Just my opinion: I think Angie Harmon’s marriage has been on the rocks ever since she signed on to Rizzoli & Isles. Angie made such a big deal, years ago, about moving her family to North Carolina and wanting to raise her three daughters away from the liberal heathens in California. Then when she got Rizzoli & Isles and had to spend, like, eight months out of the year in LA filming the TV show, she never bothered moving her family back to LA. So her husband Jason Sehorn raised their girls in North Carolina while Harmon worked. I’m not saying she didn’t have the right to work and all of that, but I always side-eyed both Angie and Jason for not simply moving back to LA full-time. Well, guess what happened? All that time apart has led to the logical conclusion: they’re over.
Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn are amicably separating after 13 years of marriage, her rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“For the sake of their children, they ask for respect and privacy as they navigate this time in their lives,” her rep says.
Harmon, who stars in the TNT drama Rizzoli & Isles, and the former NFL player got engaged on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1998, after Sehorn surprised Harmon by walking out onto the set and getting down on one knee. They went on to have three daughters: Finley, 11, Avery, 9, and Emery, 5. In 2011, Harmon, 42, spoke about the difficulties of splitting her time between Los Angeles, where her show is filmed, and Charlotte, North Carolina, where the family is based.
“We don’t get out Friday nights early enough to catch a flight home,” she told Your Tango. “So I’m here [in L.A.]. We sometimes meet in Texas, a 2½-hour flight for both of us. I miss my kids, so it’s hard, but my children are so understanding.”
The former Law & Order star also admitted she and Sehorn, 43, strived to keep their marriage strong despite the distance.
“You have to be really considerate of each other, really kind to each other,” she said. “It’s a lot of work.”
I feel sorry for them because I always got the impression that Jason and Angie were a real love match – they really seemed to adore each other back in the day. So, it’s sad when a couple that used to make sense can no longer make it work. Still… I never really understood the reticence for having your whole family in one place. It’s not like they were poor, you know? Angie and Jason could have easily based themselves in LA full-time and spent part of the year in North Carolina when Angie wasn’t working.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
But … But … The sanctity of marriage …. We have to preserve the sanctity of marriage … I love it when conservatives get divorced. Sorry for the kids though.
oh you silly billy, it only applies to OTHER people, not themselves 😉
I know, huh?
If gay marriage were illegal everywhere, then surely this hetero marriage would have lasted. Clearly, the social change of allowing gay families their rights has now undermined the sanctity of the institution.
I think that we should all get our guns and hide in our cellars until it all passes.
Oh, wait. I’m a liberal heathen.
Forget it, no problems here, nothing to worry about!
//snark off and in reality: I’m not fond of her d/t her political leanings so could I care less if she divorces? No. No, I could not care any less than I do now. Just a tad of schadenfreude over the notion of such an upstanding, conservative woman abandoning her family and role and now…sighs, wipes a tear…see what happened?
Isn’t that show of hers supposedly “set” in Boston, home of the first gay marriages in the US? Her marriage stood no chance after that.
FAMILY VALUES! They’re apparently equivalent to being away from your family 8/12 months. Got it.
Not all conservatives feel the same way about marriage just like not all liberals do. The talking heads would like you to think that but they don’t.
c
Wait a second, you’re celebrating her divorce because you don’t like her political views? That’s pretty tacky, particularly when there are three children involved.
The left rejoices in the breakdown of the American family because big government is their mommy and daddy.
Stephmcg, Right. That’s exactly what “the left” is all about. And we wonder why the political divide is so huge…insane generalizations like this contribute nothing meaningful to the discussion.
@Stephmcg and Esmom: Because sweeping generalizations like “The left rejoices in the breakdown of the American family because big government is their mommy and daddy” aren’t helpful either. Nor are they accurate.
It’s just a joke. Relax. Since when is it wrong to be snarky on a celebrity gossip site?
I hate to be snarky about a sad thing, and I do feel a little sorry for her and her family, but she been pretty consistently preachy, smug, and judgmental about other peoples choices from her Conservative Ivory Tower. Not sure how she expected to keep her perfect nuclear family intact when they were never together. Hopefully, this experience will help her be a little more compassionate.
Yup, the amount of schadenfreude over here is more than a tad. Not because I’m rooting for anyone’s marriage to break up (especially when there are three youngish kids involved), but because Angie is a big old hypocrite. A big old judgmental hypocrite. You can’t abandon your kids across the country for more than half the year and talk about family values. Sorry!
