Sad Details About HGTV Star Jenn Todryk's Personal Life

Jenn Todryk worked her way up from influencer to HGTV star in just a few years. Before making her TV debut with "No Demo Reno" in March 2021, Jenn got her start by showing off her skills on Instagram and her lifestyle blog. As if that wasn't enough, she is also a business owner along with her husband, Mike Todryk, with whom she runs Armor Coffee Co. and Armor Brewery Co. Not bad for a small-town Texas girl. But the path up to this point wasn't without its hurdles.

In her professional life, Jenn has had to deal with the all-too-common online criticism native to the world of social media, which only got worse after she got her show. Luckily, she has learned to focus on the positive while trying to tune out the hateful comments. But it was in her personal life that Jenn encountered the biggest challenges. Just months after their wedding in August 2011, Jenn and Mike faced struggled to conceive. In their journey, Jenn learned she suffered from hormonal imbalances.

That discovery led to a hypothyroidism diagnosis that later proved to be linked to Hashimoto's disease. While the condition in itself has been challenging to manage, making her busy lifestyle work alongside her symptoms has proved even more so. Amid her health journey, Jenn experienced two tragic deaths in her family, making that time period pretty difficult for her and her family. However, Jenn has a lot to be grateful for and isn't taking anything for granted. 

Jenn Todryk is a mom of three, but starting her family came with a lot of ups and downs. Jenn and Mike Todryk expected to become parents in 2012, when she got her first positive pregnancy test. But she miscarried right when she was about to celebrate the milestone week 12 of pregnancy, when the chance of miscarriage drastically goes down. "You were only part of me for a little less than three months, but that didn't matter. It only took five minutes for me to fall in love with you," she penned in a 2015 blog post.

Jenn wasn't home when the miscarriage process started. "I tried the best I could to keep my emotions in, due to the fact that I was in a public setting when I realized that you were gone," she continued. Jenn wanted answers. She was in her early 20s and in good health — or so she thought. She turned to her doctor only to be met with indifference. He wouldn't consider checking her hormones until she had suffered at least three miscarriages.

Jenn switched OBGYNs right away. "INSANE. I still shake my head at that man," she wrote in a 2018 blog post to announce her third pregnancy. Her new doctor found she had low progesterone, a hormone crucial for pregnancy. After getting started on progesterone pills in 2012, she was able to carry her next pregnancy to term. She and Mike welcomed their son Von the following year. 

The blood test she ran while trying to conceive was critical in her fertility journey, but it opened the door for another health discovery. Jenn Todryk's hormonal imbalances weren't random. When she started experiencing fatigue and noticed she was the only Texan in a sweater anywhere she went, Jenn took note and began to pay attention to her body in general. "It would be 100 degrees outside and while everyone else was complaining about the heat, I'd be cold," she told HealthyWomen in 2023.

Knowing that her own mother struggled with an underactive thyroid, known as hypothyroidism, Jenn sought professional help. In 2014, she was diagnosed with the same condition as her mother. But that wasn't the end of it. In 2017, she learned her hypothyroidism was a result of Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own thyroid. As there is no cure, Jenn managed to get her symptoms mainly under control through lifestyle changes — and testosterone.

In her 2018 pregnancy announcement post, she revealed she started getting testosterone shots to help combat the fatigue. "I have felt SO GOOD. My energy is amazing and all of my hormones are leveling out for the most part," she penned. But her diet has also played a big role in her journey. "I tried going gluten-free and dairy-free at the same time and did see some improvement with my symptoms," she told HealthyWomen, adding that she isn't super strict about it. 

Even though Jenn Todryk has gotten her Hashimoto's largely under control, she still experiences occasional flare-ups. When they happen, she's unable to carry on with her daily obligations the way she's used to. That's particularly hard when it comes to being the mother she wants to be. "I've got some thyroid stuff happening again, I was super tired and REALLY tried to be the best mom I could be today," she wrote in a 2018 Instagram post. The hardest symptom to deal with is fatigue.

As a mom to three young kids, the exhaustion makes it impossible for her to keep up. But she takes it one day at a time as she knows it's temporary. "Yes, my kids watched more tv this morning than normal since I could barely keep my eyes open but around 10 I kicked it in gear," she shared. She tries to look at the big picture and remind herself that she is the best mother she can be. That's always going to be good enough. "I was present when honestly I felt like I physically couldn't be," she wrote.

On some of her worst days, Jenn feels the debilitating effects of Hashimoto's deep in her bones. "When I have flares, the fatigue can be so bad that I've even fallen asleep sitting up," she told HealthyWomen. "I've learned there are days when I have to be honest and say, 'I can't do this today.'"

Jenn Todryk spent two years mourning the deaths of loved ones. She lost her grandfather in April 2022, only to find herself grieving again in December 2023 when her grandmother died. While she loved her grandmother dearly, coming to terms with her death was a bit easier for Todryk. "Not only did she live a long life, she lived a great quality of life," she shared in an Instagram Stories clip (via Heavy).

Todryk's grandma died in her sleep just days shy of her 90th birthday. "How many people do you know you can say they died peacefully in their sleep anymore? ... I personally have a lot of peace because of that," she added. Her grandfather's hospice death was different. "It was not painless, and it was not peaceful and it was really hard," she said. Shortly after his death, Todryk traveled to his hometown in Granville, Ohio, to visit family. 

While there, she paid homage to her grandfather in her characteristically silly way by jumping in front of a sign that partially read "Granville." "Me and my cousin Abby stepped away for a quick photo op," she captioned the Instagram post. Three months later, Todryk revealed she and her parents were helping her grandmother move to Texas to be close to them, marking an emotional moment for her. "My grandparents lived in this house for 55 years ... This home was a huge part of my childhood," she wrote on Instagram. 

Before landing the HGTV show that put her in people's living rooms, Jenn Todryk had cultivated a loyal social media base — who knew her as the Rambling Redhead. And that was a completely different ballgame compared to reality TV. "The HGTV fans are amazing, but they can be ruthless, and they can be mean, and judgy," she said on the "Mina AF with Mina Starsiak Hawk" podcast in August 2024. As soon as "No Demo Reno" debuted, Todryk noticed a negative change in the comments section of her platforms.

Learning to navigate that wasn't easy, though she's glad she already had experience through her social media-related work. "I really think that was God's way of really cradling me and taking me to this bigger transition," she told Hawk. By the time criticism from her show hit her pages, Todryk already knew how to handle it on a smaller scale. "I can only imagine not having that first. You have to do all that while being thrust onto national television, and I can see that being really difficult from a confidence standpoint," she added.

Indeed, some HGTV fans can't stand Todryk and 'No Demo Reno.' While some claim "No Demo Reno" is staged, others have slammed Todryk's interpersonal skills. "Why does she flirt with every male she comes in contact with? That really bothers me along with her phony personality," one Redditor shared. Thankfully, Todryk has learned to tune out the noise.