NEED TO KNOW
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After a dramatic breakup and a surprise pregnancy, Megan and Michael, first childhood best friends turned soulmates, found their way back to each other
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Tyler, Megan’s ex-husband, chose to stay close for their daughter’s sake, setting aside pride to build a peaceful home alongside Megan and Michael
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Now, Megan, Michael and Tyler live together with their children, showing their co-parenting style in a viral TikTok
Against all odds and every societal rulebook, one family is thriving under one roof, made up of a woman, her ex-husband, her current husband and their two kids.
It’s a household stitched together not by tradition, but by healing, honesty and a fierce commitment to doing what’s best for their children.
“Tyler and I got married in January 2020, and then [Michael] and I obviously went no contact,” Megan tells PEOPLE, recalling the journey that led her to share a home with her ex-husband, Tyler, and her now-husband, Michael.
That journey, which is equal parts unconventional, honest and unexpectedly beautiful, has made the trio unlikely TikTok stars, drawing tens of thousands of followers who are captivated by their unorthodox but deeply functional family life.
The TikTok account started almost on a whim. Megan says she never expected the response they received. “Honestly, I just thought it was crazy,” she shares. “And I was like, I bet there’s a few people out there that are going to get a kick out of this. And then it blew up overnight.”
That “crazy” setup has a surprising calm at its core. Megan and Michael were childhood best friends who met at church and stayed close through high school.
“We were pretty much best friends from the moment we met,” she says, smiling at the memory. They eventually dated, broke up dramatically and lost contact. Then life brought them back together in a way neither expected.
After years apart, a chance reconnection while Megan was in rehab led to a quick rekindling of their friendship and eventually, a marriage. “We got married a month after reconnecting,” Megan says. “Not proud of the timeline, but I don’t regret it.”
Megan’s marriage to Tyler, meanwhile, had ended shortly before her reunion with Michael. As a newly single mom, she reached out to Michael for help finding work. “He did. He helped me get a job with his mom,” she recalls. “That’s kind of how we reconnected.”
Things moved quickly after that. Megan discovered she was pregnant with Michael’s child and found herself navigating a cross-country move, single parenting and co-parenting with Tyler — all while trying to make things work with Michael.
South Carolina became their compromise. “I told him my only requirement is that I needed a beach,” Megan says. “And of course he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go anywhere to be with you and our son.’ ”
For a while, she carefully managed two separate households, coordinating handoffs of her daughter with Tyler so that he and Michael didn’t cross paths. “These two were never in the same place at the same time,” she remembers. “I would send one to the store when the other was around.”
Then one day, everything changed.
Tyler was building furniture at Megan’s house for their daughter when Michael needed to stop by. “I was panicking,” Megan recalls. “I looked at Tyler, and I was like, ‘Michael has to come to the house right now.’ And he kind of shrugged at me. He was like, ‘I don’t care anymore. I’m not mad. He can be here when I’m here.’ ”
That moment of grace shifted everything. “I just think it was the grace of God,” Tyler tells PEOPLE. “One day, I just woke up. I’m like, man, this is kind of silly. He’s going to be here forever, so I might as well just suck up the pride.”
From there, things moved fast. Megan floated the idea of all three living together. “We all get along really well,” she remembers telling them. “What if we just all got a place together?”
To her surprise, they were both on board. “We created a group chat and started sending properties,” she says. “And two months later, we moved in here.”
The adjustment, of course, wasn’t easy. “Tyler was up and down a lot when we first moved in together,” Megan says. “Lots of emotional rollercoasters.”
Tyler doesn’t deny it. “It was just a big range of emotions. This is great. I love it. This sucks. I hate it. I’m getting out of here next week,” he says, only half-joking.
Courtesy Megan
Tyler, Megan, and Michael
But he stayed for a reason that’s easy to understand. “My daughter,” he says plainly. “I grew up in a semi-broken home. And I didn’t want that for her. I was like, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
That meant giving up his dream job temporarily. “I stopped being a cop just to move down here,” he says. “I was like, whatever. I’ll be a janitor if I have to, as long as I get to see my daughter.”
For Michael, the dynamic has required its own emotional shift. “It is definitely a rollercoaster,” he tells PEOPLE. “But it’s like a built-in friend that is never going to leave. So it’s cool. It is so different from what I imagined for myself when I was in high school.”
Reactions from friends and family have been all over the place. “My dad, we blew up on each other and I didn’t talk to him for five, six months,” Tyler says. “At first, he was not fond of it. He was like, ‘You’re an idiot. Best of luck. See you then.’ ” Today, things are better. “He’s like, ‘Whatever works for you, man. I’m happy if you’re happy.’ ”
Michael’s mom is supportive, too. “She loves Megan, she loves Tyler and all the kids,” he says.
Inside the house, life is full but never predictable. “It changes every single day,” Megan says. “Let’s say both the guys are at work. I stay at home with the kids, so we’re out and about at the pool, at the beach, whatever. And then once the guys get home, it’s usually to clean up, cook and they take the kids.”
Courtesy Megan
Megan, Tyler, and Michael
Evenings are usually spent together in the common area, not holed up in separate rooms. “We use the common area more than we’re ever alone in our rooms, hiding,” Megan says.
The family doesn’t hold formal sit-down meetings often, but communication is constant. “It’s kind of like we’re doing everything on the fly,” Tyler says. “We’re usually like, ‘Hey, don’t do that.’ or ‘Hey, we should try this.’ ”
That open communication is part of what’s made their unusual setup work. When asked what advice they’d give to others considering a similar path, Megan doesn’t hesitate.
“Really focus on your healing first,” she says. “If there is still so much bitterness towards your co-parent, it is going to cause an unhealthy living situation for the kids.”
Tyler agrees. “You got to do it for the kids and you got to put your ego aside,” he says. “Your kid only gets one childhood.” Michael adds that it’s about selflessness. “Being slow to anger. Redoing the whole ego thing,” he says. “It all works within itself.”
As for their biggest TikTok misconception? Many believe that they’re all romantically involved. “We are strictly monogamous,” Megan says. “Tyler is dating somebody and they’re monogamous.”
And while online judgment exists, it doesn’t shake them. “I’ll get literal DMs,” Megan says. “And I screenshot it and I send it to the group chat and I’m laughing. It doesn’t faze me.”
Courtesy Megan
Megan, Michael, and Tyler with their kids
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Tyler, who’s back working as a police officer, is a bit more cautious. “The only thing that it really affects is my job,” he says. “People come up to me at work sometimes. ‘Are you the guy from TikTok?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ ”
Dating, he adds, is also complicated. “We actually did a dating application. 1,300 responses later, none of ‘em worked,” he says, laughing.
Looking forward, the family has a dream to build a compound with separate homes on shared land. “If they’re not on board, they’re out,” Tyler says. “I’m going to do what’s best for my family.”
Over time, the experience has shaped all three of them in lasting ways. “Patience and grace,” Tyler says. “Megan and Michael also never argue. So it’s something that’s great to see.”
Megan agrees. “If you see the fact that I have patience, it’s because I learned it from Tyler… The way he speaks to our daughter.” Michael nods, adding, “Especially in Latino communities, it’s all toxic. So just being selfless and slow to anger. It works.”
At the heart of it all, Megan says, is their shared faith. “None of this would be possible if it weren’t for each of our individual relationships with the Lord,” she concludes. “That’s how we were able to heal and come together. There’s a bigger picture.”
Read the original article on People
