Christina Applegate and Johnathon Schaech may have divorced in 2007, but the former couple have nothing but kind things to say about one another.
“My marriage was connected to my career, everything about my work. It was, you know, Christina is an actress. We were in the limelight,” the That Thing You Do! star said during an April 2022 appearance on Jana Kramer‘s “Whine Down” podcast. “I loved her so much. I still love her so much. I don’t think [wife Julie Solomon] will ever be offended that I would ever say that.”
The twosome began dating in 1997 and tied the knot four years later. Though Schaech later described Applegate to OK Magazine as “the love of my life,” they eventually separated in 2005. Their divorce was finalized two years later.
“Being raised Catholic and having parents that are still together over 50 years, I felt I failed everyone,” the Prom Night actor revealed in a Reddit AMA in December 2020 about his divorce from the Married … With Children star.
“I thought God had given up on me,” he explained. “Sex, drugs, alcohol and dark nights became who I was. I knew I needed to find someone who loved me as much as I loved them.”
Schaech’s split from Applegate also took a toll on his next relationship with Kramer, who he began dating in 2008. “I wasn’t healed [after the divorce],” he explained to the “Why Ya Wanna” singer in April 2022. “I hadn’t taken time to heal myself from that broken heart. And I just wanted you to shine and not me to shine at the same time. And I was so happy that I was able to do something with you that brought all these qualities that you had. But I forgot about me and that’s not fair to you.”
The Hush actor and Kramer tied the knot in 2010, only to call it quits just 12 days later. “I had to explain this photo to my son today,” Schaech wrote via Twitter in March 2021, sharing a throwback photo from his wedding with Kramer. “I told him I’ve been married three times. But I got it right when I married his mother. [Jana] and I lasted a week. We weren’t meant but for this photo and friendship.”
He eventually married Julie Solomon in 2013 and they share son Camden, 8, and daughter Lily Jo, 21 months.
Applegate, meanwhile, began dating Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble in 2008, shortly after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The pair got engaged in 2010 and welcomed daughter Sadie in February 2011. “It was profound pain,” the Dead to Me star said of giving birth without an epidural during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show three weeks her daughter was born. “[Afterward,] she and I just laid there. It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
In August 2021, Applegate revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition,” she wrote via Twitter at the time. “It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. … As one of my friends that has MS said ‘We wake up and take the indicated action.’ And that’s what I do.”
Keep scrolling to relive Applegate and Schaech’s relationship and subsequent friendship:
