After a tumultuous first season on Real Housewives of Orange County, Dr. Jen Armstrong has filed for legal separation from her husband of eight years, Ryne Holliday. Viewers witnessed the couple’s troubles throughout the episodes, and the news of a potential divorce is not a surprise.
Jen filed legal documents last week, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. She is seeking legal and physical custody of their three kids, with Ryne receiving visitation.
In March, she listed her Orange County home for sale and said at the reunion that she was not sure if Ryne would even move in with them.
Jen Armstrong said she and Ryne were on a ‘good path’ after a brief separation
Jen posed just five days ago on Instagram when her family was at Disneyland, and they all appeared happy. Her caption read, “What a magical day in Disneyland with the family! thank you @disneyland for the amazing tour and day filled with laughs, smiles, and pure magic!!!! Feeling like a little kid again!” This would have been very near the day she filed the legal request for separation.
Jen revealed in February that she and Ryne are back together after a month-long separation. She said she decided to split temporarily, and it was not an easy decision to make, but she reached a point of no return at that time. When they came back together, Jen said Ryne had a new appreciation for her hard work outside of the home.
“We separated for a while and lived life without each other,” Jen said. “And I think that made us have more of an appreciation for who the other person was and have a different outlook on getting back together and putting in the work to stay together.” She happily expressed, “Ryne and I are much better now. It got worse, and then I turned a corner and came back around. It got better.”
According to the new Housewife, discussing her issues on camera made her very uncomfortable, and she admitted, “We’ve had a challenging relationship, and people can be very judgmental. A lot of people have reached out and said, ‘Oh, you deserve better. How do you let him treat you that way?’ But they’re not in the day-to-day. They don’t know the history.”
Ryne was never comfortable being on television
During the Season 16 reunion, Andy Cohen mentioned to Jen that it appeared that Ryne was uncomfortable filming for the show. Heather Dubrow even said she chatted with him about a vacation rental, and at that time, he was very charming and outgoing, but when she met him in person, he was quite different.
Ryne is the president of Hawaii Hideaways, also based in Newport Beach, a service that includes luxury property rentals and specialty vacation planning designed for small businesses. Jen discussed that her husband is very successful, but she is the breadwinner of their home.
At the end of the reunion, Jen said that she and Ryne had come a long way since their brief separation and that their relationship had turned a corner for the better.
The Real Housewives of Orange County is currently on hiatus on Bravo.