The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Heather Gay shared rare insight into her dynamic with ex-husband Bill before their divorce.
“About three days into my marriage, I spotted that we were fiercely, deeply incompatible,” Heather, 51, revealed in the primary episode of her recent docuseries, Surviving Mormonism, which premiered on Bravo Tuesday, November 11. “I believed he was marrying me for all the explanations he wasn’t, and I used to be marrying him for all the explanations he didn’t wish to be a husband.”
In the brand new series, Heather got down to dive deeper into the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, exploring the scandals and secrets kept behind closed doors. She opened up about how her own relationship with religion shifted over time.
“It wasn’t like I hit some point in my life where Mormonism began to be a burden,” she told the cameras. “From the moment I used to be aware of it, it supplanted my identity. I’m a cradle Mormon, I used to be born into the religion. And I loved being Mormon growing up.”
Each of Heather’s parents were from Mormon families. “All of our family rituals and family traditions and family togetherness was centered around church activities and our church beliefs,” she said. “I had these siblings who were my built-in best friends and we were all in on it together. And I didn’t feel prefer it was fake.”
In accordance with Heather, probably the most essential principles of the Mormon faith is “that the best happiness on earth might be found throughout the family and the family is the vehicle by which to grow closer to God and attain everlasting life.”
“That belief informed the sort of family I desired to create for myself,” the truth star continued. “The second I met someone that was willing, I knew that I had the capability to make any marriage work because I loved God, I loved being Mormon, I used to be good at being Mormon. But I used to be very, very mistaken.”
Heather and Bill — who also comes from an extended line of loyal Mormons — got married in 2000 and separated after 11 years. The previous couple’s divorce was finalized in 2014.
“Divorce wasn’t in my vocabulary,” Heather said in Tuesday’s episode. “I didn’t know anyone that was divorced. But he did. My marriage was ending and my Mormon dream was shattered too. And my entire life imploded.”
RHOSLC fans have seen Heather navigate her life post-divorce together with her and Bill’s three daughters for the reason that show debuted in 2020. During season 6, Heather got candid about coparenting together with her ex-husband.
“My husband never had custody of the kids,” she said on RHOSLC in September. “He never had them overnight. I had them 100% of the time. And his involvement was, , fun dad visits once every week.”
Heather admitted that raising her kids alone was a “really hard” era in her life. “And mostly hard because I couldn’t show them it was hard,” she told her fellow Housewives. “I acted prefer it was perfect and normal, and I used to be so completely happy, and I used to be so wonderful. And I loved every little thing I used to be doing. But I used to be gritting my teeth the entire time. I’m exhausted, truthfully. I’m just looking forward to a brand new chapter.”
All three episodes of Surviving Mormonism With Heather Gay will likely be available to stream on Peacock Wednesday, November 12.