Courtesy of Samatha Cope/Instagram
Joey Lawrence’s Wife Samantha Files for Divorce After 2 Years of Marriage: Her Legal Demands
A big whoa! Joey Lawrence‘s wife, Samantha Lawrence (née Cope), filed for divorce after just two years of marriage, In Touch can confirm.
The actress, 37, filed for a dissolution of their marriage with the Los Angeles Superior Court on August 6, citing “irreconcilable differences,” in court paperwork obtained by In Touch.
Samantha listed the date of her separation from Joey, 48, as June 7, 2024. While the Love at the Christmas Contest star isn’t seeking spousal support from the Blossom alum, Samatha asked for joint custody of their daughter, Dylan Rose, but with a number of demands.
In her court documents, The Last Bid actress asked for “100 percent physical custody of Dylan with visitation to Joe at Samantha’s discretion.” Their daughter is currently 20 months old, and Samantha requested, “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.”
Samantha demanded that Joey would 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,” adding that the actor “must be available for the full time she is visiting while she is a minor.”
The Salt Lake City, Utah, native requested that Dylan “not to be in the presence of any non-family members while with Joe,” unless Samantha agrees to it.
The former couple met and fell in love in 2020 on the set of the Lifetime movie My Husband’s Secret Brother. Joey and Samantha married on May 1, 2022, in an outdoor ceremony attended by family and friends at the Temecula Creek Inn in Temecula, California.
“From day one, it was such a safe place to be myself,” Samantha told People ahead of their nuptials. “He loves everything about me and celebrates all those weird quirks about me. I was so blessed to be in a position to receive that. Two weeks in, I was like, ‘I will be with you forever.'”
Joey added, “When you meet the right person, if you’re lucky enough, it cuts to the chase so quick. I have somebody who is like-minded and has the same love language and we communicate the same way. That’s super important. And I am so thankful.”
The pair has acted opposite one another together in several for TV movies, including 2021’s Mistletoe Mixup as well as 2023’s Frankie Meets Jack.
“I’d never dated somebody that I’d worked with before. That was just very, very much out of the ordinary for me,” Joey told People in 2023. He joked, “I was her lover — and also her killer [in the film].”
When My Husband’s Secret Brother was about to premiere on Lifetime in October 2021, Samantha shared an Instagram post featuring the movie’s poster art and wrote, “New movie airing on @lifetimemovies this week! My Husband’s Secret Brother will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the movie that led me to my future hubby.”
She added about the meeting Joey on the project, “That amazing October morning … driving to work-about to start a new project, having no idea that God had even bigger things in store.”
