It turns out Jennifer Affleck – one of the new stars of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives — has never actually crossed paths with cousin Ben Affleck.
“Hopefully we meet him sometime soon because we are family,” Jennifer, 25, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting the upcoming Hulu series. Her costar Mikayla Matthews joked that there will be “a family rekindling coming” in the future.
When Jennifer married husband Zac Affleck in 2019, she became connected to the Hollywood star.
“My husband’s dad is second cousins with Ben Affleck, so we’re pretty far removed,” Jennifer said. “We’ve never met him. Zac’s dad has a long time ago.”
Despite having never met the Good Will Hunting star, the reality TV star did call herself as the “new Jenny from The Block,” referring to Ben’s estranged wife, Jennifer Lopez.
“That’s me, baby,” the Hulu star quipped. “Last Jen standing. That’s me.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives follows a group of eight influencers that rose to fame through Mormon mom TikTok in 2022. Aside from Jennifer and Mikayla, the group includes Whitney Leavitt, Taylor Frankie Paul, Layla Taylor, Mayci Neeley, Demi Engemann and Jessi Ngatikaur.
The show is set to follow the aftermath of Layla’s divorce from then-husband Tate Paul who blamed “soft-swinging” within the friend group as the reason for their split. Jennifer and Mikayla, however, made it clear to Us that “we’re not swingers.”
While they were used to filming their everyday lives for TikTok, both Jennifer and Mikayla were new to the reality TV world. However, it didn’t seem to impact their life all that much.
“At first, there was no challenge. I felt comfortable right off the bat,” Jennifer said of being filmed for the show. “I didn’t even realize the cameras were there. That’s why I think it was so real and so genuine, and why so many people are going to love it.”
Mikayla, on the other hand, had a different experience in her household.
“My husband’s the one that’s awkward on camera, and so I felt awkward when we were filming because I was like, ‘You got to give me something,’” she told Us. “But most of us are pretty comfortable in front of the camera because that’s our job and we are on camera all day.”
Mikayla continued: “By the end of it, we did kind of forget the cameras were there, and then that’s when our real raw vulnerable state came out. So, we may regret a little bit of that, but I think the audience will really relate to it and love it.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premieres via Hulu on Friday, September 6.
Reporting by Christina Garibaldi
