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Love, resentment, betrayal, and brutal honesty collide in these unforgettable therapy sessions from *Couples Therapy*. Join us as we revisit the messiest, most emotionally charged moments from the Showtime series, from intimacy issues and financial stress to shocking revelations and explosive arguments. These couples did not hold back, and neither did Dr. Orna.
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00:00did i do good today it sounds crazy right people are doing that i know welcome to miz mojo and
00:08today we're counting down our picks for the messiest most vulnerable moments from the
00:12showtime documentary series couples therapy a year and a half ago i was in a relationship with
00:17an ex-girlfriend i am still screaming number 10 drea and nessa argue over intimacy
00:27i want to refrain from intimacy you think that's what andrea should say i'm saying that and i think
00:35she could be in agreement and i make any and not try to advance and also not make the atmosphere
00:42thick long-term love doesn't always guarantee long-term compatibility andrea and nessa's
00:48sessions made that painfully clear after spending nearly their entire adult lives together nessa
00:53confessed she felt smothered and craved space to discover who she was outside the relationship
00:58now she's like ravenous oh my gosh she's like a little corny teenager i want i want i want and
01:03i'm
01:03like i don't know if it's already me just in my head about what here are all these things now
01:09i'm also
01:09unhappy with drea meanwhile tried to overcompensate for this with physical intimacy hoping it would
01:14restore the closeness they'd lost dr orna goralnik challenged both perspectives suggesting intimacy
01:20couldn't fix problems they hadn't addressed you're being cynical but that's not a discussion ridiculous
01:26that's a fight we can have andrea look at me you can zing each other and be cynical with each
01:34other
01:34but that's not gonna get you anywhere okay the conversation spiraled when drea became defensive
01:40and repeatedly interrupted dr orna only to later admit her real fear that it seemed nessa was slowly
01:45preparing to leave her she is the best person i could have ever picked to be with she's the best
01:50person i could have picked to have a child with like and all i hear is just she's ready to
01:59be done
01:59with me and move on number nine rod and allison clash over expectations i guess i expect more
02:06than i'm getting expect you're using a very particular word you're not saying i long for
02:13you're saying i expect which means that sets up rod to fail in a long-term relationship few words
02:23cause as much damage as expectation rod and allison kept circling the same painful argument until dr
02:29orna pointed out that allison often spoke about what she expected instead of what she longed for
02:34that distinction changed everything i don't know what i i don't know what i want that's important
02:40i don't i'm not sure what i know you're disappointed because right and none of you even
02:46know what's missing not even close rod explained that those unspoken expectations left him feeling
02:52like he was constantly failing a test he didn't know he was taken already insecure about his career
02:56and finances he felt every conversation landed like another criticism especially when it revolved
03:01around money there are things you spend on i don't and it's another x amount here another x amount
03:07there and just we don't have conversations about that all of a sudden i see wow seven hundred
03:11dollars out in the bank where'd that go what are you talking about you went to get your eyes
03:14tested last couple weeks ago and you spent seven hundred dollars after leaving her job to raise
03:18their daughter which hurt them financially allison felt that rod was not only being condescending
03:22but also dismissive of her feelings but it sounds like you're regretful for the last decade
03:29and then when he says something like that i just i'm not interested to talk to him about it
03:33because like because it is so it's so condescending you're in a job so i'm frustrated
03:40number eight sean and erica's row over his unemployment sean and erica's relationship
03:45was already under enormous strain from years of infidelity but money poured gasoline on the fire
03:50because for me my time and the time that i spend with my child and the time that i spend
03:55with my wife
03:56is more important to me than working 70 hours a week as you do
04:01erica had spent years supporting the family financially while sean remained unemployed
04:05when she finally let that frustration out in session sean's response was to lean on childhood
04:10trauma as justification and reframe his unemployment as a conscious choice to prioritize family time over
04:16work he doesn't get it he doesn't get the level of sacrifice but yet you know what he pays me
04:21back
04:21from the sacrifice oh he has sex without the women on me like i i don't understand i am not
04:27winning
04:27i'm not winning i'm the one that's getting cheated on erica was floored she didn't feel seen
04:33appreciated or supported sean in turn claimed she constantly dismissed him the circular argument was
04:40almost dizzying to watch she said he wasn't trying he said she never acknowledged his efforts
04:45dr orna had her work cut out for her with these two every loss that i have had that i
04:50have shared with
04:51you you've told me all of the ways that i messed up to make that loss happen who wants to
04:56hear that
04:57it's a criticism is a criticism not a critique or a way to help i'm my own biggest critic i
05:01don't need
05:02your help in the criticism department number seven josh and natasha face their intimacy crisis
05:07i've been making a lot of efforts to try to initiate both like sexual situations and just intimate
05:13situations with natasha and she's rejected me every single time this is taking a lot out of me
05:20rejection always stings but hearing your partner say they rarely want sex at all is a different
05:25kind of heartbreak josh and natasha's sessions revolved around an intimacy gap that left both
05:31feeling misunderstood natasha explained that her low libido wasn't about rejecting josh personally
05:36desire simply felt elusive for her even on our lonesome time where it's like do you pleasure yourself
05:42right we'll have that sort of thing and it's like no no no never not never extremely rarely
05:49i'm talking about like i just physically don't have the desire with him without him josh understood
05:56that intellectually but emotionally it was crushing with every rejection he admitted that
06:01it made him feel like a creep for wanting to be intimate with his wife i don't even feel liked
06:05i feel tolerated i feel like a pervert that's the energy that i'm getting it makes me feel sometimes
06:12like am i is this intentional are you trying to minimize me his heartbreaking admission of that
06:19fact captured years of loneliness in one breath in the end it was a case of neither partner willing
06:24to listen to and understand the other's perspective those feelings get so overwhelming for you that
06:30you're not actually grasping what natasha is saying about her experience at this moment no i'm not gonna
06:35lie to you i'm not okay number six matthew and gianni confront their insecurities this is our first
06:42trip since you go sober so it's a big deal in a certain way so i want things to go
06:51what does my
06:52sobriety have anything to do with your stresses of this trip sobriety changed matthew's life but it
06:57also changed his relationship with gianni during the pandemic gianni felt increasingly abandoned as
07:03matthew devoted more energy to recovery while matthew felt crushed by the expectation that he
07:07should constantly reassure his partner that he has to step around me because matthew's sensitive
07:14and he's sober it just feels like a lot of pressure on matthew to be this you know this ideal
07:25person
07:26their sessions peeled back layers of insecurity resentment and childhood trauma until the real issue
07:31finally emerged gianni didn't like having to walk on eggshells because of matthew's sobriety
07:36and matthew admitted feeling dismissed and feared gianni would leave him i've been talking for weeks
07:40now about how you're not happy in this relationship and here you are you have to be pushed to the
07:45point
07:45where you come out with your true feelings which because matthew it's always i can't deal with him
07:52anymore his sobriety the arguments were difficult to watch because neither man was trying to hurt the
07:57other they were simply trapped inside fears they hadn't fully understood before therapy
08:01it's so much oh it's just so hard to manage me it's still hard to deal with jesus god
08:10it's insane number five brock and christie's one bedroom apartment you'd think signing a lease
08:15together would be a relatively straightforward milestone for brock and christie it became a
08:20full-blown crisis like i felt good about the unit i liked it but i definitely saw in my head
08:28separate living spaces like i i saw that the couple planned to move into a one-bedroom apartment
08:35together and christie assumed that they did at least be sharing a space like partners but christie
08:40was blindsided when brock revealed he planned to sleep on a murphy bed in the living room rather than
08:45share the bedroom i want a bed i can pull down and it's my bed right but it's still one
08:53bedroom
08:53it's still not a ton of space like i don't know if i want a murphy bed taking up a
08:57quarter of the
08:59one living shared living space to him it was a practical arrangement that preserved personal space
09:05to her it felt like a devastating bait and switch the disagreement quickly exposed deeper questions
09:10about their commitment toward and trust for each other and so when i looked at that apartment
09:15i was like here's a space where we can that can finally feel like home like finally feel like home
09:23this is a coming together and it's making a home together like it's going to feel like our first
09:29apartment number four jason and marjorie battle over his diet i'm i'm on i'm not i'm not gonna call
09:35a diet oh my god all right i can see where i'm being mean yeah i'm already annoyed i'm sorry
09:42i
09:42can't you go i won't talk i'm not really i'm not on a diet per se but i made a
09:47shift a huge shift
09:49who knew counting calories could spark one of the show's most uncomfortable arguments jason had
09:54genuinely been excited about his weight loss journey proudly tracking every milestone and celebrating
09:58his progress marjorie however didn't seem as supportive as he would have liked
10:05she is very mean to me over it i've told you i said that's great i am so proud of
10:10him but it's
10:11constant all he talks about is the diet jason even pointed out that chat gpt would cheer him on while
