Is it over? Tori Spelling and husband Dean McDermott have been fueling divorce speculation, and fans are wondering: Did the Hollywood couple split?
Breakup theories were fueled when the Messyness star shared a festive family photo without her spouse on November 21, including all five of their children, Liam, Stella, Hattie, Finn and Beau McDermott.
The greeting came with a heartwarming message, reading, “Happy Holidays … With love, from our farm to your family home! Xoxo, Tori and family.”
Tori seemingly squashed the rumors they called it quits by revealing Dean was away working on a project. Prior to her comment clarifying his absence, the Open Range alum recently shot down split speculation himself.
“I don’t reply, you know, anymore,” Dean said during the September 15 episode of the “Feminine Warrior” podcast. “It’s just like, ‘OK, if that’s what you want to think, then think it.'”
“It’s just weird that people need to know,” he continued. “‘What’s going on with Tori and Dean? She’s not wearing her ring.’ Why do you need to know that? How is that going to affect your day?”
Tori and Dean wed in 2006 and share five children. The Canadian actor also has an adult son named Jack with ex-wife Mary Jo Eustace, with whom he was married to from 1996 to 2006. Tori was previously married to Charlie Shanian from 2004 to 2006.
The longtime couple first tipped off fans that there may be trouble in paradise when the Chopped Canada host was left off the family Christmas card last year in December 2020. Since then, the Beverly Hills 90210 actress has been spotted without her wedding ring, which further fueled rumors.
Tori previously admitted she and Dean were on the brink of a split after his 2013 cheating scandal.
“I look back and I remember doing interviews probably seven years ago … I was like, ‘It’s easy, we don’t have to work at it. We have this great marriage,'” Tori recalled to People in 2017. “11 years later, I’m like, ‘It’s a lot of work.’ It takes work and I took that for granted — I think we both did. We thought, ‘Oh, our relationship just works,’ and the truth is, no relationship just works.”
The two went through some marital turmoil, but the Scary Movie 2 star said they came out stronger on the other side, which resulted in their youngest son, Beau, being born in 2017. Tori called her little one the “pillar of the rebirth of [their] relationship.”
“Our relationship had to crumble for it to be rebuilt, and it was really important that we just start it over,” the Saved by the Bell star explained following Beau’s birth. “I think Beau is a symbol of that because he’s the first baby out of all five that we’re raising in a communicative way.”
Dean echoed the fact that marriage is “work” during an interview with Us Weekly in October 2020. “Men, we’re like, we need to spread our seed everywhere. It’s [been] in our DNA for millions and millions of years,” he said at the time. “There’s that, but then there’s also, ‘Oh, God. This relationship is work.’ And it is. Every relationship is work and when you get to that point, you can’t bail. You’ve gotta knuckle under and work it out.”
The Due South actor also admitted “monogamy is hard” during an episode on his podcast, “Daddy Issues,” in June 2020, which featured his wife as a guest.
Surprisingly, Tori agreed with the sentiment. “The reality is you’re two people,” she said at the time. “I feel like humans, instinctually, it’s really hard to be monogamous because you’re always changing. And if you’re not on the same page, you have to try to change again, and evolve, and be on the same page.”
Keep scrolling to see why fans thought the couple called it quits.