Surprising news. 90 Day Fiancé fans were shocked when Evelyn Cormier announced her split from David Vázquez Zermeño last year — and so were some of the duo’s friends.
“They spent Thanksgiving with us last year, so I was very shocked,” David Toborowsky exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, January 4. “We’re very close.”
The Kentucky native, 53, added that Zermeño, 30, just visited him and his wife, Annie Suwan, “right before” news of the divorce broke. “We were shocked to hear it,” he added. “Sometimes in life, people are better off to go on their own separate paths.”
In November 2021, In Touch broke the news that Cormier, 22, planned to divorce her husband after four years of marriage. The duo, who made their 90 Day debut alongside Suwan and Toborowsky during season 5 of the show, tied the knot in October 2017.
“[Evelyn] is an awesome lady,” Suwan told Us ahead of the new special David & Annie: After the 90 Days, airing on TLC Monday, January 10. “Honestly, she is young, and she might have different goals in her life, [and] that’s why they divorced.”
Toborowsky, for his part, commended the former couple for deciding to end things if they felt that was right.
“If you’re intersecting your life, it’s better to keep going than try to force down a path that will end up and say, ‘Why did I waste 20 years?'” he shared with Us. “We just wish both of them the best because they are amazing.”
Shortly after announcing the split, Cormier accused Zermeño of emotional abuse during their marriage. “I’ve endured mental and emotional abuse because of a passionless, sexless and narcissistic relationship,” told Us in a statement in November 2021. “This is a good reminder that not everything you see on social media is reality.”
Zermeño later denied his estranged wife’s allegations in a statement to In Touch. “Out of respect to our marriage that lasted four years, I wish not to disclose any more details,” he said at the time.
Months before Cormier confirmed the former couple’s split, rumors about their relationship status swirled on social media. “David is a very private person and I just try to respect that,” Cormier said in an Instagram video posted in February 2020, responding to followers asking why her husband didn’t appear in her posts more often. “My page is mostly for my music.”
One year later, the musician admitted that it was “annoying” to have fans constantly asking questions about her marriage. “It’s like, you know, I do a lot of modeling on the side and I don’t always wear my wedding ring, but that doesn’t mean there’s trouble in paradise,” she said in February 2021.
David & Annie: After the 90 Days premieres on TLC Monday, January 10, at 9 p.m. ET, followed by Loren & Alexei: After the 90 Days at 9:30 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi