I think Jen Hatmaker wore hats as part of her Brandi g and marketing; like how Gloria Allred always wears red! Of your last name is Hatmaker…gotta wear hats.

Brando wears hats because he is balding/bald. Also, he’s aggressively fighting with the fat man and fat cells within his body! He undoubtedly thinks that the trucker hats make him appear “mas macho”, tougher (to go with the rugged and rough biker/ dude bro persona he is striving for so desperately) and distracts from his chubbiness.

The tats are awful. Decide who you are, Brandon.

I think it's too much for people to combine "Christian" influencing with cooking, decorating, fashion, and merchandising, even child rearing. It's inevitable that her following will cling onto all of it like Gospel.
It's too much. It's totalitarian. It's you have to follow everything about the person. And there is just so much wrong with her example if she wants to keep up the Christian part. So she was a pastors wife? So she preached? What happened to that? Did she lose her calling? Is there no explanation?
Anyway, why in God's name do all these people wear hats? I don't think they are outside alot. It's a very 90's, desperate Texas housewife kind of look.

Anonymous wrote:The attempt to make them HGTV stars was really weird. They aren’t super creative.

No one would say Jen is some sort of style, home decoration maven and no one would say Brandon is a super handy contractor with above average skills.

I remember how much an artist friend of mine snarked on their home reno and Jen's 'decorating.' Personally, I don't care if you've got decorating skills or not, a home should be a reflection of your family and doesn't have to meet any sort of arbitrary criteria. BUT, if you're going to go on HGTV and want to become the second coming of Chip and Joanna then you probably SHOULD have some sort of decorating skills in your pocket.

The attempt to make them HGTV stars was really weird. They aren’t super creative.

No one would say Jen is some sort of style, home decoration maven and no one would say Brandon is a super handy contractor with above average skills.

Anonymous wrote:So interesting that these people are pseudo-Christian leaders yet display and promote excessive drinking, premarital sex, and questionable life choices.

No wonder that they can then pick and choose their fluid, nondescript non-theology.

Just ditch the faux belief systems and become lifestyle
mavens like Chip and Joanna Gaines already.

They already tried the Chip and Jo-Jo thing with their Renovation gig on HGTV. It was a bust. Not sure how Chip and Jo are in real life, but they do have a pretty good persona on TV that works. Brando wasn’t a real carpenter and Chip is. All Brando could really do is demo sh*t. Not much skill or foresight needed for smashing old kitchen counters or ripping up nasty carpet. Plus it’s hard work. Brandi’s hands don’t have any callouses. Jen wasn’t much better.

Were they ever Christians or was that just the convenient vehicle they used to promote themselves towards fame and money given the fact that their backgrounds were small town Oklahoma Baptist college life?

So interesting that these people are pseudo-Christian leaders yet display and promote excessive drinking, premarital sex, and questionable life choices.

No wonder that they can then pick and choose their fluid, nondescript non-theology.

Just ditch the faux belief systems and become lifestyle
mavens like Chip and Joanna Gaines already.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jen only said there was a lot she didn’t know about their finances when Brandon was the one managing everything. Her language and demeanor gave the impression it was not good. But poor judgement and mismanagement is different than lying, cheating and stealing. That’s all still speculation this side of the gossip mill.

Yes- exactly, being irresponsible or squandering money on tats, boots, and jeans designed for chicks, while stupid, isn’t a criminal misdeed. Although his wardrobe should be a crime, especially pulling down his cap low like a tool.

What I’m interested in is a forensic accounting of the legacy collective money— my guess there is that, while likely legal, it would not look good on them if they were egregious in the allocation of “administrative fees” back to themselves. That’s my theory on the whole deal. They took a huge cut for themselves so that we can all feel blessed to have them delegate our philanthropic efforts for us. You know, since we’re all just mindless sheep and “corn eaters”, right , Tray?

There is a lot short of criminal that could fall under misdeeds though. Gambling away a significant amount of the family money while failing to pay taxes and forcing a situation where the lake house has to be sold to pay the bills for example. If the bills all end up paid there’s nothing criminal…but I think that still falls under financial misdeeds.

I’d be hesitant to assume misdeeds with the legacy collective, seems like there would be too many eyes to hide things from there? But that might be me being naive.

Agreed, but as far as LC, I get the feeling that perhaps there was a sentiment, that these admin fees are for our “time” and yours too. If, and it is a big “if”, I think it would be on the up and up, but maybe a hit in the fatter side of things. Like let’s normalize fleecing of our donors. No one will know.

As far and failing to pay taxes etc, yes that would be misdeeds for sure. Truth is, we just don’t know for sure. This is one big honkin’ rumor mill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jen only said there was a lot she didn’t know about their finances when Brandon was the one managing everything. Her language and demeanor gave the impression it was not good. But poor judgement and mismanagement is different than lying, cheating and stealing. That’s all still speculation this side of the gossip mill.

Yes- exactly, being irresponsible or squandering money on tats, boots, and jeans designed for chicks, while stupid, isn’t a criminal misdeed. Although his wardrobe should be a crime, especially pulling down his cap low like a tool.

