Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth announced in March 2012 that they were ending their marriage, after about 17 years together and 11 years married. They said they remained devoted to their three daughters and denied that any third party was involved. No single cause has been publicly established. Their divorce was finalized in June 2013, and in later interviews both described a painful period followed by a much more cordial co-parenting relationship.
Timeline of the split
- 1996: Facinelli and Garth meet while working on the TV movie An Unfinished Affair.
- January 2001: They marry. They have three daughters, Luca, Lola, and Fiona.
- March 2012: Representatives announce that they have decided to end the marriage.
- April 2012: Facinelli speaks publicly about how painful the breakup is, particularly after 17 years together and with children involved.
- June 2013: The divorce is finalized. The Los Angeles Times reported a 50-50 custody arrangement and that both declined spousal support.
- June 2024: Facinelli discusses the marriage on a podcast, describing it in retrospect (as quoted by Us Weekly in its 2024 timeline).
- 2025: Facinelli says the two have reached a good place in their relationship. During the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, Garth said Facinelli and his family took in her family.
- 2026: Garth reflects on grief and anger after the divorce and describes a decision to forgive and let go, as reported by The Independent.
What the couple said in 2012
The breakup was announced through representatives with a joint statement that did not offer a reason for the split. It read: “While we have decided to end our marriage, we both share the same deep love and devotion to our children.” It continued: “We remain dedicated to raising our beautiful daughters together.”
A month later, Facinelli spoke on Live! With Kelly, according to ABC News. He said: “It’s very painful to break up with somebody, especially after you’ve been together for 17 years and you have kids.” He added: “It’s even more painful when it’s played out in the media, and I’ve tried to stay really quiet about it for the sake of my kids.” He also said: “She’ll always be in my life and I love her and, you know, we’re just going to have a different relationship.”
The infidelity rumors and what was denied
Speculation about infidelity circulated at the time. Garth and Facinelli addressed it directly in a statement to People, which ABC News quoted: “There are rumors out there which are completely untrue and hurtful to our family. We just want to make it very clear – there are no third parties involved.”
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Media commentary at the time also pointed to career demands and extended time apart, including travel and work schedules. Those were speculation, not a confirmed explanation, and the couple did not endorse them as the reason for the split. Anyone searching for a single cause will not find one in reliable reporting. Readers should treat claims of a definitive reason, whether about infidelity or any other factor, with caution.
The divorce and custody
The divorce was finalized in June 2013. According to the Los Angeles Times, the couple agreed to a 50-50 custody arrangement for their three daughters and both declined spousal support. The terms reflect the joint emphasis on parenting that appeared in their 2012 statement, though the specific custody schedule is not described in the reporting cited here.
Later reflections from each of them
Peter Facinelli
In later reflections, Facinelli has described feeling that he had not developed his own identity during the marriage. He also described hurtful communication becoming habitual and contributing to resentment between them. These are his personal perspective on the marriage rather than a joint explanation, and Garth has not offered the same account. In the June 2024 podcast conversation, he said: “I felt a lot of it was I was in this marriage, and it felt to me a little bit like an arranged marriage.”
Facinelli also described a changed relationship with Garth. Quoted by Us Weekly in 2025, he said: “She’s the mother of my kids, and I love both Dave and Jennie. Our relationship has gotten to a really great place.” Dave Abrams is Garth’s husband.
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Garth has described grief and anger after the divorce. In 2026 coverage by The Independent, she recounted the turning point in her healing: “And there was a weird switch where one day I just said, ‘I don’t want to carry this anymore. It’s impacting my relationships and how I feel about myself. I’ve got to let it go. I’ve got to forgive him.’”
Her memoir, I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose & Embracing Reinvention, is the most direct source for her own account, in her own words, of the years after the marriage ended.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where things stand
The public record supports a narrow conclusion. The marriage ended by mutual announcement, the couple denied infidelity, and they have not offered a single agreed explanation. Contemporary coverage described Facinelli as the spouse who initiated the divorce and Garth as reluctant to end the marriage, and Garth has said she tried to save it. Those accounts come from media reporting and from her own statements, not from a finding by any court. The divorce itself was a shared-custody settlement, and both have since publicly described their relationship as co-parenting partners who support one another, including during the January 2025 fires.
What happened between them, in the sense of why the marriage failed, remains a matter of their personal recollections. The verifiable record is the sequence of statements, the 2013 divorce, and the cooperative relationship they describe now.
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