Before Joey Lawrence and Samantha Cope made the decision to end their marriage, he addressed their “unorthodox” meeting in an interview with PEOPLE.
Eight months before Cope, 37, filed for divorce from Lawrence, he spoke with PEOPLE for a December 2023 interview.
While talking about how they met on set My husband’s secret brother, Lawrence, 48, admitted he didn’t expect their relationship to turn into marriage – partly because he had “never dated anyone I’d worked with before”.
“It was very, very unusual for me,” he told PEOPLE at the time. “I’ve never really gotten into a serious relationship with someone I’ve really worked with, ever.”
“It was very unexpected,” he continued. “These wild twists and turns that you get at our age. You just kind of go, ‘Okay, well, I guess it is what it is.’ You learn to accept the unusual way that some things just happen and you’re grateful for that—you’re grateful for that, even though it’s not what you expected.”
Joey Lawrence and Samantha Cope split after two years of marriage
He explained that his brother is directing a Lifetime movie, and Lawrence and Cope’s characters have a complicated dynamic.
“I was her killer,” he said with a laugh. “Well, I was her lover—and a murderer, too.”
Joey Lawrence (left) and Samantha Cope (right).
Samantha Cope/Instagram
The couple married in May 2022 and welcomed a baby girl together, daughter Dylan, in January 2023. Lawrence also has two other daughters from his previous marriage to Chandie Yawn-Nelson.
“Look, life is a beautiful, sometimes crazy-unexpected journey, and the ups and downs are real, and I’m very thankful that the people I love are around me and that health is around us,” he told PEOPLE in December 2023, joking. that his daughter “keeps me young”. and it makes me old.”
Joey Lawrence raves about brother Matthew’s ‘Cool as Hell’ girlfriend Chilli: ‘He’s happy’
Earlier in August, fans began to speculate that Cope and Lawrence had split when PEOPLE released exclusive photos from a family vacation that Cope was not on. Lawrence was also not wearing a wedding ring.
Lawrence (48) and his brothers Matthew (44) and Andrew (36) were joined by their mother Donna, Melissa & Joey alum’s daughters, Charleston, 18, and Liberty, 14, as well as Andrew’s girlfriend, Brittany McGowan, on a Caribbean getaway.
“Nothing is more important in this life than the beautiful memories you share with loved ones,” the brothers told PEOPLE at the time. “It was the vacation of a lifetime and we can’t wait to go back!”
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Joey Lawrence (left) and Samantha Cope (right).
Samantha Cope/Instagram
Joey Lawrence says it was ‘so crazy’ to marry his on-screen lover-turned-killer Samantha Cope (Exclusive)
The news of the couple’s divorce appeared on August 21. According to the divorce filing obtained by PEOPLE, Cope cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split and filed on Aug. 13 — two months after the separation date, which was listed as June 7, 2024.
Cope asked to block the court’s ability to award spousal support to either party. In addition, she is seeking full physical custody of their daughter Dylan, 19 months, while allowing Lawrence visitation at her discretion.
“When Dylan is 3 or older, Joe will have the option of taking her home for 2 nights if she is not working and can facilitate her visits,” the filing states.
According to the filing, Cope requested that Lawrence “not take [Dylan] for long, extended periods of time until she is old enough to specifically request visitation time and all parties agree and are able to provide it.”
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The filing also states that Lawrence “must be available at all times” Dylan visits while she is a minor and “must not be in the presence of any non-family members while with Joe, unless agreed to by Samantha.”
Representatives for Lawrence and Cope did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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