Teacher Who Had Sexual Relationship With 15-Year-Old Claims Marriage Left Her Craving Attention

Teacher Who Had Sexual Relationship With 15-Year-Old Claims Marriage Left Her Craving Attention

What could lead a 27-year-old married teacher with a young son to have a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student? Jennifer Caswell, known as Jennifer Sexton before her recent divorce, speaks out for the first time since the former middle school teacher from Hollis, Oklahoma, was charged with three counts of second-degree rape.

Caswell, who taught sixth, seventh and eighth grade, recalls when the student/teacher relationship became inappropriate. "He was flirty. I should have put a stop to it then, and I didn't," she says. "I wasn't used to getting attention. It felt nice to have someone to compliment me and things like that, because I felt very unwanted."

She tells Dr. Phil that she felt vulnerable during her seven-year marriage. "I never got complimented. Never even got a birthday present, Christmas present, for Valentine's Day, nothing. I felt really bad about myself," she says, fighting tears. "I never thought I'd be in this situation. I'm not a monster and I'm not a predator. I made a stupid decision."

Dr. Phil asks, "Would you say the marriage was not a good marriage?"

Caswell explains, "We didn't fight, but that's only because we didn't talk. It was like living with a roommate ... He would come home. He would talk on the phone to his friends for an hour or two, and then he would go to the playroom and play his Xbox until 1 or 2 in the morning."

Dr. Phil probes, "Was he affectionate with you physically?"

"No, we never held hands or cuddled on the couch or anything like that,” Caswell says. “I wanted that. I mean, I need that and I wasn't getting it there."

She claims her former student reacted to her quite differently. "He would always tell me how beautiful I was and how I was a good person on the inside," says Caswell about the teen, whom she describes as "funny" and "mature."

Watch as Caswell describes how they became intimate in her classroom, and see more from Dr. Phil's exclusive interview on Tuesday's episode — check local listings here.

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