331: I Was Terrified He Wouldn't Love the Real Me
The Empowered Wife Podcast: Marriage Help with Laura Doyle
Laura Doyle
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 91 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stephanie married the man who felt like her adventure soulmate, and their life was filled with camping, fishing, and carefree fun. But when infertility hit, everything changed.
Stephanie was heartbroken, and she kept most of that pain to herself. Because deep down she was terrified that if her husband saw how much she was struggling, he might not love what he saw.
Over time, the distance in Stephanie's relationship grew.
After twins, sleepless nights, and years of resentment, their marriage turned icy. Then one night, he said the words that shattered her: he loved her, but wasn't in love with her.
Stephanie tried everything to win him back… Cooking more, doing more, trying harder.
But the harder she tried, the worse things got. Until one tiny experiment changed the dance.
Today, the friendship is back. The laughter is back. The passion is back. Their marriage feels playful and magnetic—and they're living their dream adventure in Costa Rica as a family.
If your marriage feels distant and you don't feel like you can be yourself anymore, Stephanie's story will give you hope—and something new to try right away!
Download the FREE Adored Wife Roadmap now and start transforming your relationship today! Click here: https://lauradoyle.co/4sGJUfk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We were in a fertility clinic when I was laying in a hospital bed in one of the gowns, and it was our |
| 0:07.9 | fifth IUI procedure. And there was just something that broke in me that day. And I started to cry. |
| 0:18.0 | It turned into that hard to catch my breath type of crying. And I looked over at my |
| 0:25.0 | husband and he looked up from his fishing magazine. And instead of comforting me and like jumping on |
| 0:32.2 | the bed with me and holding me, he shushed me. He just said, Steph, like, be quiet. People are going to hear you in the waiting |
| 0:40.1 | room. And it was devastating, right? I mean, I just, I couldn't believe I married a man like this. |
| 0:51.4 | Real women, real marriages. This is the Empowered Wife podcast. Stephanie married the man |
| 0:57.2 | who felt like her adventure soulmate, camping in the mountains, fishing in the rivers, and chasing |
| 1:02.2 | freedom together. But when infertility hit, something changed. Stephanie was heartbroken, but she |
| 1:08.9 | kept the pain to herself because deep down she was terrified |
| 1:12.6 | that if her husband saw her struggling, he might not love what he saw. Between fertility |
| 1:18.4 | treatments, twins, sleepless nights, and years of resentment, their marriage turned icy. |
| 1:24.7 | And then one night at a restaurant, he said the words that shattered her heart. |
| 1:29.0 | I love you, but I'm not in love with you. Stephanie tried everything to win him back, but the |
| 1:34.9 | harder she tried, the worst things got until one tiny experiment changed the dance. What did she |
| 1:42.1 | do differently and what made her irresistible to him again? Stephanie's |
| 1:45.8 | going to tell you, stay till the end for your Try It Tonight takeaway. Stephanie, welcome to the |
| 1:52.2 | Empowered by podcast. I'm super excited to have you here. Yay, Laura, thank you so much. I feel like I |
| 1:58.2 | finally made it to the party. Like, here we go. |
| 2:10.6 | Here we go. Here we go. Oh, I cannot wait to hear the whole story. But let's start from the very beginning. What attracted you to your husband? |
| 2:18.5 | Ooh, so juicy. Well, like so many great love stories, we met in a bar, you know? |
| 2:23.6 | I was in college, and I remember I was playing pool with my girlfriends. |
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