10:19marjorie only tore him down he then suggested that marjorie's frustration stemmed from jealousy over her
10:24own unsuccessful experience with glp1 medication i think she's resentful at me because i took it
10:33for the first time and i made drastic changes shot out of a cannon i'm not resentful that's
10:40completely wrong hearing jason open up about how unsupported he really felt it gave marjorie a rethink
10:45and caused her to break down in tears however jason didn't seem to buy her reaction i feel bad that
10:52he doesn't feel supported and when he says he wants the best for our family i know he means it
10:58but just because it's your way doesn't mean it's the only way number three sienna learns chris's
11:03platonic cuddling was anything but it started with um platonic cuddling like you're providing the
11:11cuddling service yeah and i'm paying for the cuddling service yeah after some time with two of the people
11:19it got physical paying for a professional cuddling service is one thing specifically selecting young
11:26attractive cuddlers texting them suggestively and then lying about it to your partner's face is
11:31entirely another sienna and chris's relationship unraveled after chris sought out professional
11:36cuddle partners only for those connections to evolve into emotional and physical affairs
11:41having to go through your phone after seeing a text pop up randomly who's that why is she somebody
11:48texting him i miss you i miss you too saying hey who's this what's this and you lying straight to
11:54my face
11:55the betrayal deepened when sienna discovered affectionate messages like i miss you confronted him
12:00and was met with denial watching her piece together the truth while chris struggled to fully acknowledge
12:05the damage made for excruciating television you were my guy you're my forever and it broke me
12:13i went into an intensive outpatient program and stopped working for three months because i could not
12:20function even dr orna had to navigate the gap between chris's explanations and sienna's overwhelming
12:26sense of betrayal before genuine accountability finally emerged you're both dissociating oh
12:32there's like a whole part that you need to like integrate into how you understand each other and
12:38your relationship number two annie and mao reach a breaking point patience may be a virtue but dr orna needed
12:44plenty of it with mao here's the one side is that's mean those are ugly words you're throwing at me
12:50or like making me feel small but the other side is that you can't wait to show me is what
12:55a great and
12:56supportive husband you are and how supportive and that which just makes my side irrelevant throughout
13:03their therapy annie pleaded for more emotional openness while mao often met her concerns with
13:07defensiveness intellectual arguments or outright dismissal the tension reached another level when dr orna
13:13encouraged him to simply sit with annie's criticism instead of immediately pushing back
13:17mao bluntly refused i won't do it and i don't want it i if you could if you were to
13:25give me everything
13:26i ever wanted by doing that i'd say no i'd rather have nothing than have that it was a jaw
13:32-dropping
13:32moment because he openly acknowledged she had no interest in doing what therapy was asking of him
13:37that resistance and unwillingness to admit wrongdoing eventually made sense knowing that annie and mao got a
13:43divorce after the show what part's yours but say and here's where i can meet you here's my part look
13:50i'm struggling to find what that is because come on you can no no i'm being sincere when you already
13:58have it number one molly and josh fight over his detachment the one thing that i have asked for
14:05in our marriage that i have said will make me happy is to talk with me about what he wants
14:13or what he thinks so that we can do things together molly's affair became one of the biggest cracks in
14:20their marriage and she partially attributed it to josh's emotional reserve and his inability to
14:25communicate openly throughout therapy she repeatedly urged him to express what he was feeling but the
14:31conversations rarely went anywhere the unfortunate thing is the way that i have chosen to scream and
14:39yell at him that he needs to do some work himself has been by having my own relations with other
14:46people it's like my way of screaming at the top of my lungs then came the breaking point insisting josh
14:52never listened molly challenged him to repeat everything she'd been asking him to do differently yet when
14:57he finally began speaking honestly she kept cutting him off and demanding he open up josh's
15:02unforgettable response felt fueled by years of pent-up frustration i could have been more present
15:07i could have talked to you more about all the things that i was feeling about the questions i was
15:12having
15:12so why isn't that happening now it is happening now it was devastating to watch because after all that
15:21pushing he was finally doing exactly what she'd wanted and they still couldn't truly hear each other
15:26i am like so bothered right now that you're sitting there like that with this attitude that like
15:33i am being ridiculous and interrogating you when all i am saying to you is i don't think that you
15:40have
15:41been doing the work that you say you have which of these moments did you find the most upsetting let
15:46us know
15:47in the comments below