announced she and husband are filing for divorce after more than two decades of marriage.
The actress, 54, took to social media on Thursday, August 29, to share the news, explaining that the split was a tough decision to make but that the couple “no longer fit”.
“Well, here we are. After 28 years together and 21 years of marriage, we have decided to file for divorce,” she wrote via Instagram. “This decision came after a lot of thought and care, and as hard as divorce is, we are approaching this with a positive outlook because we know it’s what’s best for us.”
Remini said that she and Pagán, who tied the knot in 2003, are “sad” but “proud of how we worked through this together,” noting that they have some “figuring out to do as we continue to move forward into our new normal.”
“But here’s the thing: we’ve been best friends for so many years,” she continued. “We are still celebrating holidays together, watching our favorite tv shows together, and gathering as a family.”
As for “why” the pair decided to call it quits, Remini said “they both changed, as people do” and “we got used to playing roles that didn’t fit us anymore.”
After a lot of effort and consideration, we’ve decided to take this step, which reflects who we are today. Our bond is still strong—it’s just evolved into something different. We think a marriage that lasted this long and created so many beautiful memories, especially raising our incredible daughter, is something to celebrate,” she said, adding, “From our perspective, this marriage was a huge success.”
Remini shared that the pair, who welcomed daughter Sofia in 2004, wanted to be “transparent’ about the split because of how public they have previously been about their marriage, “whether it was on our specials on VH1 or our reality show.” (Leah Remini: It’s All Relative, ran for two seasons on TLC from 2014 to 2015.)
“We are sharing this unknown territory with you all as we take our first steps into this next stage of our lives publicly,” she concluded. “We would love for everyone to have more access to different kinds of relationship stories and not feel so isolated in navigating the changes that millions of couples make every year. We hope our journey can inspire others to see that relationships—whether they change or end—aren’t failures.”
She added: “We’ll keep sharing snippets of our lives as we navigate this new chapter.”
