‘Yellowstone’ Star Wes Bentley Calls Jamie’s Choice Regarding Beth’s Future a ‘Terrible Decision’
Jamie and Beth Dutton are known for their contentious relationship in Yellowstone. Years ago, Jamie agreed to let Beth be sterilized when she ran into trouble with an unwanted pregnancy. A flashback to this scene revealed why Beth hates Jamie so much, but why did he make such a terrible decision in the first place?
Jamie had Beth sterilized when she got pregnant as a teenager
Yellowstone Season 3 finally revealed why Beth hates Jamie. When they were teenagers, Rip got Beth pregnant, and she went to Jamie for help. Jamie took her to a Native American clinic that required sterilization when abortions were performed.
The woman at the clinic suggested taking Beth somewhere else, but Jamie knew that it would be a problem if word got out that John Dutton’s daughter had an abortion. He agreed to his sister’s sterilization without telling her, and Beth never forgave him.
Wes Bentley said Jamie made a ‘terrible decision’ in ‘Yellowstone’
Yellowstone fans were perhaps left wondering why Jamie had Beth sterilized in the first place. Although he was caught in a difficult position, it seems like a drastic measure to take. However, Beth was only around 15 when she got pregnant, and Jamie wasn’t much older.
“It’s a terrible decision. It’s the wrong decision, but he was a kid making that decision,” Jamie actor Wes Bentley explained in a featurette.
“Nobody else was there. He did what he thought was best,” Kevin Costner, who plays John Dutton, said of Jamie. “It just wasn’t well thought out, and from his standpoint, he wasn’t sure. She came to him, and he did this. It was bad.”
“The incident at the heart of the issues between Beth and Jamie has been something we’ve discussed since before we started shooting the show,” Bentley said in a Behind the Story video. “I had sort of been aware of what it was about the general idea.”
“What I didn’t know was that Jamie directly said ‘yes’ to the question of her being sterilized. That was shocking and hard to read. To me, it explains everything,” the actor continued. “There’s a lot packed into that little scene for Jamie and Beth. There’s a lot packed into that scene for a lot of people.”
Jamie always justifies his decisions
It’s understandable that Beth couldn’t forgive Jamie, but at the same time, her brother was very young when she got pregnant and likely thought he was making the right choice. Perhaps that’s why Jamie never really apologized for what happened to Beth.
“You know what’s so dangerous about you, Jamie? You justify every act before you commit them,” Beth tells Jamie in one scene. Both siblings are incredibly stubborn, and it doesn’t seem like they are moving toward any form of reconciliation.
Additionally, Beth never told Rip that he got her pregnant or about the abortion and sterilization. In season 4, she uses the threat of telling Rip the truth to blackmail her brother. Will Rip ever learn the truth?
New episodes of season 5 of Yellowstone premiere Sunday nights on Paramount Network.
