Jennie Garth Recalls The ‘Echoing’ Question That Ended Her 11-Year Marriage

Jennie Garth reveals the straw that broke the camel’s back during her previous marriage.

The actress met her second ex-husband, Peter Facinelli, in 1995, and they said their vows six years later. The union faced its ups and downs until it finally called it quits in 2012. Seeing the end of her marital bliss took a toll on the movie star as she turned to harmful substances, which almost cost her life.

Jennie Garth has since found love again and worked through her differences with her ex. The former couple now navigate around their blended family, which includes their current partners, Facinelli’s son, and the three daughters they welcomed during their 11-year marriage.

Jennie Garth Saw The End Of Her 11-Year Vows In Two Minutes 

Garth recently described the moment the scales fell from her eyes concerning her marriage. She revealed that all it took for her to realize her marriage was over was a message from a marriage therapist. Looking back, the actress was hit with the hard truth about her relationship with Facinelli within two minutes of a counseling session. The union, which began in 2001, had been going through a rough patch, and in the bid to work things out, the pair agreed to look into professional help.

The former couple paid a visit to a marriage counseling expert in Phoenix, Arizona, and in a single session, Garth received the harsh reality check that dwelt behind the curtains. The actress recalled the moment in a recent episode of the “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” podcast, sharing the question the counselor asked that has lived rent-free in her mind all these years. The expert asked her why she would want to love someone when they dont love her, just two minutes into the session, and that was her wake-up call to realize the relationship had gone past fixing.

“Why would you love someone who doesn’t love you? Like, it’s echoing, I’ll never forget it. That just gutted me. And I was like, ‘Yeah. No sh-t. Give up. It’s time,'” the TV star shared. Apparently, Facinelli did not reciprocate the feelings she had for him; it took two special minutes in a marriage therapist’s office to see eleven years of love go down the drain.

The Award-Winning Actress Turned To Alcohol After The Reality Check

Garth further shared that she left the office with overwhelming emotion, filled with the realization that she had to say goodbye to the love she once knew. She later found out that her ex-husband and the therapist had started driving around looking for her. After they found her in a distorted state, Facinelli and the marriage expert had to do a lot of convincing to get her into the car and back to a hotel. She shared, while speaking on the podcast, that she refused to get into the car initially, but somehow, they found a way to make her cooperate.

“I’m talking, walking, angry, crying, all the things, just like out of my mind. They are just like kind of keeping up with me in the car and saying, “Get in the car, you know, let’s let us take you to a hotel. Jen, come on, get in the car.” Like a friend. And I was like, why would I get in your car? What, what, no!” she recalled. When they got to the hotel, Garth recalled that her then-husband checked into a separate room, and with that, she got the memo once again; it was over.

Once she got into her room, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star revealed that she started mixing alcohol with medication she had for flying to deal with the pain. Garth recounted that she called her best friend while at it and was on the phone with her till she passed out. She awoke in a hospital and realized she “could have died” in the hotel room had a friend not intervened. After that episode, the desire to forget the pain did not leave, so she started taking benzodiazepines.

Jennie Garth Sought Professional Help 

The pain did not go away amid the drug use, alcohol consumption, and self-medication. Garth recalled that after taking so much alcohol and several pills, she ended up in the hospital. The Blast shares that while shedding light on a chapter of her new memoir, “I Choose Me,” she revealed that it got to a point where her stomach had to be pumped to flush the toxins out.

Turning to harmful substances was the only way she knew to deal with the pain, but after the actress landed in the hospital, she made the decision to tun her life around. Garth checked herself into the Canyon Ranch rehab center, where she got sober and learned to stop self-medicating. 

The pain she was feeling about the end of her marriage did not stem from worry about how she was going to survive on her own, but according to the TV star, she was broken. At the rehab center, Garth realized that the lack of positive energy around her contributed heavily to her sadness, so she decided to make a conscious effort to change the situation. Ultimately, the actress decided to let go of the pain, forgive Facinelli, and move forward with her life. 

The TV Personality And Facinelli Now Have A Good Relationship

Garth can look back and smile as she has since put the past behind her, fostering a beautiful co-parenting and friendly relationship with her ex-husband. According to the actress, she and her ex are now friends and are back to following each other on social media. Facinelli welcomed a son, Jack, with his partner, Lily Anne Harrison, and even invited his ex-wife to his son’s christening.

Last year, the “Twilight” actor also offered a roof to Garth and her family after the widespread Pacific Palisades wildfire forced them out of their homes. The Blast reported that Garth, her daughters, her current husband, and her dogs took shelter in Facinelli’s home until they were able to work out their living arrangements.

“I wanted to let you know that we are safe. Peter and his family took us in and have been so kind,” she wrote on her socials, updating her fans. Thankfully, their home was spared from the wildfire, and the actress was able to return shortly. She also expressed sadness for members of her community who lost their homes and property in the disaster.

Jennie Garth Found Love Again

The “Beverly Hills 90210” star found love again about a year after her divorce from Facinelli was finalized. She met her current partner, Dave Abrams, on a blind double date in 2014, and three months later, he put a ring on her finger. The lovers then tied the knot officially on July 11, 2025, and began building a future together. A few years into their marriage, the lovers went through a rough patch, resulting in a brief separation, but came back together, determined to make things work.

They spent 10 months apart, and Abrams filed for divorce in April 2018 but later had the petition dismissed the following year. The separation helped to strengthen their bond and made Garth and Abrams realize they wanted to put in the work to “continuously” improve their connection as a couple. The lovebirds had to figure out certain things as individuals, which were initially pushed aside by their “rushed” relationship timeline.

“We both had separate learning to do, and then coming back and sharing that growth was kind of the fiber that connected us back together like, ‘I see you differently now,'” the actress told PEOPLE in an interview. Garth boasts of how great Abrams is as a husband, life partner, and stepfather to her daughters. The award-winning actress also noted that their marriage to him has taught her patience, love, understanding, and made her a better person overall.