Shameless star Steve Howey and L Word alum Sarah Shahi announced their divorce on June 29th, 2020 — 11 years after they tied the knot back in 2009. Howey, who starred in the sitcom Reba for six years, previously described how the two managed to stay close amid their many responsibilities as parents. The actor told People magazine in 2016,

"It can be overwhelming. But Sarah and I work really hard now to schedule workout time together. Or we'll run to the kitchen and do a tequila shot really fast — just do something together. Then it's right back into the playroom or changing a diaper."

So, how did Shahi and Howey go from tequila shots and a reportedly passionate love life to divorce?

The pair first met back in 2004. Five years later, they got married and welcomed their first child together, and their adorable twins joined the family in 2015.

Sadly, the couple's marriage has now come to an end, but the bright side is they will always be there for their kids first. They told Us Weekly in a joint statement,

"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."

Shahi filed for divorce in May 2020, citing "irreconcilable differences." The two separated in April 2020, according to court docs. Howey and Shahi didn't elaborate on why they split, saying,

"We are so grateful for the past 10 years together and proud of our children that we've raised."

One possibility for the breakup? Busy work schedules may have gotten in the way. Howey has been busy filming the last season of the Showtime hit Shameless, while Shahi has starred in many projects of her own throughout the years. In a 2016 interview Howey did with Talk Nerdy To Us, he spoke about the struggles in his relationship, saying,

"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. And then when we had 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. [...] 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."

It's always sad when a couple starts to drift away from each other — and it's likely even worse when you have to go to work and play out your own marital issues on camera with your TV wife. Howey admitted that that's exactly what he had to do during time-off in his marriage on the set of Shameless.

When his character Kevin had babies with his partner Veronica, things got a little out of whack for the normally very close couple — and the same thing apparently happened with Howey and Shahi off-screen. He explained,

"I learned from a lot of experiences with my own family. So, when Veronica last season is saying, you know, 'we need to talk about us,' and Kev's like 'the babies are crying,' and she's like 'just let them cry, we need to talk.' There was a lot of that in my own life so I think it wasn't just a scene, it was personal. As an actor, you don't have to have the experience of the character, obviously. [...] You can guess as much as you can, but for that I knew exactly what they were talking about."

Whatever might have happened, we wish both Howey and Shahi the best going forward. Watch the video to learn The Real Reason Steve Howey Is Getting Divorced!

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