Joey Lawrence Breaks Silence on Reconciling With Wife Samantha Cope

Joey Lawrence says it was “too easy” for him and wife Samantha Cope to split, which is why they spent time reconciling their romance.

“As much you don’t want to take an easy way out, or you think this will be the fix — it’s not always the case,” Lawrence, 49, told E! News in an interview published on Wednesday, July 23. “I just didn’t want to do that, and she didn’t either. It’s like, ‘Wait a minute. There’s something so special here.’”

Us Weekly confirmed in August 2024 that Cope, 38, filed for divorce from Lawrence after two years of marriage. Court documents revealed that they had split two months prior.

By December 2024, it appeared they had reconciled when the couple shared romantic photos of each other on Instagram. That same month, Us confirmed that Cope had filed to dismiss her divorce petition.

“Things take a lot of work and a lot of dedication and reworking and retooling,” Lawrence continued during Wednesday’s interview. “That’s life, though. As brothers, with your parents, with friends, in business, that’s it. Everything takes so much work. Whatever it is, just don’t give up, because you never know.”

Lawrence and Cope started their relationship “out of nowhere,” after they worked together on a Lifetime movie, he told Us exclusively in 2021. (Lawrence was previously married to Michelle Vella from 2002 to 2005. He moved on with Chandie Yawn-Nelson, whom he married in 2005. They split in 2020, and their divorce was finalized two years later.)

“It was a crazy year and a half for everybody, obviously the whole world,” the actor added, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Then when you least expect [it], amazing things happen and meeting her has just been really the greatest thing ever.”

Us broke the news in August 2021 that Lawrence and Cope were engaged. They got married in May 2022. By September of that year, the couple were expecting their first child together. Lawrence and Cope’s daughter, Dylan Rose, was born in January 2023. (Lawrence is also a father to daughters Charleston, 19, and Liberty, 15, whom he shares with ex-wife Yawn-Nelson.)

Lawrence dubbed himself a “hopeless romantic” during a March 2024 interview with Us, while discussing his love life. The actor said that’s why he’s been “married a billion times” over the years.

“It’s all about just trying to be happy,” Lawrence added. “You got to be with the right person.”