Jennie Garth and Peter Facinelli pulled of Hollywood’s nicest divorce

When Jennie Garth married for the first time, she was only 22. Much later she said she really had no business to be married at such a young age. When she met Peter Facinelli only a year into her first marriage, she called her then-husband Daniel Clark and asked him for a divorce on a phone call. He agreed and they were divorced in 1996.

Peter had blown Jennie completely away.They were filming An Unfinished Affair together and bonded during their time on set, becoming best friends and soon a couple. A few years later, in 2001, they married in a Roman Catholic ceremony.

Their first daughter was born long before that, however, in 1997, and their second daughter followed in 2002. Their last girl joined the family in 2006.

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In those years Jennie was mostly a stay-at-home mother. She continued to work on made-for-TV movies here and there, but was nowhere near as busy as her husband Peter. When Peter Facinelli was cast to star on the Twilight movies, his career really took off and he became a very busy man indeed.

Naturally Jennie was happy for him, but his very busy schedule also took him away from her and their daughters, which made her feel resentful in the end. She candidly admitted that she found herself waiting for Peter much more than getting a chance to spend time with him. He had somehow turned into an absent husband and that is obviously not conducive to a successful relationship.

She also admitted that the couple spent a fair share of time in couple’s therapy, which is probably how they managed to stay together for as long as they did. But when he came home from working on a movie in 2012, Peter asked Jennie for a separation. Jennie was blindsided and devastated to find out that her husband was no longer in love with her and that he needed to find out where they stood with each other. But eventually she must have realized that their relationship as a married couple was broken beyond repair.

Facinelli filed for divorce in March 2012 and in June 2013 everything was finalized. He did say of the split that it was painful and not easy, especially since the ex-couple was in the public eye, which made everything so much more difficult. Peter also said that he loved Jennie and that she’ll always be in his life, but that they will simply have a different relationship from here on in.

Both dedicated to their daughters, they decided to share custody 50/50 and did not have a formal custody arrangement drawn up, convinced that they didn’t need one. Since the divorce was finalized there has been no negative report indicating otherwise about the ex-couple. Clearly they continue to work it out.

But not only that, the exes trust each other so much that they opened a joint account to take care of their daughters, both depositing money in equal amounts and each having full access to the account. They also both declined spousal support.

There was no dirty laundry, no mean words, just a parting of ways as a married couple, but not a parting of ways as people, who parent three children together.

Peter started dating co-star Jaimie Alexander in 2013 and they are still going strong. Jennie was admittedly not over the moon with that particular union, but also said that she was happy that her ex-husband was happy.

In the meantime Jennie has been linked to several men since her divorce, but nobody seems to have stuck around long-term. The only new long-term relationship she has entered is that to emotional support service dog Pearl. Suffering from anxiety after the end of her marriage, she was diagnosed as emotionally disabled and has been given Pearl as her constant companion.

It seems that even the most amicable divorce is not without victims. Let’s hope that Pearl can retire her duties sooner rather than later and Jennie, like Peter, will find happiness again.