Actress says split from Peter Facinelli broke her heart but was not caused by jealousy

Apr 18, 2012 14:28 GMT  ·  By
Jennie Garth opens up about divorce from Peter Facinelli, says professional jealousy wasn't to blame
   Jennie Garth opens up about divorce from Peter Facinelli, says professional jealousy wasn't to blame

Responding to rumors that her marriage to Peter Facinelli ended because she was jealous of his “Twilight” success, in a new interview, Jennie Garth insists she was perfectly happy with being at home with the kids.

The former “Beverly Hills 90210” star was on The Today show to promote her upcoming reality show, “Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country” and, among other things, also talked about the end of her marriage.

After 17 years together (11 of which as husband and wife) and 3 adorable daughters, Peter and Jennie announced their decision to get a divorce, which immediately prompted speculation of infidelity or, perhaps just as worse, professional jealousy.

In a recent interview, Jennie did say that Peter's busy work schedule kept him away from home for long periods of time and it was perhaps this that led to talk of how she was jealous he was more famous than her.

Far be it from her, she insists: such as her marriage was, she was content with being at home with the kids, focusing solely on her family and taking care of the farm.

“There was nothing like that going on. I was very happy for him and so happy to be at home with the kids and enjoying my 'early retirement.' I didn't want to work at that time. I just wanted to be at home on the farm,” the actress explains.

At the same time, Garth understands the interest in her person now that she's going through a divorce, especially since she and Peter was considered a model of perfect matrimony.

She also knows she's to expect questions about the split now that she's promoting her reality show and, while she wishes things stood differently, she's ready to answer them.

“That is probably the hardest part about [the split], actually, the timing of everything. When I started to take this show on, I wasn't headed down this road,” Jennie explains.

“It happened in the middle of filming the show, and now part of doing any kind of job as an actress is following through and doing the press circuit for the show, doing interviews, and people want to talk about it,” she says.

“And, I am okay talking about it, but it's certainly not... something you want to talk about,” adds the star.