Jennie Garth's Marriage Ended After Therapist's Devastating Question
Jennie Garth has publicly revealed the pivotal moment during marriage counseling that made her realize her relationship with actor Peter Facinelli was definitively over. The couple, who were married from 2001 to 2013, attended a single session with a counselor in Phoenix, Arizona that changed everything.
The Gut-Wrenching Session That Changed Everything
During an appearance on Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert podcast, the 54-year-old actress recalled how the marriage therapist asked her a series of questions that completely shattered her perspective. "Jenny, why would you want to love someone when they don't love you?" the therapist repeated multiple times during their session.
"It's echoing, I'll never forget it," Garth explained. "That just gutted me. And I was like, 'Yeah. No s**t. Give up. It's time.'" The actress emphasized that this question has stayed with her to this day and represented the moment she accepted her marriage had run its course.
The Emotional Aftermath and Dangerous Spiral
After leaving the therapist's office in an emotional state, Garth found Facinelli and the therapist following her in a car, attempting to persuade her to get in. "I'm talking, walking, angry, crying, all the things, just like out of my mind," she described. They eventually convinced her to get in the car and took her to a hotel where they checked in separately.
Once alone in her hotel room, Garth began mixing mini bottles of alcohol with medication she had been prescribed for flying. "I wanted to stop this pain," she admitted. The combination caused her to black out and pass out on the floor, with only a phone call to her best friend preventing a potentially fatal outcome.
"I could have died in that hotel room," Garth revealed, explaining that she woke up in a hospital with her assistant and medical staff around her. Even then, she confessed, "all I wanted to do was kill the pain some more."
Shame, Sobriety, and Self-Medication
Garth expressed that discussing this experience still brings feelings of shame, particularly regarding how it affected her three daughters with Facinelli. "I think this shame really came from letting the girls down and from being a bad mom by letting myself go to that place," she told Shepherd.
The actress revealed she began taking benzodiazepines after their separation. "That started when we separated. I just didn't know how to cope with all the feelings and all the responsibility that I suddenly felt," she explained. "I was broken. I didn't know how to be alone and deal with it all."
Garth ultimately checked into The Canyon rehab center, where she achieved sobriety and learned healthier coping mechanisms to stop self-medicating.
The Reality Show That Almost Wasn't
The couple had been planning to film a reality show about uprooting to a ranch, but by the time production began, they were no longer together. Garth described this period as particularly difficult, saying she was "drinking wine at night and taking medication" while trying to film.
"I would take the girls to school, I would go back to bed and then the crew would show up and I would be like, 'I can't get up,'" she recalled. The crew would talk her into participating, and she would comply because "that's what you do."
Despite the personal turmoil, Garth noted the show provided moments of levity for her daughters, who enjoyed interacting with the crew and participating in activities created for the production.
The Divorce Conversation That Infuriated Her
Garth also shared details about the moment Facinelli asked for a divorce. They were in an RV while their children played outside on a farm. "That's where he told me that he wanted us to get a divorce," she remembered.
What particularly angered her was his follow-up comment: "Jen, someday you'll thank me for this." Garth stated plainly, "That infuriated me. That pissed me off."
The actress is now releasing her memoir, I Choose Me, on April 14, which details these painful experiences and her journey toward healing and self-acceptance following the dissolution of her marriage.
