Kirsten Grimes is opening up about her marital problems.
Kirsten, 32, confides in her brother about her "up and down" marriage to Shaq Dillon in Wednesday's episode of Married at First Sight.
"We've had our good days, and we've had other days where we're still trying to figure out communication," she says. "And when we're together, I don't feel like we're having enough intentional conversations."
When her brother asks her to define "intentional conversations," she says, "Like where do we see this marriage going?" For example, what are our plans once this experience is over? Like our living arrangements? As an example, consider attentional discussions. As in, the real deal."
Kirsten then admits that she is "a little undecided" about the future of her relationship with Shaq, saying, "I still don't feel 100% emotionally connected to him, and sometimes I also don't feel like the physical connection is there, as well."
"I don't feel like we're being affectionate enough towards each other," she says. "I simply don't." He doesn't seem to be attempting to win me over. I don't think he's that keen about being in this marriage with me."
She informs her brother that the couple has been "disconnected" since their wedding. "We're just living with each other and existing together," she continues. I get the impression that he's attempting to do too many things at once.
Her brother then gives Shaq some pointers on how to achieve a better work-life balance.
"You've got to keep the school over here, and he's got to keep his wife right here," he argues. "He has to keep his job there." Because if you try to put things together, you're not going to know."
"That's why it's difficult for you to feel secure because he's doing a lot of things at once to try to get to where he's going — which is understandable — but you've got to really learn to separate them things because you don't want your job and your marriage going hand-in-hand... it doesn't turn out right," he continues.
Kirsten adds, "You lose focus."
Season 16 of Married at First Sight debuted on January 4 with five new Nashville-based couples who all agreed to marry a stranger without ever meeting (or even seeing) each other. They rushed off for a televised honeymoon after their marriages before returning to real life as couples.
The couples will have to decide whether to stay married or divorce and go their separate ways at the end of the season.
Shaq and Kirsten have experienced various challenges during the season, from Shaq's decision to postpone their honeymoon to attend a research conference to Kirsten questioning her physical attraction to her spouse. Only time will tell if these two end up choosing each other on Decision Day.
Married at First Sight (produced by Kinetic Content) airs on Lifetime on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
