'Who was this predator that I was married to?' The true story behind The Perfect Husband.

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of sexual assault that may be distressing to some readers.

Jenifer Faison thought she was living a fairytale when she and her college boyfriend, Spencer Herron, reconnected on Facebook two decades after they parted ways.

She was a successful Emmy-nominated TV producer in Los Angeles, with credits like Judge Judy, Storage Wars, and Extreme Makeover under her belt. She'd even worked on huge TV juggernauts like The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Jersey Shore.

It was the 2000s, and Faison was at the top of her career. But prior to reconnecting with Herron, she felt as though something was missing. 

So when Herron, a high school teacher living in Georgia, commented on a social media post from Faison's 20-year college reunion, she jumped at the chance to reignite a romance with the divorced father. They decided to meet up in New York City.

"The night I re-met Spence in New York was magical," she recalled the "meant to be" moment to ABC News. "We really believed we were soulmates."

It was like no time had passed. Faison packed her bags and moved to Georgia to be with her soulmate and in 2012, they were married.

Image: Hulu.

Then, six years later, everything came crashing down. 

As Faison recounted, "Little did I know I was married to a man who had done something so horrible that it would devastate our lives and change us forever."

On June 1, 2018, Herron was arrested for sexually assaulting one of his high school students, a 16-year-old girl from 2016 and 2017. He was also accused of a sexual assault of another underage student, and a third student accused him of groping.

In Hulu's new docuseries, Betrayal: The Perfect Husband, Faison said she pulled up to the home they shared, surprised not to see Herron greet her – something the 54-year-old typically did.

"I pulled into the driveway of our house expecting him to come outside to greet me, and nothing this time," she said.

She found the front door had been kicked open, a search warrant on the coffee table, and Herron sitting on the couch shaking his head.

"It's over, it's all over," she recalled him saying. Police then took him in.

But Faison didn't believe her "perfect and charismatic" husband could be a sexual predator. He had, after all, been awarded a 'Teacher of the Year' gong. Students and parents loved him. And Faison herself was his number-one fan.

She later acknowledged she was in complete denial.

Watch the trailer for this docuseries. Post continues below. 

While Herron was in custody, Faison went on her husband's laptop and discovered a folder labelled "photos". 

She was completely blindsided. There was no slow progression, no red flags, no hint that something was off.

"I start scrolling down and all of a sudden there's a photo of a woman half naked," Faison said on the docuseries. "And then there's another one and then there's another different woman naked. And I just kept looking and it was woman after woman after woman. And then I found emails and messages between him and these women. He was living a double life."

The messages were explicit, mostly to sex workers he interacted with online and in person. Faison said emails even detailed how he'd cheated on her the week of their wedding.

But he wasn't just a serial cheater. There was an actual crime committed as well.

Faison soon learned her husband had used his position of power at school to sexually abuse a student named Rachel, who later reported him to authorities. He started grooming her when she was 15 and the assaults began when she was 16.

Rachel spoke of her trauma via the new docuseries, saying the abuse took a large toll on her mental health.

"I went from a happy, carefree, and hopeful teenager to a cynical, angry and depressed one," she said. "I completely shut myself out from people. I withdrew from my family and my friends and by the time I was a senior, I had no communication with anyone that I was involved with at school. 

"I felt like I wasn't deserving of anything good in my life."

Jenifer Faison (left) and Rachel share their stories. Image: ABC/Hulu.

On January 18, 2019, Herron pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault. He was then sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years probation. But in 2022, he was granted parole. He's now back in the community and remains on the registered sex offender list.

Faison says she is "forever grateful" for Rachel coming forward with her story.

"The healing's not over yet," Faison said. "I'm not out of the woods yet. It's only been four years. I am still clawing my way back out of this deep, dark hole that I fell into."

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

Feature Image: Hulu.