Sarah says her parents, Bill and Laura, don't approve of her pastor husband of eight years, Jason, and won’t stop meddling in her marriage. “My parents hate Jason,” she says. “My parents are controlling. It’s their way or the highway.”
But Bill and Laura insist they have good reason to meddle in Sarah's marriage — they claim Jason is controlling and verbally abusive. "Sarah wasn't given to him; he took her," Laura says. “She can’t talk to mom, she can’t talk to dad, she can’t talk to her brother. She is a pastor’s wife, so therefore she has no friends.”
Jason admits he can be overbearing and "a jerk" at times but insists the bigger problem is Bill and Laura, who can't seem to let go. “I feel like I have to protect Sarah from her parents," he says. "They love her in a very distorted way."
Sarah admits that she has complained to her parents about some of the struggles in her marriage and that has contributed to the contentious relationship. And Dr. Phil explains to her why it’s a problem that she turns to her mother when Jason does something that upsets her. “What happens is you get really upset, and you call her and dump on her and give her all the bad news, but then all the times when you are intimate, and supportive, and loving and caring, you don’t give her blow by blow of all of that, do you?” he says to her in the video above.
“I do tell her, though, that he is working on things,” Sarah says.
On Dr. Phil on Wednesday, tensions boil higher when Jason’s parents join the conversation. Click here to see more from this episode.
