Jennie Garth is detailing the moment she learned then-husband Dave Abrams was ready to call it quits.
“I really wanted to give Dave a baby because he was young and all of his friends were having kids and I just thought that’s what he needed,” the actress, 54, told People in a cover story published on Wednesday April 8, revealing that she learned Abrams, 44, planned to file for divorce via a TMZ article.
Garth went on to detail the “rough patch” she experienced in her relationship as she promoted her upcoming memoir, I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose, and Embracing Reinvention.
The couple, who married in 2015, separated for almost a year after going through rounds of unsuccessful IVF and subsequent miscarriages. The pair reconciled in 2019 and have been together since.
Garth — a mom of three who shares daughters Luca, 28, Lola, 23, and Fiona, 19 with ex Peter Facinelli — said that her time apart from Abrams opened her eyes about the importance of communication and trusting your partner’s word. Garth noted how much she is enjoying this current chapter of life with Abrams after their once-rocky relationship grew strong.
“It all comes down to people-pleasing,” she explained. “Once you really get to the core of what you want for your life? That’s when everything seems to get easier.”
In her memoir, which details her rise to fame and journey to self-love, Garth also opened up about her split from Facinelli after their marriage fell apart in 2012. In one excerpt, the Beverly Hills, 90210 actress revealed that she needed a stint in rehab after drinking and taking pills one night to cope with the pain of heartbreak. (The exes were married from January 2001 to June 2013.)
“I noticed my light really dimming. I wasn’t putting off good vibes. I could see it in the mirror,” she said of the physical toll their breakup took on her long before they became amicable coparents.
Garth admitted that she ultimately had to release the feelings she was harboring, adding, “I could look at the negative impact that that kind of grief and anger was having on me. And there was a weird switch where one day I just said, ‘I don’t want to carry this anymore. It’s impacting my relationships and how I feel about myself. I’ve got to let it go. I’ve got to forgive him.’”
Garth’s new memoir I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose, and Embracing Reinvention, is set for release on April 14.
