The Truth About RHOSLC Star Whitney Rose's Affair With Her Husband

"The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" isn't short on drama within its cast, and star Whitney Rose brings with her a very shocking backstory.

Fans are mesmerized by Whitney's interesting marriage to her husband, Justin Rose, who is 18 years her senior at 53 years old, according to Starcasm. Blonde bombshell Whitney, who is 35, revealed in 2020 that she became a grandmother when Justin's children from a previous marriage had babies. "They're the cutest things," Whitney said of her "step-grandchildren" to The Salt Lake Tribune. Whitney adores her blended family, which she hopes to show off in later seasons of "RHOSLC." "Hopefully, there'll be future seasons so we can get to know the rest of my family," she told the outlet. Because not only are Justin and I unique for Utah, but we have an incredible relationship with my stepkids."

While the details of Whitney and Justin's age-gap relationship are compelling, that's not the juiciest part of their marriage story. Here's the truth about the love affair that brought them together.

Whitney Rose was married to someone else when she met Justin Rose, who was also married at the time, according to Distractify. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Brigham Young University grads met in 2009, when Whitney, 23, was a new employee at Nu Skin Enterprises, where Justin, 41, was the president of the company. The couple later married when she was pregnant with their first child together, and Justin's devout Mormon family didn't initially accept their union.

Whitney told Entertainment Tonight her controversial choices with Justin led her to be "unofficially excommunicated" from the Mormon Church, meaning she left on her own accord. The Wild Rose Beauty CEO told the outlet that sharing the story of her affair with Justin on "RHOSLC" has helped her. "I've already blown up my life — in a way that is unimaginable," she said. "I've lost family, friends, I've hurt tons of people. I've been judged, I've been ... everything, so it's almost like therapy to sit here in front of the world and say, yes, this is how it started. I made that choice — a lot of people do — but a lot of people don't own it, and owning it has helped me create a firm foundation and a stable life."

Despite starting off their relationship on taboo terms, Whitney and Justin Rose have had a successful and happy marriage as a blended family with two children together, daughter Bobbie and son Brooks. In fact, the Roses recently celebrated a major milestone in their marriage: their 12th anniversary. Whitney described her romance with Justin as "that once in a lifetime kind of love" in the caption of an Instagram post celebrating their special day in November. "Not because it's perfect, but because it's always worth it," Whitney wrote. "We continue to beat all odds. Thank you for loving me and supporting me through all of our crazy. Here's to another year of having each other's back no matter what."

It seems the Rose family is done growing for now. Though Whitney admitted on Instagram she "misses having babies around" her home, she clarified to speculative fans on Twitter, writing, "I no longer want any children unless they are fur babies, send me all of the fur babies."