Joey Lawrence’s Divorce: Why His Wife Dumped Him After 2 Years  

Joey Lawerence is divorced – again. Whoa!

Maybe he and Jennifer Lopez can start a club?

For the third time in his life, the 80’s heartthrob finds himself in the middle of messy divorce. 

Initially, word was that the two were splitting due to  irreconcilable differences.

Common phrase used in Hollywood divorces.

However, after digging through the divorce documents filed by his wife, there are some red flags being noted about the conditions of their divorce. 

And they have to do with his daughter. 

Joey Lawrence’s Divorce History: This Will Be His 3rd Failed Marriage

This whole divorce thing is starting to feel old hat for Joey. He married his first wife, Michell Vella in 2002. The marriage didn’t even make it to it’s 5th anniversary. They divorced in 2005. 

There was hope in his second marriage, to Chandie Yawn-Nelson. The pair met in the most magical place on earth, Disney World, when they were just kids. After reconnecting, they were married in July 2005. 

If that seems a little close to his first marriage, you’re not wrong, but whether there was any overlap in those relationships, we could not say. 

What we do know is that Joey’s time with Chandie was a lot longer. The pair hand two kids together, Charleston and Liberty, and stayed together through some really heavy times – like filing for bankruptcy. 

However, by 2020, he had filed for divorce. And so marriage #2 came to an end. 

His Marriage To Samantha 

Joey Lawrence met his soon to be next ex-wife, actress Samantha Cope, while filming the 2020 Lifetime movie My Husband’s Secret Brother.

The film was being directed by his own brother, Andrew, and even had a part in for his daughter, Charleston.  By 2021, the pair had announced their engagement and it seemed like all was right with the world. 

They married in May 2022 and a few months later, in September, they announced they were expecting their first child. 

Their daughter Dylan Rose was born on January 16, 2023.

While we don’t have many details, the fate Dylan Rose and who she’ll be living with now that her parents divorce is brought up in the paperwork –

And it’s making the proceedings messy. 

Samantha What’s Sole Physical Custody Of Their Daughter

While it’s typical for  parents to discuss custody issues in their divorce proceedings, the fact that the initial filing has some pretty major requests from Samantha is a bit shocking. 

Samantha Lawrence filed the divorce docs about 2 months after she says they separated. That was back in June 2024.

TMZ, who has seen the documents, reports that she checked the box to block the court’s ability to award either of them spousal support. However, while she’s not looking for anything monetarily from Joey, she is demanding a very strict arrangement when it comes to their daughter.

According to the outlet, in the docs, she specifically asks the court to award her 100% physical custody, with Joey allowed to visit only at her discretion.

This arrangement would be for now; when Dylan turns 3 next January, Samantha’s willing to allow their daughter to stay with Joey for up to 2 nights a week. However, she requests he not be allowed to take her for extended periods of time until she’s older and can consent to such visits.

She also doesn’t want any other members of Joey’s family around when he has custody of Dylan. 

These are all very steep asks, and they invite more questions than they answer. 

What comes next, we’ll have to wait and see. We’ll update as more information becomes available.