Married at First Sight‘s Kate Sisk leaned heavily on the vows she had made to husband Luke Cuccurullo during the couple’s difficult first weeks of marriage.
Prior to Tuesday’s all-new episode of the Lifetime reality show (produced by Kinetic Content), Sisk dished to PopCulture.com about where she was mentally as she dealt with Cuccurullo’s admission he wasn’t physically attracted to her and felt “dead inside” when they kissed.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“I definitely did not expect my marriage would be this difficult,” Sisk told PopCulture, “but what has kept me going is that I made vows to Luke—for better, worse, until death do us part. I’m not going to leave after a week! We all knew marrying a stranger would be hard and I’m keeping faith things will get better.”
Despite Cuccurullo’s hurtful words about his wife, which nearly got him kicked off the show by expert Pastor Cal Roberson, Sisk said the comments didn’t bring her down on her own appearance.
“Self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth,” she told PopCulture. “Because I have very strong self-esteem, I can see that Luke’s comments were not about me. I know I’m not repulsive, but if he feels dead inside, I am concerned. And as his wife, I feel it’s my job to make him feel alive inside!”
Having her husband rebuked for how he treated his wife by the experts wasn’t necessary for Sisk to realize what was going on wasn’t right, she added, but it did help open up a line of communication in the marriage and between her and the experts.
“Although I didn’t need Pastor Cal to validate what Luke said was not OK—that was pretty clear—what I did need was someone to talk to on what to do about it,” she confessed. “Normally, I’d have these talks about guys with my girlfriends. In this situation, we would have told each other to end it immediately. But with Pastor Cal, it’s different because this isn’t dating anymore and he was able to offer great support on how to move forward.”
Sisk added that she didn’t think her husband “wanted anyone to know” what he had said to her during their difficult times, “but we signed up to be documented, and we also need to be open and honest if we want to move past any issues in our marriage.”
Communication, she continued, is the “biggest challenge” for them as a couple, but the two are working to ensure Cuccurullo is more comfortably coming to his wife with his concerns without using hurtful language.
“This whole process has taught me an enormous amount of patience and strength,” she added. “There were times that could have broken me down, but realizing how strong I actually could be through everything has given me the confidence to do anything!”
Married at First Sight (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
Photo credit: Lifetime
