Jesse Metcalfe and Cara Santana Split After More Than a Decade Together: See Their Timeline

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Jesse Metcalfe and Cara Santana Split After More Than a Decade Together: See Their Timeline

Jesse Metcalfe and Cara Santana’s lengthy relationship is coming to a messy end. Us Weekly confirmed in January 2020 that the Desperate Housewives alum and the former CEO of the Glam App called it quits after more than a decade together. The news came more than three years after Metcalfe popped the question. “I do know what I’m going to do with my dress. I’m going to wear my mother’s dress, but I’m going to modernize it,” Santana gushed on the “Ladygang” podcast in January 2017. “We’ve been together so long. It will be 11 years in February. … It will be a very small, intimate wedding.” When asked by host Keltie Knight if was hard to be marry the “shirtless hottie guy,” Santana didn’t seem fazed. “It’s just less work for me,” she quipped at the time. “If he’s getting all the validation elsewhere, than I have to try a little less.” [jwplayer HD6xSF3f-l3ahXupL] While the pair didn’t make it down the aisle in 2018, she told Us in March 2019 that their relationship was solid. “Jesse and I have been together for a really long time, like 13 years, and I think that’s the great thing about having that comfortability in a relationship is knowing that you have a support system, one another, and we listen to each other,” Santana told Us at the time. “We’re there, we’re supportive when everything happens. This past week, he was like, ‘Okay, I’m giving you 24 hours. Do I need to go get chocolate chip cookie dough? What is it? And then we’re gonna brush this off and move on because we gotta keep going.’ So it’s great. He’s my best friend.” In January 2020, Metcalfe was seen cozying up to different women in Los Angeles. While one source told Us that the John Tucker Must Die star “did not cheat” on Santana, a second source told Us that she was “blindsided” when photos of him with other women surfaced. The actress' best friend Olivia Culpo also implied that he was unfaithful via her Instagram Stories. Scroll through for complete timeline of Metcalfe and Santana’s relationship:

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2006

Santana and Metcalfe were first linked in 2006. 

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2013

The pair opened up about their romance during a joint interview with YouTango in August 2013.

"I wouldn't say it was love at first sight. It was more of a slow burn, which I think is a better start for a relationship. I think if it comes on fast and furious, it generally fizzles out just as fast. We were slow and steady,” Metcalfe said at the time. 

Santana added, “We took the time to get to know each other. We've known each other for like 10 years.” 

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August 2016

Us broke the news that the Chesapeake Shores star popped the question with a stunning 5.5-carat emerald shaped diamond ring that he designed.

“It’s been a long time coming, but we couldn’t be happier,” Metcalfe told Us after he got down on one knee while aboard a 50-foot sailboat in the middle of the Hudson River in New York.

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October 2016

During an October 2016 interview, Santana said the pair were planning to wed in September 2018.

“I love the start of fall and taking the nuances that time of year brings. There is a lot of romance for me this time of year,” she told Amsale at the time. “I’ll be taking cues from a lot of ideas like color and design for a romantic fall type of wedding. Nothing too bright or over the top. Just subtle. Soft colors. Really elegant and romantic and whimsical.”

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March 2019

More than two years later, however, Santana told Us that the duo hadn’t made any progress regarding their nuptials.

“We’re nowhere!” she told Us in March 2019 about wedding planning. “We’re totally enjoying it, so hopefully we’ll find something soon.”

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November 2019

Metcalfe told Access Hollywood in November 2019 that the twosome’s wedding plans were still “non-existent” because of their busy schedules.

“It’s taking a while, I know, maybe [2020],” he said at the time.

The following month, the pair spent Christmas in Belgium with her family.

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January 2020

The twosome stepped out at the The Art of Elysium’s 13th Annual Celebration together on January 4, 2020.

“We’re, like, two people kind of doing it, like, on our own terms,” Santana told Us about their “modern” romance at the event. “In a modern couple, it’s nice to be able to be like, ‘He’s 41, I’m 34, and we’re taking our time.’ And it’s just easy.”

The actress also noted that it’s hard to “imagine our lives without children,” but she has “no desire at the moment.”

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January 2020

Metcalfe did his own interview with Hallmark on January 8, 2020, in which he referred to Santana as his fiancée.

He was asked about wedding planning again during a January 15, 2020, interview on “The Bubbly Sesh” podcast.

“We really kinda have it on hold right now. We were doing it not long after we got engaged and it just kinda lost momentum,” he said at the time. “I’m sure it will pick up momentum again very soon. We just have both been very busy with work.” 

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January 2020

While one source told Us that the twosome split on January 4, 2020, a second insider told Us that Santana was “blindsided” when photos surfaced of Metcalfe with multiple different women in Los Angeles over the weekend end of January 18, 2020. In pics obtained by the Daily Mail, the Hallmark actor was seen holding hands with Hungarian model Livia Pillmann at the vegan restaurant Gracias Madre in West Hollywood. Hours after the outlet spotted Metcalfe with the model, he was seen cozying up to a mystery blonde at the Attic bar in the Sherman Oaks, California.

“Jesse has been staying in a hotel and was going back and forth to the house he has with Cara. He had not moved out,” a second source told Us. “They had still been having conversations. She thought Jesse needed time to deal with things he was going through.”