Hallmark Actor Accused of Cheating on Wife With Co-Star

Heavy/Hallmark/Unsplash Joey Lawrence accused of having an affair.

Hallmark actor Joey Lawrence and his wife, Samantha Cope, have split. According to court documents obtained by Page Six, Cope filed for divorce from Lawrence, citing irreconcilable differences.

On August 22, TMZ reported that Lawrence is being accused of having an affair with his “Socked in for Christmas” co-star, Melina Alves. The claim is being made by Alves’ estranged husband, Edward Rider, who filed for divorce in New Jersey.

According to divorce documents obtained by the outlet, Cope listed her date of separation from Lawrence in June. In Rider’s divorce documents, he claims that he found out that Lawrence and his wife were having an affair in March.

“Joey met Melina Alves on the set of their movie, where she was a producer,” a source told People magazine in story published on August 22. “He then love-bombed her just like he love-bombed Samantha. He continued to date Melina even after Samantha found out about it and confronted him,” the source added.

Lawrence, who starred in Hallmark’s “Hitched for the Holidays,”  married Cope in 2022 and they have one daughter together. He was previously married to Chandie Yawn-Nelson, with whom he has two daughters, Charleston, 18, and Liberty, 14. Lawrence was also married to Michelle Vella from 2002 through 2005. The two didn’t have any kids together.

Heavy has reached out to a rep for Lawrence for comment.

Some People Are Attacking Melina Alves & Joey Lawrence on Instagram

Shortly after news broke that Alves’ ex accused her of having an affair with Lawrence, a few people took to her Instagram feed to tease her.

“HOME RECKER !!!!!” read one comment on Alves’ most recent post, which was uploaded on August 12.

“‘WOAH!’ – Joey,” someone else wrote.

“Oh I get it now,” a third Instagram user added.

Similar comments popped up on Lawrence’s recent Instagram posts.

“Joey, Joey, Joey, Joey. You don’t [“expletive”] where you eat brother,” someone said on his pinned post.

At least one person asked Lifetime not to release the film that Lawrence and Alves were filming together.

“Adultery is GROSS. Not a good look either when you have a c r a p movie coming out called #SockedinforChristmas @lifetimetv please don’t even think of picking this junk up,” another comment read.

Joey Lawrence’s Wife Shared a Cryptic Post in June

Two months prior to filing for divorce from Lawrence, Cope shared a cryptic post on her Instagram feed. The post started off with a telling quote and continued with photos of Cope and her daughter, Dylan Rose. Clearly missing from the post was Lawrence.

“Not everything you lose is a loss. Some things are a freedom. Some things are a second chance,” the quote read, in part. The quote goes on to show how something a person loses can essentially be a blessing in disguise.

“Some things are a devastation, but others are a kind of vital guidance, the kind of course-correction you did not even know you needed. The kind you did not even realize you were asking for all along,” the quote continued.

Cope captioned the post, “favs lately” and added some hashtags, including one that read “thankful.” In her divorce filing, Cope requested sole physical custody of 1-year-old Dylan, according to Page Six. She also asked the judge to grant Lawrence visitation rights at her discretion, per court documents obtained by the outlet.

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