chantel:We get along great.
Josh and I will go play ice hockey together or baseball with Jace, Jennifer and Josh’s son.
And Danielle and Jennifer, they like to go out and hang out together.
Danielle:We don’t do that that often.
You just feel like we do because you hate it so much.
Jennifer:Certainly, of course.
We got together when we were …
So, you don’t grow together, you’re able to certainly grow apart.
It doesn’t mean anybody’s worse than the other or whatever.
But we tried it and that’s what it was.
We just grew apart and went our own separate ways.
You say it should have ended sooner.
Could you expand on that?
Josh:I mean, there were signs that we were growing apart, probably what?
A year or a year and a half before.
I think we finally realized that maybe we were trying to stay together for the wrong reasons.
And it was past the point of trying to fix it.
But there was never really animosity or I would say hatred towards each other, really at all.
But we both knew that it was inevitable and it was going to happen.
Definitely make a run at work it out.
But if you’re free to’t, then split before you hate each other.
Because when you start trying to stay together, you just start hating each other.
And if you split before that happens, then I think it makes it harder in the long run.
Chantel and Danielle, how do you two feel about Jennifer and Josh’s relationship?
Josh:Chantel and Danielle agree with that comment too.
Danielle:Listen, it makes sense.
It would make things just all that much easier.
Not having to travel.
So
Chantel:We planned it that way.
Do you guys consider yourselves just one big family?
Danielle:Of course.
Danielle:So yeah.
And that’s not the experience that I had with my life.
I come from a divorced family.
My parents didn’t get along like that, and I didn’t get along with my exes either.
I don’t understand any of this."
Jen and I hit it off and it just took off from there.
But at the beginning, there were a lot of feelings and emotions and connections to navigate through.
Chantel:Oh yeah.
It was a hi and bye at first.
How do you think it went from “hi, bye” to what it is now?
Josh:I’ll answer that one.
Danielle:And Jace.
Josh:And Jace.
And I was caught, because we weren’t there yet.
I mean, we were getting there, but it wasn’t …
I think that’s the first time you guys ever hung out … without all of us there.
So I was like, okay.
Josh:Building our relationships.
But yeah, I’ll never forget that day.
Is there ever any jealousy there?
Jennifer:I mean, I wouldn’t say jealousy.
But as far as when Danielle came in, there wasn’t.
No, I didn’t feel that at all.
I was more like, really hoping for the best.
And he did, and I’ve seen that, okay, they’re moving along.
So that just
Josh:Bam.
And then it just, I think really just went from there.
I wouldn’t say jealous but
Chantel:I was at one point.
Danielle:I was jealous too at first.
Chantel:Jealous of these two and their cute little text messages … that would go back and forth.
Chantel:It’s like, what the hell is this s**t?
Chantel:I remember that.
Danielle:He doesn’t text me that much, even at this point.
Because I’m confused here.
What are you guys talking about?
Because I didn’t get it at first, but now I do.
So, well, it’s great.
Chantel:Oh yeah.
Because we can’t all just be perfect.
I mean, it took some obstacles to get here.
Jennifer:You forget those times too until you bring it up.
You don’t really …
I don’t know.
Josh:I never felt animosity.
I didn’t even know they were together to be honest with you.
And so I flat out …
I assumed it because it was so fast where Jen moved out, moved in with Chantel.
Josh:This might just …
I never thought, wait, I never thought that this would happen.
I think at that point, me and you were starting to get pretty serious at that point.
And then I found
Jennifer:You found out that we were sharing a one-bedroom apartment.
Josh:Well, no.
I found out you guys got married from Jace.
I was coming home from school or something.
And he’s like, “Oh yeah, my mom and Chantel’s wedding.”
And I’m like, “What the f their wedding?”
Jennifer:And we had a big wedding.
And I had no idea.
And I’m like, “Well, congratulations on your wedding.
Thanks for telling me.”
Not that I cared, but it’s like, okay.
So at that point it was like, all right, I know Chantel’s great with Jace.
She’s always been great with Jace.
So that was the most important thing for me.
Male, female, it didn’t matter.
So as long as she was good with Jace, that was my main concern.
Chantel:Well, I know Jennifer didn’t want to put anything on blast.
I was like, huh, that’s crazy.
Chantel:Very normal.
Danielle:It’s our everyday life.
Josh:And this is all I know of divorce.
My parents are still together.
They all come from divorced families.
So I don’t know what it’s like.
Their parents are all divorced.
So my only experience of divorce is this.
So I can’t really
Danielle:Just to let you know, it’s not normal.
I can’t say that divorce is a bad thing because of my experience with it.
I’m just like, well, the only thing I know about divorce is here we are.
I know from what they say, what Danielle, what Jennifer and Chantel say from their experience.
So from that aspect of experiences with divorce, I have none.
I see it in all three of your scenarios that parents hate each other.
Chantel:All of our parents.
