MAFS UK stars Ashley and Grace spoke about their relationship crumbling.
Married At First Sight UK’s Ashley and Grace have opened up about their rocky marriage after a series of clashes.
The pair weathered a stormy partner swap week, followed by a fiery dinner party before deciding to go their separate ways for homestays.
Ashley ended up ditching his wedding band, and both gave the final commitment ceremony a miss. Now, they’ve shed light on their no-shows during a chat with experts Mel Schilling, Paul C Brunson, and Charlene White.
In emotional chats, filmed separately, Ashley and Grace each shared their side of how their relationship crumbled and what lies ahead for them.
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“Whenever I tried to speak about what was happening, I felt Ash was quick to deflect,” she revealed, referring to previous commitment ceremonies, reports OK!.
“I lost my voice almost, I didn’t feel confident in what I was saying,” she continued.
On the other hand, Ashley claimed Grace labelled him a “misogynistic, not great guy,” adding: “I felt like there’s not much more I can do here to get her to see who I am.”
He said he felt he was being “painted as a bad person” and thought he needed to “prove himself” to her.
Grace then told the experts about an incident with Ashley, where he thought he was complimenting her, but she took it in a different way.
She then alleged he would try and unlock the door while she was in the bathroom, leaving her “panicking”.
“He wanted the kind of marriage where it’s familiar, but we were strangers,” she said, though Ashley defended himself, saying it happened once and he meant it “playfully”.
“I didn’t do it maliciously, going in there, it would be playful,” he insisted, before recognising he shouldn’t have done it.
“It was impossible for me to navigate,” he said.
Summarising her situation, Grace said: “I came in and married a stranger, Ash came in and married a wife.”
In an earlier episode, Ashley confessed that he and Grace might be “too different”, while she broke down in tears and claimed she’d seen a side of Ashley that no one else had.
She also accused him of making her feel like she was the “problem” and that their marriage was “doomed”.
“I would sit on that couch, hear him twisting things to be more positive and favourable to him. Sometimes, I take issue with him about something, and he’d be like, ‘No, I didn’t, and I’d be like, Well, how do I argue with you now?” she said.
“I felt really isolated,” she continued, getting emotional as she spoke about her self-doubt and questioned whether she’d misunderstood their relationship.
“Why am I the only person who sees him this way? No, he is doing this, he wants me to feel apologetic, contrived, he wants to be begged for forgiveness so he can feel in control. It’s the self-doubt that’s getting me down,” she cried. “I’ve had enough.”
Meanwhile, Ashley admitted that he and Grace weren’t “in the best place”, adding: “We’ve both put so much into this, I don’t know what to do, every relationship takes compromise, but we’ve both compromised and now we’re at a stage where she’s now what I need and I’m not what she needs.
“I do have feelings for her, and I do care for her, but I need Grace to be a different person, and I feel like she needs me to be a different person.”
Removing his wedding ring and expressing that he feels “out of options”, Ashley added: “I can’t physically do any more to prove to her who I am as a person.”
Married At First Sight UK is available to watch on Channel 4.
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