After more than 20 years of marriage, Leah Remini and husband Angelo Pagán announced they were divorcing.
On Thursday, August 29, the 54-year-old actress announced the news on social media, stating that although it was a difficult decision to make, the couple “no longer fit.”
Now, let’s get started. We have decided to file for divorce after 21 years of marriage and 28 years of dating,” she posted on Instagram. “Even though divorce is difficult, we are approaching this with a positive outlook because we know it’s what’s best for us. This decision came after much thought and care.”
Remini stated that she is “sad” but also “proud of how we worked through this together,” with Pagán, with whom she was married in 2003, adding that they still need to “figure out as we continue to move forward into our new normal.”
“But here’s the thing, we’ve been best friends for a really long time,” she said. “We still get together as a family, celebrate holidays together, and watch our favorite TV shows together.”
Remini gave two reasons for the couple’s decision to end their relationship: “they both changed, as people do,” and “we got used to playing roles that didn’t fit us anymore.”
“We’ve chosen to take this step, which reflects who we are today, after much thought and effort. Our relationship has not diminished; rather, it has changed. From our perspective, this marriage was a big success.
We think it’s wonderful to celebrate a marriage that lasted this long and produced so many wonderful memories, especially raising our lovely daughter.”
Given how well publicized their marriage had previously been—”whether it was on our specials on VH1 or our reality show”—Remini revealed that the couple wanted to be “transparent” about the breakup. (TLC aired two seasons of Leah Remini: It’s All Relative in 2014 and 2015.)
She said, “As we take our first steps into this next stage of our lives publicly, we are sharing this unknown territory with you all.” In order to help people navigate the adjustments that millions of couples undergo every year, we would love for everyone to have more access to various relationship success stories and to not feel as alone during this process.
Our goal is to show others that relationships, no matter how they develop or end, aren’t always a failure by sharing our story.
We’ll continue to provide glimpses into our lives as we open this new chapter, she continued.
Discover how Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán’s journey reflects real-life relationship growth. Join us at Editorials24 for more insights and stories that show how every relationship evolves.
A Scientologist pastor married Remini and Pagán in Las Vegas in 2003. They welcomed Sofia, their daughter, the following year. Pagán also has two grandkids, Markus and Mila, and three sons from a prior relationship: Angelo Jr., Alex, and Nico.
The couple got together at a Puerto Rican eatery, and in 2019 Remini talked about it on the talk program RuPaul.
“I was like, ‘Damn!’ when I spotted him across the room. When do you end your shift? stated Remini. “It was like everything went wrong, like asking a guy out right after work and hitting it real quick is something you should never do as a girl, and that’s exactly what it was a lot of.”
Although Remini had previously said in a 2010 interview with Redbook that she had met Pagán as “love at first sight,” she clarified on the talk program that things hadn’t always gone well in their relationship over time.
“We did have a difficult time at the beginning, which is why it’s a beautiful love story,” she remarked. It wasn’t the finest of times when we met. We received counseling, and the journey was not simple. He is truly my rock, even though I’m just saying these things to be humorous once more.
After Remini left the church in 2013 after 30 years, the pair also had to endure departing together, with Pagán following her example.
Remini said of her choice to leave, “I was saying ‘family first’ [to Sofia], but I wasn’t showing that,” to BuzzFeed in 2015. “I found the message sent to my daughter to be unsatisfactory.”
Remini founded and starred in the reality series Leah Remini: It’s All Relative one year after leaving Scientology.