The Valley’s Michelle Lally Knew Husband Jesse ‘Was Not The One’

The Valley‘s Michelle Lally and Jesse Lally had the opposite of a meet cute.

During the Tuesday, April 9, episode, the now-estranged couple were asked how they initially crossed paths. “We had an office meeting, and I was like, ‘Why don’t we meet for coffee?’” Jesse recalled to their costars at an event.

Michelle, however, had a different perspective on their first interaction.

“We were supposed to just have a date that night and I said, ‘OK, let’s just meet. So I know you’re not crazy,’” she detailed. “He talked so much and didn’t ask me one word. Well, I said, ‘I am not going to take him seriously, I could just have fun with him.’ So I text him at midnight to come over right now.”

According to Jesse, that ultimately led to them officially dating. “I walked in and immediately took off her jean shorts and we have been together ever since,” he shared.

In a confessional, Michelle admitted there was a “real story” she didn’t initially mention.

“We had coffee, I knew he was not The One. But I was very attracted to him,” she explained. “I canceled our first date and ended up going out to party with my girlfriends. We got super drunk and I wanted a booty call. So I was like, ‘I am just going to call this guy.’ Now I am in the world’s longest booty call.”

Before joining The Valley, Jesse and Michelle got engaged in November 2017 after several years of dating. They tied the knot one year later at the Beaulieu Garden in California and subsequently expanded their family with daughter Isabella’s arrival in 2020.

Us Weekly confirmed in March that Jesse and Michelle separated after nearly six years of marriage after they noticeably didn’t walk the red carpet together at The Valley premiere party. It didn’t take viewers long to notice cracks in the duo’s relationship since Jesse and Michelle have both candidly discussed what was lacking in their marriage.

During Tuesday’s episode, Jesse revealed to Jax Taylor that their situation was “bad” at the moment.

“[Our life coach] is like, ‘Don’t touch her. Don’t make comments about her ass.’ Because she said she was uncomfortable when I said how hot she was,” Jesse said. “We are so far past the compliment thing that she feels like when I say it, it is fake.”

Jesse offered one example of how their dynamic changed, adding, “Michelle used to show up at my house wearing a trench coat and I used to tie her up and pour hot wax on her. Now, I can’t even get a candle lit in my own house without her saying, ‘That doesn’t smell right.’”

Meanwhile, Michelle previously told Us that she didn’t have regrets about showing their issues on screen.

“People said, ‘When you watch the show, you’re going to realize how you guys actually are,’ because when you’re in it, you don’t actually know,” she said in March. “Taking a step back and looking at myself, I’m like, ‘Oh wow. It’s obvious we have some marital issues.’”

She continued: “I want fans to know how real we were. We’re very authentic. We didn’t fake anything and we said if we’re going to do reality TV, we’re really going to open up our lives — the positive and the negative.”

The Valley airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on Peacock the next day.