Heavy Hallmark alums and longtime Hollywood couple Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott are headed for divorce.
After nearly 18 years of marriage, actors Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, who both starred in Hallmark movies in their heydays, are officially divorcing. According to TMZ, Spelling filed for divorce on March 29, 2024, and has requested sole physical custody of their five children.
After many highly-publicized ups and downs throughout their relationship, the couple separated in June 2023, two days after Spelling posted that their family had spent quality time together staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
On June 17, McDermott wrote in a since-deleted post on Instagram that the couple had “decided to go our separate ways,” per People. Though that post was quickly deleted, June 17 is also the separation date given in Spelling’s court filing, according to TMZ.
Dean McDermott Has Said He’s Primarily to Blame for Breakup of His Marriage to Tori Spelling
Spelling, 50, and McDermott, 57, were married in Fiji in May 7, 2006, per IMDb. When they met in 2005, they were both already married, according to Us Weekly — McDermott to Mary Jo Eustace, with whom he has a son named Jack, and Spelling to Charlie Shanian. After splitting from their spouses, the actors married less than a year later.
Spelling, best known for starring as Donna on “Beverly Hills, 90210” from 1990 to 2000, has requested sole physical custody of the couple’s children — Liam, 17, Stella, 15, Hattie, 12, Finn, 11, and Beau, 7. She also asked for joint legal custody of their kids and said that she is open to McDermott being granted visitation rights, according to TMZ.
McDermott has lived apart from his family for some time and has said he takes most of the blame for their relationship falling apart, per the DailyMail.com, primarily due to his substance abuse issues. After completing a 40-day stint in rehab for an addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs during the summer of 2023, the actor told the outlet that he was living in a sober living home with eight other men.
“All Tori’s ever done to this day is want me to be happy and healthy and I inflicted a lot of damage and pain on that woman,” he told the Daily Mail, adding that after bingeing on tequila and drugs, he would pass out each night after rage-filled antics that “petrified” his family.
But McDermott’s latest struggles with addiction aren’t the only hurdles the couple has dealt with. The couple documented their ups and downs on several reality series, including Lifetime’s “True Tori” in 2014, on which they attended therapy to address his recent extramarital affair, according to Us Weekly.
Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott Have Moved On to Other Relationships, Per Reports
GettyTori Spelling and Dean McDermott in February 2019
Though their marriage may be breaking up, Spelling and McDermott still believe in love, since both have been seen with other romantic partners since their summer split.
Spelling, who starred in the 2003 Hallmark holiday movie “A Carol Christmas,” was spotted kissing corporate executive Ryan Cramer in late 2023, according to E! Online. Meanwhile, McDermott, meanwhile, has been dating account executive Lily Calo, the outlet reported.
McDermott, whose Hallmark movies have included “A Christmas Visitor” and “Always and Forever,” told Page Six on March 14 that he feels lucky that Spelling and Calo are on good terms.
“I’m blessed, having everybody get along and come together for the greater good of the kids,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”