Kaitlynn Carter & Brody Jenner Explain Why They Never Legally Wed, Clarify Open Marriage Rumors

The season finale of The Hills: New Beginnings shed some light on stars Brody Jenner and Kaitlynn Carter’s short-lived union.

On Monday’s episode, the couple clashed with their costars over rumors about their relationship. Ashley Wahler led the charge, questioning Carter’s desire to have children because she believed Jenner was sleeping around with other women.

“That’s offensive, to say that we shouldn’t be parents because of some random rumor about my relationship with Brody,” Carter told Jenner while packing for Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt‘s vow renewal. “The last thing I need is someone weighing in on our relationship. I just think it’s so inappropriate.”

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Things didn’t get better once the crew came together in Santa Barbara, with Wahler continuing to gossip behind their backs. Jenner and Carter threatened to leave the trip early.

“Whatever we do behind closed doors or whatever, that’s between us,” he told Pratt. “That’s really nobody else’s business.”

They decided to stay, and after hearing Audrina Patridge open up about her contentious divorce, Jenner approached Carter for a conversation that confirmed what the cast had been hearing all season long: their destination wedding was not legally binding.

“Right before we went to Indonesia to get married, we started talking about getting our license here in the States, but we had a lot of like financial things that we needed to work out,” Carter said in a confessional. “We realized like, you know, we just want to focus on being excited about Indonesia and our wedding there, so let’s just deal with it when we get back. But we haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“It sounds like such a headache, what Audrina’s going through now,” Jenner said.

“But Audrina’s going through a divorce, and that’s what I’m saying, you can’t look at it like that,” Carter objected.

Jenner’s reply hinted he was already having doubts that their union would last.“No, I know, but you have to also like be realistic. Let’s just say, 10, 15 years down the line, it’s like, who knows what’s going to happen,” he said.

The next night, Carter and Wahler finally aired out their issues.

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“So does Brody have sex with other women?” Wahler asked.

“Not without me being involved, okay?” she said “Everything with me and Brody is under my control, let’s put it that way.”

“There’s not one part of our relationship that I’m ashamed of or that I would do differently,” she added to the camera. “I just think that the world isn’t necessarily ready to hear about all that. Not everybody is so open-minded or accepting of other people. But as long as what we’re doing is working for us, that’s the most important thing.”

In his own heart-to-heart with Pratt, Jenner insisted their lack of a marriage certificate wasn’t a sign of any relationship problems.

“We met with attorneys and s— like that two weeks before we left for Indonesia, went and got married in Indonesia, and every since then we’ve both been incredibly busy. We just haven’t gotten around to going to do it in the whole courthouse or however we’re going to decide to get legally married,” he said. “Like I said, whether you put it on a piece of paper or have just a celebration in Indonesia, we’re married and she’s my wife and I love her to death. … We’ve just got to get some things sorted out.”

“Ultimately I’m extremely happy with my relationship and my wife, and she gives me tons of freedom to be able to do whatever I want,” he continued at the end of the episode. “I have nothing to complain about. Life is great.”

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Carter, 31, and Jenner, 36, got married in front of 50 family members and friends in an intimate ocean-view ceremony in June 2018 at the Nihi Sumba resort on Sumba island, off the coast of Indonesia.

However, they announced their decision to amicably separate just 14 months later, and sourced confirmed to PEOPLE that they were never legally wed. On the Hills reboot, viewers watched the reality stars clash over Jenner’s late-night work schedule and Carter’s yearning to start a family.

“Brody and Kaitlynn have had issues for years. It is no secret amongst those who knew them. And the show was not good for them,” a source told PEOPLE at the time. “It got so bad that Kaitlynn had actually moved out before they started filming, but then moved back in. Doing The Hills magnified a lot of things in their marriage. And it became clear that it wasn’t going to work. They both knew it.”

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Carter is now living with Miley Cyrus (whom she was photographed kissing shortly before the singer announced her divorce from Liam Hemsworth), and Jenner is dating model Josie Canseco.