“Everything just bugs me,” Michelle confessed during an emotional conversation with Brittany Cartwright.
The Valley’s Michelle Saniei Lally confessed to her friends that she was no longer happy in a relationship with her husband, months before they announced their split.
In a preview for Season 1, Episode 11, the group was still at Big Bear Lake to celebrate Janet Caperna’s now-infamous babymoon, where Michelle and Brittany Cartwright had a heart-to-heart about her deteriorating marriage to Jesse Lally. Brittany — who also separated from her husband, Jax Taylor, shortly before the series premiere of The Valley — asked Michelle if she still wanted to be married, as seen in the preview.
“I do, and I don’t,” the luxury real estate agent admitted.
Michelle Saniei Lally is no longer attracted to Jesse
Michelle answered, “Not really,” when Brittany asked if she was still attracted to Jesse.
“It’s a process for myself to understand that I was very attracted to Jesse when I first met him, to now, that there’s nothing he can do that I think is attractive,” Michelle told producers. “It’s not only physically, but it’s just, like, the things he does on a day-to-day. Everything just bugs me.”
Michelle and Jesse have tried to take their relationship issues to a couple’s therapist, but to little avail. Both have been open about trying to power through “constant conflict all the time” — including Jesse’s quest to find himself during a spiritual retreat that consisted of consuming “plant-based medicine” — despite swirling rumors of cheating.
When Brittany asked Michelle if she was happy with the father of her 4-year-old daughter, Isabella Bunny, Michelle simply answered, “No.”
“I want to feel the way I used to feel for him,” Michelle emotionally confessed to Brittany. “And I feel bad because if something, God forbid, ever happens between us, I feel like it’s me that has to make the decision; it’s not a mutual decision, and I don’t want to be the bad person.”
Michelle told Brittany that therapy helped at least one person in the marriage.
“Marriage therapy is doing really good with Jesse,” said Michelle. “Like, he is really trying his best.”
She addedJesse was “so extreme in everything he does,” including when it came to physical affection.
“So now he’s all over me,” Michelle said. “It’s actually putting me off.”
It was the opposite for Brittany, whose lack of intimacy with Jax significantly contributed to their turbulent relationship.
“I crave more physical attention from Jax,” Brittany said.
But for Michelle, she “never thought” she’d see the day when she and Jesse separated, she said in her confessional.
“I was very in love with him, and I still remember moments like our wedding and giving birth to Isabella,” Michelle lamented. “A small part of me feels like a failure.”
Jesse Lally Committed to Fixing Marriage
As Michelle and Brittany discussed the marriage, Jesse was on Big Bear Lake with Jason Caperna, Danny Booko, and longtime pal Jax. On the boat ride, Jax wondered if previous statements made by Jesse about his marriage being “done” — as captured in Season 1, Episode 10 — came from a place of authenticity or drunkenness.
Jesse said it was a matter of both.
“When I get emotional, I digress into that, ‘She’s gonna leave me,’” Jesse said. “But the truth is, we’re both working [to] get it back to square one.
Jesse and Jax agreed, “Marriage is tough.”