The brotherly seal of approval! Joey Lawrence couldn’t be more thrilled to see his younger brother Matt Lawrence find love with TLC’s Chilli.
“Matt’s happy, Chilli’s happy,” the 46-year-old Brotherly Love alum told Page Six in an interview published on Saturday, February 4. “Look, I’m not a fortune teller, you know what I mean? But all I want is for them to just be happy. So as long as that’s working, awesome. That’s all that anybody wants, you know.”
He gushed: “I think they’re doing great. I love the fact that right now they’re super happy, so that’s great.”
News broke on January 3 that the Boy Meets World alum, 42, and the “No Scrubs” singer, 51, were officially dating after previously spending the holidays together.
“Chilli has this permanent smile on her face, she’s so happy and telling everyone she really likes Matthew,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly last month of the songstress, whose real name is Rozonda Thomas, revealing Matthew is equally smitten. “They didn’t intend for things to move as quickly, it was a go-with-the-flow situation but right away, they just clicked and wanted to be together as often as possible. They’re both very optimistic and excited though, it’s an incredibly happy time for them right now.”
Amid the new couple’s romance, Joey and wife Samantha Cope — whom he wed in May 2022 nearly one year before welcoming daughter Dylan, his third — are already planning future double dates.
“That’s one of the things that we are going to do!” the Blossom alum and Cope, 35, gushed to Page Six. “But we’ve hung out together and we went and saw her show — which was great — at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of months ago.”
Matthew’s new connection marks his first relationship since his divorce from Cheryl Burke. The 38-year-old Dancing With the Stars alum filed to dissolve their marriage in February 2022, and the split was finalized the following September.
“Today, I am proud to say that I am alone, not lonely, and though the past year had its challenges I feel so much pride in knowing that I got through it all by myself,” Burke wrote via Instagram last month, noting she has been single since the pair’s split. “That’s right! … Normally, I would have jumped straight into another relationship, found a rebound or two, and gone out with my friends 7 nights a week while numbing by using and abusing alcohol.”
The professional dancer, who is currently sober, continued at the time: “However, this time, I choose a different path. A clearer path, a more conscious path. Though scary and uncomfortable at times, I have evolved into a woman who I never thought could exist within me.”
