‘Married at First Sight’ Alum Cortney Hendrix On Her Falling Out With Jamie Otis: ‘It’s Not a Feud’
An OG Married at First Sight star has some thoughts on people who turn their kids’ lives into content for social media. The former reality TV personality says her decision to respect the privacy of her two sons contributed to a falling out with fellow MAFS Season 1 alum Jamie Otis, who frequently posts about her family’s intimate moments on Instagram.
Cortney Hendrix on her falling out with ‘Married at First Sight’ co-star Jamie Otis
Cortney was a guest on the March 11 Married at First Sight: Secrets Revealed special. She opened up about her relationship with Jamie, who also appeared with her on the first season of the show in 2014. Though Jamie and Cortney became friendly after they met during casting, the two are no longer in touch.
“It’s been a long time since we talked,” Cortney said. “[We’re] just in different places. I’m very much in mom mode and I like to keep my life off social media.”
“I do not follow them anymore,” she added, referring to Bachelor alum Jamie and her husband Doug Hehner. “She had me on mute … I was messaging her and texting her and she didn’t text me back. So I was like, ‘You know what, this is not serving me.’”
After a little pressing, Cortney confessed that her falling out with Jamie was related to their differing approaches to parenting.
“I’m trying to say this in a nice way without, like, mom-shaming,” she said. “Because I don’t believe that kids are content. But it’s not a feud. It’s not tea. She does not know that I feel this way because I’ve never expressed it.”
The ‘MAFS’ alum has a problem with parents who don’t respect their kids’ privacy
Cortney wed Jason Carrion on the first season of Married at First Sight. They were together for five years before divorcing in 2019. She’s since had two children with her second husband. And despite her time in the public eye, she’s steadfast in her belief that kids don’t deserve to have every aspect of their lives highlighted on their parents’ social media.
“This is for everyone! It’s not just directed at Jamie & Doug now. This is bigger than them,” she wrote on Instagram. “Kids aren’t content. Protect your children. Protect their privacy. Stop using their embarrassing moments for monetary gain. Stop making content for predators. Stop exploiting. Just stop! After you post something on the internet- you lose all control over it. Why are you willing to give up pieces of your child?”
Cortney’s criticism didn’t sit well with all her followers. She said she received many hateful messages after her appearance on the Secrets Revealed special. But she wasn’t letting that get her down. She said she didn’t have an issue with people occasionally sharing photos of kids. But when parents monetize that content for their own gain, it can be an issue, she said, pointing to the case of controversial influencer Ruby Franke, who is now in prison for child abuse.
“When you do it in a way that is not respectful to the child, that’s when I have a problem with it,” she clarified in a video posted to her Instagram Story on Thursday. “You need to think about putting your child’s private moments on the internet.”
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