TLC star Pamela Chavez praised fiancé Jay Manuel for being a comforting partner and credited him for the positive impact he’s had on her mental health.

Pamela, 30, described Jay, 28, as having “golden retriever” energy in an interview with Today published on Thursday, April 3, while also thanking him for sparking her interest in therapy.

“He brings me a lot of joy, and he has helped with my mental health. I used to be afraid of going to therapy and he was going to therapy already when I met him,” she told the outlet as fans get to know the couple on their hit reality show Jay & Pamela. “Seeing how it was going so well for him, it got me curious. I’m like, ‘Let me give that a try.’ So thanks to him, my mental health has gotten better.”

Pamela and Jay were both born with osteogenesis imperfecta type 3 (OI), a “super rare” and severe brittle bone disease that causes them to experience fractures frequently. Together, they’ve endured more than 400 broken bones.

Jay told the outlet that his bride-to-be has, in turn, helped him build “more confidence” and expressed his gratitude for her support when he was diagnosed with autism.

“She encouraged me to get diagnosed and that definitely was freeing for me because I always felt like something was going on,” he explained.

Throughout the series, fans are invited into Jay and Pamela’s daily life, gaining insight into how they use adaptive devices, such as mobilized wheelchairs with elevating seats, which allow them to reach items and live more independently.

“Of course, both being little people, we can’t reach our cabinets too well, so that’s why we have to utilize mobility aids like grabbers and things like that just to make our lives a lot easier,” Jay explained. “A lot of those physical challenges are just something that we kind of learned to deal with and live with even when it is hard because it’s all that we’ve known and this is the way that we were born. So we just have learned to adapt and navigate those obstacles as they come.”

Jay and Pamela met online and dated long distance for a year before she moved into his parents’ Georgia home. The pair got engaged in 2022 and have documented their road down the aisle during the season 1 premiere of their series, Jay & Pamela, which aired on TLC on March 4.

While the show primarily centered on their relationship as individuals living with osteogenesis imperfecta type 3, Jay also shared with TLC viewers his journey as a transgender man.

“Something a lot of people don’t know about me is I am a transgender man. Once I started to realize that I was actually a guy, was probably somewhere in high school,” he explained. “I just didn’t have the words to articulate how I felt. I’ve been out to my family for over five years now and I’m just really grateful that I have, you know, a great partner and my parents are accepting off the bat.”

During the premiere, Jay told viewers that he planned on “leaning into” his authentic self on his new, bigger platform.

“I feel like there’s nothing more powerful, at least for me, than sharing your truth and being who you are, and, of course, sharing it on this big of a platform,” he told viewers. “It’s way different than within the realm of just people that you kind of know. However, I think there’s something to say about just leaning into who you are and that authenticity, and I feel like that’s something that will be seen just throughout the show. It’s not even just the transgender aspect of things but just being authentic to who we are as a whole, and everything that encompasses us as people.”