I don’t love it when anyone divorces. What a horrible thing to say
For no rational reason, I’ve always found her annoying, but not rage-inducing annoying, just enough to fully ignore her and her career, As for her husband, I can’t quite place him. C’est la vie.
she’s preachy. like, she knows better than everyone else about everything, that’s the impression I get from her. and her show is SO F’IN LAME. it was much better the first time around, when it was called “Bones” and was actually funny.
Her show is so dumbed down, it is insulting. The female characters are all stereotypes. You either are a beer drinking tomboy, or a shoe loving priss! No in between, ladies!
Jason Sehorn used to play for the NY Giants.
Explains why I don’t know or care, but thanks FingerBinger. 😀
He can also be seen frothing at the mouth over his love of SEC football as a TV commentator.
Wow that’s a long time to be separated from your children and husband. I don’t understand that at all.
I know, especially at such young ages. TV work will come and go but you only have one chance to be around for their childhoods. I also don’t get why they didn’t split their time between LA and NC, seems like they definitely had the resources.
Yeah, “the kids are so understanding” doesn’t make it right or mean that it isn’t hurting them. You don’t spend that kind of time away from your family. That’s ridiculous. They should’ve rented something in LA and stayed as a family. I think she put her work over the wellbeing of her family and it’s come back to bite her in the butt. I wonder if he’ll get primary custody? (Since he’s the one mostly with them all week).
School. I’m guessing that’s why the kids stayed in NC. Probably a better experience for them than LA.
I understand not wanting to take the girls out of school, away from their friends, etc. but isn’t seeing mom worth uprooting for? They could’ve spent summers (assuming she shoots a typical schedule) in NC and the rest of the year in LA.
As a mom of 3, I don’t understand leaving your kids for that long for a job across the country either. I can’t imagine they needed the money. I am sure the kids have family and friends in Charlotte which is why they didn’t want to disrupt their life for a job that may not be there in a season or two. This isn’t very “feminist” but when you have kids, you made a choice and your decisions should be about what is best for them, not about what you want.
I agree with the not wanting to relocate when it’s the first season and you don’t know where the show is going or if it will get picked up, but somewhere over the course of the 5 seasons or so you would think they would have figured out it was going to be multiple years.
In fact the kids live with her in LA.Remember the story with her home intruder.She asked protection for her kids,her and a friend who live with them ( but not her husband)
Maybe there were already problems in the marriage and the adults wanted distance from each other. But that doesn’t explain the kids unless she thought that the show wouldn’t last so it would be a one-time separation.
It’s all the liberal media’s fault, right Angie?
+1
Those damn liberals and their baby-killin’-socialist-agenda.
She went on a tear on time and whined that she kept getting turned down for roles because Hollywood is biased against Republican actors. Maybe they are just biased against crappy actors.
Her career has had better staying power than I thought it would.
It is because she has talent. Extraordinarily so, she is actually capable of much more.
I actually think she’s a horrible actress. unless she’s improved from her law and Order days.
Extraordinary talent? She is extraordinarily beautiful and she is passably talented.
Does anyone know if maybe he didn’t want to relocate and uproot the girls?
I’ve always thought she was gorgeous but her voice annoyed me.
If I recall correctly, one of her girls came home saying something (about sex?) and she thought she would have to move them someplace with better values than L.A. She picked out NC and Jason had to figure out his career there. The last I heard the girls were basically being raised by him in NC 8 1/2 mos out of the year. All her choices. That was from an US Weekly or People mag a few years ago to the best of my recollection.
That’s always sad, a good marriage gone bad. Living apart, though, I’ve seen it so.many times in the field I used to work in. It’s”just for a few months”, or “just for a few years until we have a nest egg” and then, more often than not, they’re splitting that nest egg in divorce court. I’m sure it works for some people, but most people I know / knew ended up like this.
It breaks my heart when I have to miss my daughters school event or explain why I can’t pick her up after school like the other Moms. To have to be 3000 miles away for 8 months ?
I doubt any paycheck could be worth that….
I hate the Mom judgement war but what could she be thinking?
Yeah, I don’t want to pile on her, but I think that’s too much time for a mother or a father to spend away from their family. You can’t really be a consistent part of their lives. Why bother to have children? That was judgey, I know, but I really don’t get it.
I don’t get it, either. I really haven’t kept up with her since they married years ago.
It’s hard to believe that late filming on Fridays would keep a parent from going to see their kids without the kids having to hop a plane and meet her halfway. Sounds like this may be a ‘whatever works for me’ instead of what is best for three young children.
If this happened exactly the other way around and the husband was working far from the family, there would be a lot less discussion about how that decision affected the family, particularly kids. Like when he was still playing football no one was saying “Man, they will probably get divorced because he has to be away a lot.”