Well, not his.
His parents are still together, like he said.
But us three women, all of our parents have divorced and it has never been a good divorce.
And our parents did that, and we saw it.
So we
Danielle:We just never wanted that for our kids.
Danielle:We don’t ever want them to feel that pressure.
Josh:And that’s what we’re trying to portray on the show.
Jennifer:I got that one.
First of all, you’re gonna wanna trust each other.
Communication and love, honestly.
It’s really quite simple.
I don’t know why people make it so difficult.
If you don’t want it, then it’s not going to work.
And both sides have to want it.
And then I said, “Look, do you want it?”
But if that one doesn’t want it, it’s not going to work.
Fortunately we all want it.
It’s more fun this way, and it’s less stressful.
It takes a village, right?
Jennifer:This is our village.
What made you guys want to share your story?
We blended the family.
She’s like, “You should get in contact with …” What did she say again?
Josh:Production companies or something.
Chantel:Production companies, sorry.
Chantel:We’ve got to show this.
Jennifer:Maybe we’ve got something.
We should let people know about our story.
Josh:I think at first, we were just laughing about it.
And then sure enough, it was six to eight months later.
It wasn’t even that long.
Chantel:It was like a … they reached out within a couple of months.
And then it just developed into interviews, and here we are.
Well, now I’m intrigued.
Jennifer:But you’ll have to watch.
Chantel:You want to
Danielle:Yeah.
See how everything plays out.
Jennifer:See what happens.
Josh:A lot of work for me.
Josh:It was a job.
Trying to
Chantel:Literally, [mouthing] “b*** job.”
We’ll leave it at that.
But the viewers will see how much of a job that, that process is.
It’s not as simple as one may think.
Jennifer:That’s how we navigate life even.
Just, how do we navigate life altogether?
Because it’s not, I don’t want to say normal because what is normal?
So it’s different.
So just seeing how we can navigate, how this can work, and some of the …
I mean, it’s not always wonderful.
Jace is 10 and McKayla’s 4.
And we have discussions and we all play a different part.
Jennifer:And we don’t agree.
We will all see things differently.
We all play different roles.
We’re all also different that might help make it work.
So you’ll just get to see a lot of that.
Chantel:They’re just trolls.
They’re just trolls.
And I’m just like, whatever, it’s going to come with the territory.
We knew that early on.
Danielle:A little bit.
It’s been challenging because we all work full time.
Hey, dream big.
Chantel:Yeah, Bieber fever over here.
Danielle:Hey, you’re able to’t go straight to the goal.
Come on, you’ve got to start small but dream big.
Chantel:Walking the red carpet, paparazzi and Justin Bieber.
Jennifer:Oh gosh.
I’m an adult.
So people are going to say what they want to say.
They’re going to have the opinions that they’re going to have.
Danielle:And we know where we stand.
Josh:We know where we stand.
Are we just going to say, “Okay, now you’re on TV.
So now we want to come hang out with you guys.”
That throw in of crap is not happening.
But at the same time, I think McKayla’s 4.
She’s not really old enough to understand that, but Jace being 10 … And he’s a good kid and he’s involved in sports and hockey and baseball.
So how do you really prep a 10-year-old?
We can talk to him like an adult but
Josh:This is all he knows.
Jennifer:This is normal for him, so other people aren’t going to see it that way.
And he’s going to be like, “Wait, what?
What do you mean?
There’s a problem with this?”
So having to just confirm the kids are okay.
Chantel:We just tell him that regardless, even if you’re the normalest of the normalest.
Well, somebody is going to have something bad to say.
It doesn’t matter.
It’s just, there’s just evil people out there.
And then there’s good people.
And I’m hoping that that’s what they’re going to get out of the show.
Or maybe we can get along.
I wish I could see my kids more than once every two weeks, every other weekend.
And that’s what helps out a lot too.
For whatever reason and vice versa.
Even if I’d had him for a night.
I’m not going to be like, “Oh no, it’s not your weekend.”
I don’t think we’ve ever had that issue.
Jennifer:We don’t even have a parenting schedule.
Josh:Because we’re all together three or four times a week anyway.
Chantel:Well, not necessarily three moms, but this duo here.
Because a lot of people are very old-fashioned and I get that and I respect them for it.
I don’t knock anybody who disagrees with our relationship.
And I think that’s what we’re building here.
It’s so true.
And I think that’s so beautiful.
Chantel & Danielle:Thank you.
People aren’t going to care to watch us.
Chantel:Don’t get me wrong, we do have drama.
Josh:We have a little bit of drama.
Any thoughts you want to see to it that you share?
Josh:I’m just excited to see everybody’s reaction once we air.
So as far as once it actually airs, what are people going to say about it?
So I’m curious, I’m excited.
All about the kids.
Chantel:It’s all about the kids.
“You, Me & My Ex” premieres Sunday, June 20 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.
