According to Radar Online, at the age of 25 Whelchel married a much older man that her father chose for her. Unfortunately, they split up in 2012. In an appearance on The Jeff Probst Show (via Radar Online), she said she stayed with her husband long after she realized she didn’t want to be in the marriage anymore because she believed in the commitment of marriage.”I stayed for my children. I stayed for… I thought it was the right thing to do,” she told Probst.
She revealed to People that the divorce was finalized just before she left to join Survivor, though she and her ex remain friends and even watched the premiere of the show together. “I just never thought it would happen to me,” she said. “It was painful to realize that it wasn’t going to work out. We will always be friends. And we will always be family, too.”