Also, her kids are old enough to have their own activities and friends that are related to their schools and communities, so it would be a big deal for them to live in LA 2/3 of the year – especially if it doesn’t line up with the dates of the school year. So if my family was in the same situation we would probably make the same choices. Actually my husband sometimes is away for about a month at a time and he goes alone and comes home whichever weekends he can.
ETA I’m not saying it’s an ideal situation or that it would be easy, just that it’s not fair to place the blame on a woman who had to make tough choices to accommodate her career and family.
I don’t understand why anyone, male or female, have children and don’t spend time with them. Especially if you’re wealthy and don’t have to work to put food on the table. Their children are very young. I can’t imagine only seeing my children in the weekends for 8 months out of the year if I could control that.
Professional athletes travel a lot, but still have a home base that they return to every week, and of course practice and play at home frequently. If an athlete is settled in with a team and has the financial means, their family is usually with them. Even in Hollywood the Sehorn’s arrangement was odd. We’re talking about her leading a show and working long weeks and being almost unable to even visit, for most of the year. The travel alone from coast to coast makes it unreasonable.
This! I live in the Nashville area and the Titans players and their families all live here year round. They leave for games, but once the game is done, they are back home for family life and practice. They’re not leaving them for 8 1/2 months at a time.
Also, I have met numerous musicians with families. Those with families try and schedule tours during the summer months so their family can come with them. Many who travel more than that homeschool their kids and take them on the road.
Again, unless there was something going on financially within their family that we don’t know about, I cannot imagine why she would have taken this job knowing it would take her away from her kids 8 1/2 months out of the year.
This will all come out in the divorce. If it gets nasty over custody, you can bet this will be brought up.
Sherry – OT question for you: I’ll be in Nashville in January. What to expect, weather-wise?
Cold! Though it’s the South so it’s a crap shoot! I grew up in Richmond, VA and we had some Januarys that were bitterly cold with lots of snow (like last winter). Then we have had a few Januarys that were Spring-like. Nashville can go either way, but I would prepare for cold weather (highs in the 40s – 50s with lows around freezing). At least that’s been my experience for the past 17 years. (I just reread my post and had to Edit —> Cold to a Southerner is 40s – 50s …. depending on where you’re coming from, that could seem warm to you!)
In the NFL, all of his practices and half of his games would’ve been in one city. They’re gone for 72 hours or less for an away game.
Thank you falula for pointing out this fact to all of the judgemental supposed feminists on this site.
Sure, “supposed feminists”. It has nothing to do with the fact that the figure we’re discussing has been pretty outspoken about what she considers to be wholesome family values, and has held herself and her family up as that.
@Bridget – so you’re judging the judgy person…and calling HER a hypocrite?
We’re all on a gossip site here, so I think everyone is guilty of giving some judgement. But actually, I intensely dislike the trend I’ve been seeing here of attempting to say “you all wouldn’t say that if she were a man” or “supposed feminists” as though feminism is somehow equated with automatically agreeing with all women. Its absurd, and especially in this instance where the poster is trying to imply that if a man was working away from his family for 2/3 of the year we’d all pat him on the back and say “oh boys will be boys” (spoiler alert: not so much).
@ Falula, I tend to agree with your sentiment in general about double standards but I think much of the commentary is due to 2 reasons:
– The separation and schedule for professional athletes is quite a bit different and often accommodations are made for family, Besides, playing on the road is usually short-term and the family is generally reunited shortly afterward.
– Also, Angie Harmon has been rather vocal in the past about the decision to leave LA for a more family-friendly, conservative lifestyle and she has very strong opinions, she’s very vocal about family values.
Nothing wrong with that at all btw, but it’s rather odd for someone who has voiced those views so strongly to now be “seemingly” choosing career over family, or at the very least allowing her career to take priority over her family.
And I cannot claim to know the details of her marriage but it just seems odd that nowhere in the great state of California – or the entire west coast for that matter – has any conservative, or family-friendly places that she, Jason and their family can relocate to.
Once R&I went past 2 seasons, that family needed to be together.
But I do not blame her alone. The decision – and the consequences – to stay separated belongs to both she and Jason.
This show has been on what, five seasons? The kids are 11, 9, and 5. That means they were 6, 4, and an infant if she moved across the country without them. Leave kids that little for 5 years? Kindergarten is kindergarten, daycare is daycare. Move the family to a rental house in LA for 8 months to see if the show works out. If it works out, move the family to LA at the end of the first season.
Large portions of southern California are Republican. They could have moved to one of the Republican strongholds there and put the kids in Catholic school.
