Peter Facinelli This week he compared his 11-year relationship with Jennie Garth to an “arranged marriage” as the two reflected on their time together.
“I was in this marriage, and I thought it was somewhat of an arranged marriage. You know what I mean? Like, I loved you, and on the outside we had a beautiful family, but I hadn’t yet developed who I am,” Facinelli, 50, told his ex-wife on the latest episode of her “I Choose Me” iHeartRadio podcast.
“I didn’t even know how you could love me, because I didn’t even know myself.”
Facinelli and Garth, 52, met in Los Angeles when they were 20, and she became pregnant with their first child within six months.
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Peter Facinelli compared his 11-year relationship with Jennie Garth to an “arranged marriage” this week as the two reflected on their time together. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
“Beverly Hills: 90210” the actress asked Facinelli during a discussion about their marriage and co-parenting after their divorce.
“Did you ever look at me and think, ‘I’m going to have kids with this person and be tied to them for the rest of my life?'” she asked.
Facinelli said he did not.
“When we had our first child, I wasn’t thinking about life. I was 21. I was thinking about the moment. We got close very quickly, very passionately, very quickly. And then I remember thinking, ‘Let’s just live together and see how it goes,’ and it just happened like that. Five years went by, and I thought, ‘Okay, we should get married.’
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“It was kind of like an arranged marriage. Everything seemed fine, and we had our differences in places, but we were very young.”
Facinelli said that at the time he “hadn’t yet figured out who I was, and so I thought I would be who everybody needed me to be.” And that he “came into” Garth’s world because his life was more established. At the time, she had already established herself as a star by playing Kelly Taylor on “90210.”
Facinelli and Garth, 52, met in Los Angeles when she was 20, when she was pregnant with her first child. (Chris Polk/FilmMagic)
He said that during their relationship, he realized that he didn’t even know who he was anymore.
He said there were “beautiful things” on the walls of his home, but none of them were his. He said that after the divorce, he didn’t even know how he wanted to decorate his home.
“I really had to find myself, because that was the life I had been living for so many years — being a father, a husband, the perfect family man,” he said.
She explained that she went from living with her parents to living in L.A. And, within six months of meeting Garth, she became pregnant.
“I had no idea who I was,” he said.
Despite it all, he said, “we lasted a long time The Hollywood Years,
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“We did well,” he agreed.
The couple married in 2001 after five years together, and Facinelli filed for divorce in 2012.
Facinelli and Garth have three daughters. (Paul Hiffmeyer/Disney via Getty Images)
However, one thing they have always been adamant about is their three daughters: Luca, 26, Lola, 21, and Fiona, 17.
“Looking back, I thought we were two parents who cared a lot and so, whatever differences we had were because we really cared about our kids,” the “Twilight” actor said. “We were both really passionate about our kids, and we wanted the best for them. And sometimes, you know, our ideologies didn’t match, but somehow we worked it out.”
The former couple had agreed to share child custody after their divorce, and Garth said she knew the “best thing” for her children was for them to live with their father half the time.
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“It broke my heart to break up the family, you know, and it was one of those decisions that, like, you never know if you’re making the right decision,” Facinelli said. “But we made the decision, and it was all about trying to strike a balance and picking up the kids and knowing they’re going to miss you for a week and then dropping them off, knowing they’re going to miss me for a week. It was tough.”
Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth were married in 1998. Garth became pregnant with her first child just six months after they began dating. (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
The former couple has repeatedly discussed how different their upbringings were. Facinelli joked that they came from “two extremes,” with Garth’s parents being more nurturing while Facinelli taught him self-reliance.
“It’s hard, but I think what we were good at doing was we loved our kids so much that we somehow got to the point that even if we didn’t agree, they were okay with it,” he said.
He added that he “feels so blessed that our kids grew up so wonderfully.”
Regarding his decision to file for divorce, Facinelli said that he did not want to wake up at age 60 and think, “‘Did I live this life for all these people and not know who I am?’ So, I just needed to sort that out.”
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“I wouldn’t be the parent I am today without, first of all, your involvement throughout all the ups and downs of co-parenting, whether we wanted to kill each other sometimes or not. We were still here for each other,” Garth said. “They always had a father.”
Garth is now married to actor Dave Abrams, and Facinelli is engaged to actress Lily Anne Harrison, with whom he has a son.
Fox News Digital has contacted representatives for Facinelli and Garth for comment.
