During Tuesday night’s episode of Teen Mom Family Reunion, Ashley Jones and her husband Bar Smith open up to Dr. Bryant about their recent marriage.
As Monsters & Critics previously reported, Ashley and Bar secretly wed nearly a year ago. After rumors circulated – fueled by Ashley and Bar’s mothers, who spilled the beans that the couple had already wed – Ashley confirmed her and Bar’s nuptials, six months prior to filming for TMFR.
Dr. Cheyenne Bryant, the life coach for the cast of TMFR, has been helping the moms and dads work through some of their issues during the spinoff show.
Coach B sat down with Ashley and Bar, who made their debut on Teen Mom 2 with their daughter Holly last season, to discuss their marriage.
In their discussion, Ashley surprisingly didn’t feel as though her and Bar’s marriage was what it should be.
Ashley Jones and Bar Smith have different opinions on their relationship status on Teen Mom Family Reunion
“I think that it’s important that I sit down with Bar and Coach B because not only is it important for Bar to get the opportunity to realize things about himself, it’s important for me to be able to communicate what I’ve learned about myself,” Ashley told the cameras during a confessional from tonight’s episode.
Coach B approached Ashley and Bar as they sat together on the pier and asked them what their relationship status was.
“We don’t know,” Ashley dejectedly replied.
Bar chimed in, “We’re married, but… ” which caught Coach B off guard. Ashley then added, “We’re married, yeah.”
Off the bat, Coach B pointed out the different outlooks Ashley and Bar had about the status of their relationship.
“I feel like we’re just in an awkward stage,” Ashley told Dr. Bryant. “Like, obviously we’re married, but to me, it doesn’t feel like what I thought a marriage would feel like.”
This comment caught Coach B’s attention, as she asked Ashley to “stay there” with her thoughts and emotions.
“What did you think a marriage would feel like?” Dr. Bryant wanted to know.
Ashley feels ‘everything was fine’ before marrying Bar
Ashley admitted that she didn’t know but said she expected romance. “I don’t know if I was expecting too much, but I feel like before we got married it seemed like everything was fine.”
Ashley began to add, “And then as soon as we actually signed the papers and got married…” before Bar cut in, “And then it just got twisted up.”
Ashley admitted that marriage seems more serious than she anticipated and wished she had more confidence in her voice when she referred to Bar as her husband.
Later, Bar admitted that he lacks discipline, which is part of Ashley’s issue with marriage. However, Ashley admitted that Bar is there for her emotionally, and as she put it, “sometimes too much.”
Bar also admitted that he frequently “temperature checks” Ashley to make sure he’s not in trouble for something he did. Dr. Bryant pointed out that the mindset of being in trouble means that Bar is taking on the role of a child, which in turn, causes Ashley to go into “mother bear mode.”
Ashley and Bar joined other moms and dads from across the Teen Mom franchise, past, and present, to film Teen Mom Family Reunion. Be sure to tune in tonight and find out if any more drama is brewing among the cast and if Ashley and Bar can work on accepting their roles in each other’s lives as husband and wife.
Teen Mom Family Reunion airs on Tuesday nights at 8/7c on MTV.