Matt LeBlanc, Wife Melissa Split

[thewallflower]

Mar 30, 2006 4:45pm EST
Thursday Mar 30, 2006 6:35pm EST (updated)By Stephen M. Silverman

CREDIT: JON KOPALOFF / FILMMAGIC


Former Friends star Matt LeBlanc, 38, and his wife, Melissa, 41, are divorcing, the couple announced Thursday.

"Melissa and Matt LeBlanc have decided to end their marriage of three years," the actor's rep, Joe Libonati, said in a statement. "The dissolution is amicable. They remain devoted parents and friends. For the sake of their family, they ask that their privacy be respected at this time."

According to legal documents filed by LeBlanc, the actor is seeking “dissolution of marriage” based on “irreconcilable differences.” He lists the couple's date of separation at Jan. 1, 2006, and requests joint legal custody of their 2-year-old daughter, Marina.

Melissa, a former model, has two other children from a previous marriage.

The pair were originally introduced in 1997 by actor Lou Diamond Phillips and his wife, Kelly. After a five-year engagement, Matt and Melissa were married on May 3, 2003, in Hawaii in front of 75 guests that included former costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow.

At the time of their marriage, a friend of the couple's told PEOPLE that they seemed perfectly suited. "They're really sweet together," said the friend. "He loves her and she loves him. It's very real."

From people.com

 

[rachyroo]

Ok, this is going to sound strange but I had a feeling this might happen after Jen and Brad split. Call me crazy but I always thought there may be a chance Jen and Matt would get togther in real life at some point.

I know I'm a nutter!

 

[DreamsAreMade]

I knew splitting was in their future when he "came out" with that whole stripper incident...in Canada, no?
Not that THAT alone would split them up...but it's just a pattern with celebs.

 

[Erin]

Kind of a bummer. Still, I see three years as a short marriage..

 

[mdankwah]

Ok, this is going to sound strange but I had a feeling this might happen after Jen and Brad split. Call me crazy but I always thought there may be a chance Jen and Matt would get togther in real life at some point.

I know I'm a nutter!

You're not the only one

 

[iluvjeisa]

hmmm....I thought there was an incident with a chauffeur of his claiming that he'd been hired to get male pros for Matt? Denied by Matt, of course, but I think the driver passed a lie detector test. well, well, I bet that lap dance by the stripper came after the alleged trysts in the back seat, then.

 

[oolie coco]

Yeah I always hear that he's gay.

It's so sad about their daughter

 

[BohemianBeauty22]

Who would have thought? With the way celebrity marriages are going these days, this doesn't surprise me. None of them do anymore. I feel for their child though that they have together.

 

[iluvjeisa]

Who would have thought? With the way celebrity marriages are going these days, this doesn't surprise me. None of them do anymore. I feel for their child though that they have together.

If they're responsible people it'll work out just fine. It's hard to tell from their sexual conduct if they're responsible from other respects.

 

[*Happiness*]

WOW! This is so sad...celebrity marriages are becoming a joke. It seems like their relationships are all for publicity and furtherance of their careers.

 

[Jennika]

here's Ted's take so far:

http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Awful/Daily2006/060403.html

Got some Playboy Mansion antics below for ya, but first, wanted to let you know Matt LeBlanc's marriage demise is eerily similar to that of Matty's Friends costar Jennifer Aniston's. Timing-wise, that is.
Both starry unions (his to Melissa McKnight, hers to a dude named Brad Pitt) ended far before anyone in the public had a notion as to what might be derailing at home.
"[LeBlanc's] marriage ended so long ago," piped a Friends comrade, supertight both personally and professionally. "Just like with Brad and Jennifer--we all knew about this long before the public did. It's been a done deal for ages."

Maybe M.L.'s Joey travails took center stage with the couple, instead of their marriage? I doubt it. Obviously, the Friends crew is well aware of being so obsessively scrutinized they go overboard on the public-declaration biz, or lack thereof.
Personally, I think M.L. and M2 were doomed from the start--they're very different. More on that la-tuh in the week, because quite frankly, I feel it my due to inform you nosy folk about a Nashville duo who's also quite reluctant to let people know how they really feel...

 

[Sephora_Socialite]

I knew splitting was in their future when he "came out" with that whole stripper incident...in Canada, no?
Not that THAT alone would split them up...but it's just a pattern with celebs.

Stripper incident? Didn't that happen to Ben Affleck too then J.lo left him?

 

[thewallflower]

Obviously I don't know if it's true or not, but on t.v. today they were saying they've been separated since early January.

 

[adorefaith]

its so disappointing to watch these celebrity couples split....one after the other....
and how tragic for the young children they have together....
i find it so irresponsible.....
seems they let fame get the best of them.....i always wonder how many of them would have succeeded had they been willing to step out of the limelight.....

 

[TessaB]

^^ It seems like that, but in normal couples the same thing happens all the time too, with people putting careers and themselves before their partner or children and they can't even blame the stress of the limelight on the splits.

 

[iluvjeisa]

Stripper incident? Didn't that happen to Ben Affleck too then J.lo left him?

Most likely a male chauvinist publicist stunt to "prove their masculinity" Not that they didn't do it, just it probably became public at those crucial times in order to reaffirm that they're straight. Pretttty silly.

 

[oolie coco]

And why does it always have to happen in CANADA?! Stop tainting my beautiful country with your ridiculous dalliances!

Even Ethan Hawke left Uma Thurman for a 22 year old Montreal model...

 

[NOE]

I just read in People magazine that he is dating his 'Joey' co-star Andrea Anders (who plays his blond neighbor on the show).

 

[Nemova]

I just read in People magazine that he is dating his 'Joey' co-star Andrea Anders (who plays his blond neighbor on the show).

That's kinda predictable - if true. They'd make a cute couple though.