I know, right? Southern California is largely Republican (not Hollywood, but the rest of it), between the high incomes and the large military presence. Having lived in both the Deep South and SoCal, I will say that there is a difference between the conservative factions in the two areas. However, it’s always weird when conservative actors are like, “POOR PERSECUTED US WHERE IS A RICH WHITE CONSERVATIVE PERSON TO GO????” Um, like, every part of SoCal that isn’t Hollywood?
The kids’ ages are tough for divorce–old enough to understand and feel the rug pulled out from under them, young enough not to have much of their own life beyond the family.
I get the feeling that he didn’t want to move to LA.
According to wikipedia ( I had to google him, did not know who he was) he’s got a job : Director of Communications at Sonic Automotive, an automotive retailer based in …NC.
I can imagine him not wanting to give up his long term employment for her short term job.
Her short term job hasn’t been that short term. And he also has a job with ESPN. Why should she be the one to give up her job?
So, will he get full custody since she thinks LA is the land of the lost and would not want the children exposed to the evils there–you know, sacrifice for the sake of the children. I remember the trashing she gave LA when she moved (to my home town, so I cannot say anything bad about it). But I grew up in LA and turned out OK and think it is actually a good place. It is not all Hollywood odd and there are some beautiful neighborhoods with wide, tree lined boulevards–I grew up in one. Yes, it is big and can be overwhelming, but it does not have to be. Interesting to see how it all pans out.
Sure, Angie, that five year old is so understanding. Long distance marriages, even with children, can work so I’m not buying that excuse. All marriages require effort and it seems Angie and Jason didn’t want to try for whatever reason.
Might’ve lasted a bit longer if they’d had 3 boys? Who knows, but who in the hell leaves 3 young daughters for a below-average TV career? Not admirable. Judgy, I know, but I don’t give a care!
It doesn’t matter their gender. My son is around that age and hubby has to work a lot of evenings, and he gets very upset if for some reason daddy has to work straight through. Kids that age really need stability and attention, regardless of gender.
What? What does the gender of the child matter?
Why North Carolina? If L.A. is too “liberal” then base your family in Orange County. There are plenty of conservative pockets in California — within commuting distance of L.A. Yeesh!
Agreed! Why not Arizona? It’s maybe an hour flight, 5 hour drive, not all the way across the country. Odd choice.
She is from Texas so I suspect she wants to be in the “South” just my thought
I am from Austin, and I remember her SPECIFICALLY saying during her engagement that she made it clear to Jason they HAD to stay in Highland Park (Dallas) where she grew up, probably for the same Los Angeles reasons. What is funny though- my fiancé’s family is from and still lives in Highland Park- it has become more hoity-toity (sp) than Beverly Hills, more than any area I have seen.
I know, right? Highland Park is the apotheosis of materialism.
Not many marriages would have survived a separation like that, yet we constantly hear about showbiz spouses trying to make it work. Turns out its hard to be married and share a life with someone when you never see them.
He was a great player for the Giants
She said her show doesn’t get out early enough Friday to catch a flight .So why couldn’t she catch a flight early Saturday morning to spend at least 24-36 hrs with her family maybe every other week?
Also, if she had a decent agent, there’d be a little more wiggle room in the filming schedule since she’s the star of the friggin’ show.
I remember a quote she gave years ago about how the neighborhood that they lived in was perfect and the other mother’s were more then willing to help out when she was on the road for the show. Soooooo…….
(Yeah, I am looking to stir the pot….or am I 😉 )
I wonder if one of the single moms has been “helping” Jason while Angie is away.I mean helping him with the school bake sale or girl scout activities.
Awww, very sad. I love video of the proposal. I’m kind of surprised they wouldn’t try to work it out. Move the kids back to California. If the family is worth saving they would. I guess they’re saying it’s not worth it? Strange but not my life.
why do people think they can spent so much time apart and it will not destroy their marriage? especially if there are children involved. why even have children if you never see them?
sure, there are always examples of that working out, same if you randomly point at a man on the street and marrry him, could work out great, but it wont in almost all cases.
dont tell me she and her husband spent all the nights alone for years.
also just because men have been doing it doesnt mean women should be excused for doing it. just start asking the male celebs those questions.
celebrity and having children is a very bad combination. lots of time away, lots of chances of publicly humiliating your spouse with a co star, lots of pressure and intrusion from fame and stalkers. so if you are in a job in the spotlight you better damn make sure it wont negatively affect your children. the problem is most of those people are so in love with themselves they would never consider how their choices might affect their children. always loving talking about them in interviews when they want to sell something, but actually spending time with them? NOPE!
I like the way you think.
