Joey Lawrence Said His Marriage to Samantha Cope Was 'Very Unexpected' 8 Months Before Their Divorce (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Joey Lawrence (left) and Samantha Cope (right).Photo:samantha cope/Instagram

samantha cope/Instagram

BeforeJoey LawrenceandSamantha Copemade the decision to end their marriage, he had reflected on their “unorthodox” meet-cute in an interview with PEOPLE.

Eight months before Cope, 37, filed for divorce from Lawrence, hespoke to PEOPLE for an interviewin December 2023.

While discussing how they met on the set ofMy Husband’s Secret Brother,Lawrence, 48, admitted that he didn’t expect their relationship to develop into a marriage — in part because he had “never dated somebody that I’d worked with before.”

“That was just very, very much out of the ordinary for me,” he told PEOPLE at the time. “I’ve never actually gotten into a serious relationship with somebody that I actually worked with, never.”

“It was very unexpected,” he continued. “These wild twists and turns that you get to be our age. You just kind of go, ‘All right, well, I guess that’s what it is.’ You learn to accept the unorthodox way some things just sort of roll out and you’re thankful for — you’re thankful for it, even though it’s not what you expected.”

He explained that his brother was directing the Lifetime movie, and Lawrence and Cope’s characters had a complicated dynamic.

“I was her killer,” he said with a laugh. “Well, I was her lover — and also her killer.”

Joey Lawrence (left) and Samantha Cope (right).samantha cope/Instagram

“Look,life is a beautiful, sometimes crazy-unexpected journey, and the ups and downs are real, and I’m very thankful that people that I love are around me and that there’s health around us,” he told PEOPLE in December 2023, joking that his daughter was “keeping me youngandit’s aging me.”

Earlier in August, fans began speculating that Cope and Lawrence had separated when PEOPLE released exclusive photos from afamily vacationwhere Cope was absent. Lawrence also was not wearing his wedding ring.

Cope requested to block the court’s ability to award either side spousal support. Additionally, she is seeking full physical custody of their daughter Dylan, 19 months, while permitting Lawrence visitation at her discretion.

“Once Dylan is 3 or older, Joe will have the option to take her for 2 nights in her home location if he is not working and can facilitate her visiting,” the filing reads.

Per the filing, Cope has requested that Lawrence does “not take [Dylan] for long, extended periods of time until she is old enough to specifically ask for the visitation time and all parties agree and able to facilitate.”

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Reps for Lawrence and Cope have not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

source: people.com