What I’m interested in is a forensic accounting of the legacy collective money— my guess there is that, while likely legal, it would not look good on them if they were egregious in the allocation of “administrative fees” back to themselves. That’s my theory on the whole deal. They took a huge cut for themselves so that we can all feel blessed to have them delegate our philanthropic efforts for us. You know, since we’re all just mindless sheep and “corn eaters”, right , Tray?

There is a lot short of criminal that could fall under misdeeds though. Gambling away a significant amount of the family money while failing to pay taxes and forcing a situation where the lake house has to be sold to pay the bills for example. If the bills all end up paid there’s nothing criminal…but I think that still falls under financial misdeeds.

I’d be hesitant to assume misdeeds with the legacy collective, seems like there would be too many eyes to hide things from there? But that might be me being naive.

Jen's post today about making dinner for her kids was really nice. I miss that Jen. No political bs, no Jesus in my own image bs, no passive aggressive snark at Brandon. Just a mom cooking dinner and with normal ingredients, too. No 24k gold truffles or anything bougie. Can we please just have that Jen back? I'm hoping the cookbook is like this. Just relatable family connections and good recipes. No "I hate Republicans" chili or anything like that. I would pre-order if it I knew it would just be humble and relatable, but 2022 Jen has my guard way up, so I'll be scanning through it in Target when it comes out.

Anonymous wrote:Jen only said there was a lot she didn’t know about their finances when Brandon was the one managing everything. Her language and demeanor gave the impression it was not good. But poor judgement and mismanagement is different than lying, cheating and stealing. That’s all still speculation this side of the gossip mill.

Yes- exactly, being irresponsible or squandering money on tats, boots, and jeans designed for chicks, while stupid, isn’t a criminal misdeed. Although his wardrobe should be a crime, especially pulling down his cap low like a tool.

What I’m interested in is a forensic accounting of the legacy collective money— my guess there is that, while likely legal, it would not look good on them if they were egregious in the allocation of “administrative fees” back to themselves. That’s my theory on the whole deal. They took a huge cut for themselves so that we can all feel blessed to have them delegate our philanthropic efforts for us. You know, since we’re all just mindless sheep and “corn eaters”, right , Tray?

Jen only said there was a lot she didn’t know about their finances when Brandon was the one managing everything. Her language and demeanor gave the impression it was not good. But poor judgement and mismanagement is different than lying, cheating and stealing. That’s all still speculation this side of the gossip mill.

Anonymous wrote:I would guess Tina is enamored with Brandon. I would also guess she and her friends have found this thread probably over the course of wanting to know the gossip about the Hatmakers once she got involved. There’s a heavy and personal dose of Tina defending on here suddenly and the quick response on insta with her going private and removing hundreds of followers tells me they’ve seen the gossip start to include her.

I mostly feel bad for her. Monitoring the gossip this much is a red flag. The fact that Brandon bailed on rehab after about 10 days and is now enjoying partying and drinking is a red flag. Brandon’s need to have a certain curated big shot image is a red flag. His history of cheating and financial misdeeds is a red flag. Everyone deserves a second chance, but making a decision to marry someone with this many red flags is something I would recommend my friend take veeeerrrry slowly, especially if it’s been all wooing and lavish gifts and newness so far. I think at least on his end there is too much trauma still there to make good decisions in the long term…

Did I miss the “proof” of some financial misdeeds? I wouldn’t be at all surprised, and I love the tea!, but does anyone on this thread really know? Has Jen or anyone made any public statement of such misdeeds? I’m not defending Brandon, but I think we should be careful of stating speculation and conjecture as facts.

I would guess Tina is enamored with Brandon. I would also guess she and her friends have found this thread probably over the course of wanting to know the gossip about the Hatmakers once she got involved. There’s a heavy and personal dose of Tina defending on here suddenly and the quick response on insta with her going private and removing hundreds of followers tells me they’ve seen the gossip start to include her.

I mostly feel bad for her. Monitoring the gossip this much is a red flag. The fact that Brandon bailed on rehab after about 10 days and is now enjoying partying and drinking is a red flag. Brandon’s need to have a certain curated big shot image is a red flag. His history of cheating and financial misdeeds is a red flag. Everyone deserves a second chance, but making a decision to marry someone with this many red flags is something I would recommend my friend take veeeerrrry slowly, especially if it’s been all wooing and lavish gifts and newness so far. I think at least on his end there is too much trauma still there to make good decisions in the long term…

I share your concern about how drinking seems central to all their fun times. Given Brandon’s addiction history it’s a red flag. Tina is taking a risk given how quickly he rebounded particularly when addiction was a huge part of the reason his marriage failed. I think Tina is his drug of choice for now. Time will tell if they can find a healthy way forward.

The pickins are pretty slim in the single 50 year old man demographic, Brandon wasn’t going to be alone long. Tina recognized he was a loving servant-hearted guy who adored his kids and snapped him right up.

As for the chugging Champaign, Gucci purses, Cancun trips I’m not so sure this excludes you from loving a simple county life. Cancun is a cheap destination trip from south Texas. It’s not like a month in an expensive resort town. Brandon has always been about showy gifts, that’s not Tina’s fault. They feel like a couple experiencing the rush of love again after a very long hard time. They are acting like kids cause it’s all brand new and fresh. After the thrill is gone they’ll find out if they are truly compatible. I’m betting it’ll last, because they have lived long enough to appreciate a little safety and kindness in each other.