A Texas love story? Steve Howey and Sarah Shahi both grew up in the Lone Star state — but their romance didn’t begin until they were both acting in Los Angeles.
The twosome first crossed paths in 2003 when Shahi appeared on an episode of Reba, which aired the following year. Howey, for his part, portrayed Van on the WB sitcom, which ran from 2001 to 2007.
The former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader sparked a romantic relationship with Howey and shortly after her career took off — with a little help from the Something Borrowed actor’s father, who was an acting coach.
In February 2009, the couple exchanged vows in Las Vegas. Five months later, they became parents when their son, William, was born. The pair expanded their family again in March 2015 with the arrival of their twins, Violet and Knox.
While the duo seemed to have it all — Shahi starred on The L Word and later Fairly Legal and Howey found success on Shameless — their marriage took a backseat as their family and careers grew.
“My wife and I were like any other couple. All of our time was for each other. We would go on vacation, we’d have ice cream, we’d go to a movie, we’d do whatever we wanted to do,” Howey told Talk Nerdy With Us in January 2016. “And then when we had the kids, it was really tough, all of that went away. And also we’re both working actors, so we were very tired, and when we’d come back, if there was any energy left it was for the kids, and not for each other.”
The Supercross actor confessed: “So we experienced that, I mean it almost broke us up. We didn’t really understand why, we just weren’t liking each other and we realized that things weren’t the same and it was really messed up. Because it was hard and we weren’t used to it.”
Howey explained that the duo overcame the transition and figure out how to be parents and partners without sacrificing professional success.
“You know, what’s really weird is that I find myself not to be such a family man, but I am a family man, if that makes sense,” he added. “I think I’m a good family man because I’m not a family man.”
Three years later, Shahi opened up about her relationship with the Day Shift actor during an interview with Access Hollywood.
“Steve and I, we’ve been together for 18 years. You know, there’s a special place in heaven for us because we’ve already been to hell,” she told the outlet in July 2019. “It’s a partnership, you know? Especially when you have kids and you have to be able to rely on the other person.”
Their marriage, however, didn’t last. Us Weekly exclusively broke the news in June 2020 that Shahi had filed for divorce one month prior after the twosome separated in spring of that year.
“After much thought and consideration, we have decided to end our marriage,” the exes said in a joint statement to Us a the time. “We are so grateful for the past 10 years together and proud of our children that we’ve raised. As we enter into this new phase of our lives, our priority will remain co-parenting our children with so much love, mutual respect and friendship. And though our relationship is changing, we are committed to continuing our lives as a loving family.”
Howey gave Us an exclusive update on his life post-split in February 2023, revealing that he has remained committed to being a good dad to the pair’s three children.
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“I feel like I’m a protector, especially when I’m with my kids,” the True Lies star said, noting that he was ready for downtime with his family after filming the CBS action show. “I’m kind of just enjoying my kids right now and, you know, chilling. We have some rainy days right now in L.A. so it’s really nice.”