Heather and Dr. Terry Dubrow never really came that close to splitting up after gaining reality TV fame, but they once had to have a very real talk about the state of their marriage as it started to show cracks.
Through it all, "The Real Housewives of Orange County" star and "Botched" surgeon managed to push through when so many marriages have fallen victim to reality TV.
"We had one really bad, bad year where the show was affecting us," Heather told Page Six. "I think it may have been the first year Terry was on 'Botched,' and so we weren't together a lot because I was doing 'Housewives.' I was having a bad season. He was on 'Botched,' he was having a good season."
The differences were increasingly putting a strain on their marriage.
"We weren't communicating. There was there was just a lot going on and we had to have a real come-to-Jesus-moment and sit down," she said, noting they vowed to not "get a divorce over being on TV."
Tearing down a marriage because of TV fame is "not an acceptable thing to happen," Heather insisted.
For the duo, that was a turning point, and they've never looked back.
"In our 25 year relationship, we have been through every struggle. Intimacy struggles when I felt bad about myself, financial struggles, we've had lost several millions of dollars. We've had other kinds of things with our family," Terry said. "All the big-ticket items, we have learned how to get through them. We have very significant resources at this point in our relationship."
The couple, who married in 1999 and share four children, still quibble about silly things, but their foundation is strong. Heather and Terry have even added a new reality TV show to their stable, as they both star in E!'s new show "7 Year Stitch," which helps couples on the verge of a divorce repair their relationships.
In thinking about his own home life, Terry said, "You have to learn how to fight. That's a really important part of continuing on in a healthy relationship, to realize it's natural to have disagreements and big fights, it's just how you navigate those fights. You have to learn how to keep that level of respect [and] how to not say it… And we have tons of respect for each other."