I understand their desire to move from LA. But why leave California (heck, why leave the west coast)? CA is a huge state, there are smaller cities, and quieter places to live in Cali that are only a few hours drive/a short flight from LA. They would not need to be in LA. I just think they could still have that small town lifestyle without all that distance and she could see the family every weekend, if not more often with a bit of effort and organization.
Sure, when the show first started they may not have wanted to uproot their girls, especially given the fickle nature of TV. But once that show was renewed for a second season (even more so a third) it was past time to relocate the family.
So this tells me that either he did not want to move back to CA – or she did not want him there, and/or there is more to this than simply distance, although the distance may have precipitated greater issues.
Anyway, always sad when a family splits. Good luck to them.
There are even plenty of small, conservative towns in Cali, if she was so bothered by liberals.
I do wonder if there were other issues, because as unpleasant as it would have been initially for the children to be uprooted, they also have the financial means to make it easier: flying friends and family out to visit, return visits, etc.
And even then–life happens. Yes, it sucks to be ‘taken’ away from your best friend, but life moves on. I lived in Guam for four years–and had a BEST friend. This friend and I used to spend nearly every day together (sleepovers, playdates, getting into trouble together–we lived a few streets away from each other) our parents were friends, and I hated that I was (quite literally) moving half way around the world to come to the US–I was eight. But I got over it. And so would her kids. It’s not the end of the world–especially since her show IS successful, and they wouldn’t have had to move so much that the kids wouldn’t have made friends.
They had only just moved to Charlotte a year before she got the gig. Before that, they lived in Texas .
Nothing concerning her politics, but previous people that worked for both of them when they lived in Dallas a few years back said he was the nicest guy. They had less than kind words for her.
I thought she moved the girls to LA with her during filming and left Jason in NC. Oh, well…I haven’t liked her in a long time and Rizzoli & Isles annoys me to no end. Hate that trope that geniuses don’t have common sense or know about the world around you (I’m looking at you, Bones). Hope for their girls’ sake, everything is amicable and easy for their new reality.
Divorce always sucks, especially with children involved. No one knows what really went on in their marriage, except the two parties involved.
Well Jason I’m available and I like kids. 😉
I wonder where he films his segments for ESPN, it’s not from NC. If he’s got to be in NYC or Connecticut on weekends, and she’s in LA, where are the kids?? Jason might work during the week too, but I don’t follow it as much then.
I always found it odd. Picking such a far distance. Gone seven to eight months out o f the year. One interview she said her kids were sobbing on the sidewalk at the airport when she was leaving to fly back to California and she wouldn’t see them for 30 days. I think that whole beginning thing where she said she was seeing them every weekend fell by the wayside pretty quickly.
She’s beautiful in terms of appearance but I’ve always found her persona annoying. If you plan to make your living as a television or film actor you typically need to live in the NYC area or Southern California. It’s different if you are Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman-both who had A list movie careers “back in the day” and now can afford to do a movie or two a year. They are able to live away from NYC or LA but actors like Angie Harmon really need to stick to where the work is. Life is full of choices. If her biggest priority was to raise her children in the South than she should have put acting on the back burner and done something else for awhile (or find work doing local theater or commercials). Or like many others have commented she and her husband could have lived in Orange County or another more conservative area in Southern California.
I’m as liberal as they come but I don’t rejoice in the failure of any marriage, between conservatives or not. I’m surprised to read such venom over her TBH, being conservative is not a crime, it’s just as valid a choice as being liberal. Not every conservative is an evil caricature, just as not every liberal froths at the mouth.
Considering she’s pretty cemented as a TV actress, I wonder why she ever moved in the first place. Before she got her current job I just assumed she was retiring from acting. As everyone’s said, there’s no shortage of conservative strongholds in California. I wonder if they’ve been separated all the time she’s been doing the show. It just doesn’t make sense otherwise.
I was suspicious when I heard she got a restraining order against a crazy woman and listed that the woman stay away from her and her daughters but not her husband because TMZ said he doesn’t live there. I think they’ve been done for a while.
I think the story written some time ago on this site about her living and working in LA while her family is north Carolina was spot on-she doesn’t have to be apart from her family to work. them being together in LA would better than apart but in north Carolina. Maybe she wanted to be away-marriage was cooling off and this was her escape? and fearing her kids would experience sex sooner in LA after her daughter began talking about it-teenage pregnancy rates are higher in the south so that’s a BS excuse. she doesn’t have to be apart from her family like those in the military do-she has an option. lots of feature films are shot in Louisiana now which is much closer to north Carolina so flights/commutes much more reasonable and can be done more often. she put her career and herself over her kids. this is just sad