Samantha Cope spoke out after her estranged husband, Joey Lawrence, claimed his eldest two daughters weren’t “accepted” by her.
“As a mother who values her daughter above all else, I find these false accusations deeply troubling,” Cope, 37, told Us Weekly in a statement on Thursday, August 29. “I am confident that the truth is known to me, to Joey, and to God.”
She added: “I am choosing to put my focus on healing, caring for my daughter, and processing the loss of my marriage and my family.”
Earlier on Thursday, Lawrence, 48, broke his silence on his divorce from Cope and denied having an affair with his Socked in for Christmas costar Melina Alves. In a lengthy Instagram statement, he claimed that one of the causes for his split from Cope was her allegedly rocky relationship with his eldest daughters. (Lawrence shares Charleston, 18, and Liberty, 14, with ex-wife Chandie Yawn-Nelson, while he and Cope share daughter Dylan, 19 months.)
“As a father, my three daughters are my world. They are, and always will be, my top priority,” he wrote via Instagram. “The unraveling of my marriage was tied to my realization that there was no way my two eldest daughters were ever going to be accepted by my wife to be part of my family. I cannot and will not compromise on the love and care that my daughters deserve, and this realization played a significant role in the breakdown of my relationship.”
Cope filed for divorce from Lawrence on August 21 after two years of marriage and listed the couple’s date of separation as two months prior. One day later, TMZ reported that Alves’ estranged husband, Edward Rider, claimed in his own divorce documents that his wife had an affair with Lawrence. According to the outlet, Rider filed for divorce from Alves, 40, in July.
Alves subsequently denied having an affair with Lawrence and said that she and Rider had been separated since January 2023.
“When I met Joey, I was immediately struck by his kindness, warmth and genuine character,” she wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, August 28. “We found common ground in our shared experiences, which led to a strong supportive friendship that has been a source of strength for both of us.”
Lawrence, for his part, also denied having an affair, saying in his statement on Thursday that he and Alves maintained a platonic relationship while working together.
“Melina and I became close friends and I did not have a physical relationship with her while filming the movie Socked in for Christmas,” he wrote. “These rumors are false. Our bond was based on shared experiences and an understanding of the challenges we were both facing in our personal lives.”
Prior to his marriage to Cope, Lawrence was married to Michelle Vella from 2002 to 2005 and to Yawn-Nelson from 2005 to 2020.
