Jennie Garth, Peter Facinelli Discuss How Hard It Was Seeing Each Other Date Again After Divorce

Garth invited her ex-husband on for a two part episode of her I Choose Me podcast, where the pair discussed getting together at a young age. While speaking candidly she said she struggled with the idea of their three daughters — Luca, 26, Lola, 21, and Fiona, 17 — meeting future partners.

“Neither of us got married right away but we both had a few relationships left and right, and the girls would get close, from my perspective, your relationship after the divorce,” the 52-year-old actress said. “The girls got close to your then-girlfriend and that was very, very, very, very difficult for me.”

While the pair married in 2001 after welcoming their first daughter, they finalized their divorce 12 years later in 2013 — a move that Facinelli said wound up strengthening their family.

“I wondered how you felt when another guy came in [to my life]. I wasn’t really serious with anyone until Dave [Abrams],” wondered Garth.

Facinelli called it a “catch 22” situation, as their daughters would meet his “longer-term person” compared to Garth’s relationships.

“On your side, you were having people come into their lives and then kind of leaving in shorter spurts,” he said. “I felt bad having them be [affected by] that. I know they would go on vacation with a guy, kind of get to know them and you’d move on to someone else. For me, I just kind of had to trust you and had to go, ‘OK, she trusts this person, so I have to trust this person.'”

He was adamant that he “never felt jealous,” because he believed “the more love that the kids had, the better.” He added, “I was never in competition to go, ‘Well, I’m the dad here!’ I think it was harder on you for that, being the mom, watching another person come in.”

They’ve also both moved on now, with Facinelli welcoming 21-month-old son Jack with fiancée Lily Anne Harrison, while Garth married fellow actor Dave Abrams in 2015.

Saying he didn’t feel their children had to carry the “burden” of divorce, Facinelli said he believes they’re “incredibly fortunate to have had now these stepparents that they’ve gotten to know, that have added to their personalities, that they’ve grown through them as well.”

Listen to I Choose Me below.