Madison Bontempo Is In A “Good Spot” With Kyler Fisher After Mormon Wives: OC

If you’ve already marathoned The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County, you know the new spinoff ends on an uncertain note for one couple.

Throughout Orange County’s debut season, Madison Bontempo’s relationship with her husband, Kyler Fisher, is a source of concern for her castmates. At one point, she tells Bobbi Althoff that they say the “meanest stuff” to each other when they argue. “Our fights are extremely toxic, but he checks all the other boxes in my life,” she says.

Bontempo also admits to her friend that she’d “probably stay with him no matter what,” saying that her worldview is shaped in part by her faith’s belief in an eternal afterlife. “This life is so short, I don’t want to look at the bad in things when I know that there’s so much past it, too.”

In the season finale, the cast holds an intervention for Bontempo, with Jen Affleck noting that the couple’s dynamic reminds her of her own with Zac Affleck (from whom she is now getting divorced). “I just don’t want Madison to have to struggle in her marriage for as long as I did,” she says.

As Althoff reiterates at the meeting, “All of us are just concerned because we want you to be happy. And I feel like with Kyler — I feel like he has anger issues. It is something that needs to change.”

Bontempo tells her friends that while she and Fisher were in a “darker place” several years ago, they’re doing better today. “I love him, and so I just want you guys to all know that I’m good,” she says.

But Bontempo later tells the camera that her friends’ concern showed her that certain aspects of her relationship “aren’t normal,” and she addresses her concerns with Fisher. “I love you, but I also need respect,” she says. “We can’t take it out on each other, because that’s crossing a boundary.”

While Fisher acknowledges that he’s crossed a boundary before, he tells Bontempo: “Let’s take accountability for your portion. A lot of things that have escalated, or whatever, have escalated because you just know how to push my buttons.”

Ultimately, Bontempo tells her husband: “If we get to that point again where we cross it, then I am done.” The scene (and season) ends with a “to be continued” message, but today, Bontempo tells Bustle that she “could have done things differently” in that conversation.

“I didn’t really mean, like, I’d be done with him,” she says. “I feel like he and I have a really good relationship. Although there’s been some things that we disagree on, or things that we argue about, ultimately at the end of the day, we’ve built a beautiful life together, and we’re such a good team.”

Looking forward, Bontempo says she and Fisher are “choosing to choose each other every day, and grow together, and forgive each other. So we’re in a good spot right now.”

She has also patched things up with Ashleigh Pease, whom she previously accused of looking for “dirt” in her relationship, instead of expressing genuine care. “We just went to New York together, and we were able to chat about everything for about five hours on the flight back,” Bontempo says.

The mom of five says she and Pease “have so much love for each other,” acknowledging that their rift in Season 1 was caused by “a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of voices,” and not knowing who to trust. “On top of that, you’re filming a show in the mix of all of it, and so it was just a lot. But now we understand each other, and we’re in a good place.”