Jennie Garth and Peter Facinelli’s joint statement to press revealing they had decided to end their marriage appeared like the decision was mutual.
But yesterday Peter Facinelli has filed divorce papers on the same day a new interview was published with Jennie Garth saying she never wanted to split up.
Peter Facinelli cited “irreconcilable differences” in the papers filed at L.A. County Superior Court yesterday.
The actor has made the first steps to end their marriage legally on the very day Jennie Garth has said she “won’t give up on him”.
Speaking to People magazine about the split, Jennie Garth said: “I was very resistant. I didn’t want it to happen.
“He did what he needed to do. I don’t want to walk for him. Or Do I? Of course I wish he had wanted to try harder, try again, try something else.”
At the time of the split earlier this month reports claimed that Peter Facinelli was having an affair although the pair strongly denied that there was a third party involved branding the claims “hurtful”.
But there’s no doubt that the split took its toll on Jennie Garth who said she was shocked when her husband told her their marriage was over.
While Jennie Garth admits that the couple had been in counseling several times and also reveals that there was “jealously” within the relationship the split hit her hard.
Jennie Garth told People magazine: “You get the rug pulled from under you.”
The actress added: “I would take the girls to school, then go back and get into bed and not get up again until it was time to pick them up from school, and I had to pretend everything was fine.”
After Peter Facinelli told Jennie Garth he wanted a divorce there didn’t seem a right time to reveal the news – the pair kept the information to themselves until it became too much to bear.
In the end, Jennie Garth told the magazine, she couldn’t face telling the children herself and left Peter and her therapist to break the news to their three daughters Luca Bella, 14, Lola Ray, 9, and Fiona Eve, 5.
“I just held them. They cried. I cried. It was really hard,” Jennie Garth explained.
Jennie Garth met Peter Facinelli while filming An Unfinished Affair in 1996 and the couple had Luca Bella the following year.
Earlier this week Jennie Garth and Peter Facinelli were seen taking their daughters out on a shopping trip – but the awkward situation was obvious given their body language.
After five years together, Jennie Garth and Peter Facinelli married and went on to have two more daughters.
This is Jennie Garth’s second marriage to end in divorce – from 1994 to 1996 the actress was married to Daniel Clark.
