Joey Lawerence is divorced – again. Whoa!
Maybe he and Jennifer Lopez can start a club?
For the third time in his life, the 80’s heartthrob finds himself in the middle of messy divorce.
Initially, word was that the two were splitting due to irreconcilable differences.
Common phrase used in Hollywood divorces.
However, after digging through the divorce documents filed by his wife, there are some red flags being noted about the conditions of their divorce. They have to do with his daughter.
Now, there are rumors that Joey stepped out on his wife, who he met on the set of a Lifetime movie, with another woman – that he also met on the set of a movie! WHOA again!
Joey Lawrence’s Divorce History: This Will Be His 3rd Failed Marriage
This whole divorce thing is starting to feel old hat for Joey. He married his first wife, Michell Vella in 2002. The marriage didn’t even make it to it’s 5th anniversary. They divorced in 2005.
There was hope in his second marriage, to Chandie Yawn-Nelson. The pair met in the most magical place on earth, Disney World, when they were just kids. After reconnecting, they were married in July 2005.
If that seems a little close to his first marriage, you’re not wrong, but whether there was any overlap in those relationships, we could not say.
What we do know is that Joey’s time with Chandie was a lot longer. The pair hand two kids together, Charleston and Liberty, and stayed together through some really heavy times – like filing for bankruptcy.
However, by 2020, he had filed for divorce. And so marriage #2 came to an end.
His Marriage To Samantha
Joey Lawrence met his soon to be next ex-wife, actress Samantha Cope, while filming the 2020 Lifetime movie My Husband’s Secret Brother.
The film was being directed by his own brother, Andrew, and even had a part in for his daughter, Charleston. By 2021, the pair had announced their engagement and it seemed like all was right with the world.
They married in May 2022 and a few months later, in September, they announced they were expecting their first child.
Their daughter Dylan Rose was born on January 16, 2023.
While we don’t have many details, the fate Dylan Rose and who she’ll be living with now that her parents divorce is brought up in the paperwork –
And it’s making the proceedings messy.
Did Joey Lawrence Cheat, Causing A Divorce?!
Now, years of covering Hollywood drama has taught us that celebrities typically get divorced for one of 3 reasons: Money. Ego. Infidelity.
If sources who spoke to People are to be believed, the latter is what sent this marriage over the deep end. And the cheating was on his part!
A source close to the former couple shared with the outlet that the pair went their separate ways after Lawrence started hooking up with Melina Alves, a writer and costar on his upcoming film, Socked In For Christmas.
Well, someone has an MO!
“Joey met Melina Alves on the set of their movie, where she was a producer,” the source claims. “He then love-bombed her just like he love-bombed Samantha. He continued to date Melina even after Samantha found out about it and confronted him.”
Oh yeah – that’s where this story gets real ick.
When Joey’s wife “wanted to go to counseling,” the source claims, he “fooled their counselor” and would “get ready for dates with Melina while Sam watched, bawling her eyes out.”
Someone needs to tell Eminem he just lost his title of “shady”. Cause this takes the cake!
Samantha What’s Sole Physical Custody Of Their Daughter
While it’s typical for parents to discuss custody issues in their divorce proceedings, the fact that the initial filing has some pretty major requests from Samantha is a bit shocking.
Samantha Lawrence filed the divorce docs about 2 months after she says they separated. That was back in June 2024.
TMZ, who has seen the documents, reports that she checked the box to block the court’s ability to award either of them spousal support. However, while she’s not looking for anything monetarily from Joey, she is demanding a very strict arrangement when it comes to their daughter.
According to the outlet, in the docs, she specifically asks the court to award her 100% physical custody, with Joey allowed to visit only at her discretion.
This arrangement would be for now; when Dylan turns 3 next January, Samantha’s willing to allow their daughter to stay with Joey for up to 2 nights a week. However, she requests he not be allowed to take her for extended periods of time until she’s older and can consent to such visits.
She also doesn’t want any other members of Joey’s family around when he has custody of Dylan.
These are all very steep asks, and they invite more questions than they answer.
What comes next, we’ll have to wait and see. We’ll update as more information becomes available.