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‘Pray for Us’: Controversial Christian Author Jen Hatmaker Files for ‘Unexpected’ Divorce

Photo by Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash
Photo by Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash
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By Tré Goins-Phillips
Editor

September 8, 2020

Christian author and former HGTV star Jen Hatmaker, who made waves in evangelical circles for supporting same-sex marriage, revealed over the weekend she is divorcing her husband Brandon, calling the turn of events an “unexpected crisis” and asking people to pray for her and her family.

Hatmaker, who has been married to Brandon since 1993, filed for divorce in Hays County, Texas, on Aug. 21, according to court filings obtained by the Religion News Service.

News of the couple’s split came weeks after the faith-based author asked for prayers July 31 for an unspecified “crisis” her family had been enduring, adding they have been “deeply hurting.”

View this post on Instagram

I first thank you for the kindness you have shown these last two months. We are in a moment with no handbook and without a single clue how to navigate this privately, much less publicly. I don’t know how to hide grief, so I haven't, and I am grateful for your absolute decency these last few weeks. I don’t know how to say this, and I still cannot believe I am even saying it, but Brandon and I are getting divorced. Although the details are ours alone, this was completely unexpected, and I remain stunned as we speak. I am shocked, grief-stricken, and broken-hearted. . Although this community is impossibly dear, beloved to me, in case you are an interloper who revels in the pain of another, I beg you to spare us your cruelty. We have suffered so greatly. (Hateful comments that harm our family will be deleted.) The kids and I are getting away to retreat for awhile, and I ask for your kindness…and for some room to breathe. Please respect the privacy of our children and our extended family. Our loss is not for public devouring. We are real people managing this in our real life in real time, and we are doing the absolute best we know how to do. . If you pray, pray for us. Hold us so dear to your hearts. We have felt your prayers these last few weeks. We have experienced your mercy. Thank you for being good to us. Know that we are deeply surrounded by love and have not been alone a single second in two months. Please help protect us and keep us safe as we try to heal and rebuild. . Yours, Jen

A post shared by Jen Hatmaker (@jenhatmaker) on Sep 7, 2020 at 9:11am PDT

In early August, the “Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire” author wrote on Instagram, “If you carefully and consistently build the right things into your life, into your soul, into your relationships, into your very character — integrity, loyalty, trustworthiness, goodness, compassion, health, community, honor, faithfulness, love, self-control, kindness — it will all hold when your life unravels. Every bit of it. Crisis doesn’t destroy it; it reveals it.”

Hatmaker pulled the curtain back a little Monday, when she revealed to her social media followers she is divorcing Brandon.

Jen Hatmaker Says It’s a ‘Moment of Pride’ As Daughter Reveals She’s Gay

“I don’t know how to say this, and I still cannot believe I am even saying it, but Brandon and I are getting divorced,” she wrote. “Although the details are ours alone, this was completely unexpected, and I remain stunned as we speak. I am shocked, grief-stricken, and broken-hearted.”

As recently as late June, Hatmaker was praising Brandon as one of the “greatest men” she has known. And in a post on their anniversary, Hatmaker wrote, “Keep choosing each other, beloveds. Even past the moment you thought that work was behind you. Even when you can’t quite remember how you felt all those days ago. Even when hope feels impossibly thin. Because even then, even there, I am telling you, new life is still possible.”

Hatmaker begged those whose instinct may be to criticize her to withhold their judgements — at least publicly — reminding those who read about her family’s experiences that their “loss is not for public devouring.”

Christian Author Jen Hatmaker Gives ‘Free Mom Hugs’ During LGBT Pride Parade

“We are real people managing this in our real life in real time, and we are doing the absolute best we know how to do,” Hatmaker wrote. “If you pray, pray for us. Hold us so dear to your hearts. We have felt your prayers these last few weeks. We have experienced your mercy. Thank you for being good to us. Know that we are deeply surrounded by love and have not been alone a single second in two months.”

“Please help protect us and keep us safe as we try to heal and rebuild,” she added.

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