Joshua Jackson Was Reportedly Blindsided By Jodie Turner-Smith Filing for Divorce Earlier This Week

Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson at an event

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 4 October 2023

So it wasn’t just us? Us Weekly reports that, when wife Jodie Turner-Smith filed for divorce on Monday, Joshua Jackson was “caught off guard” by Turner-Smith’s decision.

“They had their issues, as many couples do—especially two busy actors who are also juggling a child,” a source said. (Turner-Smith and Jackson had been married for nearly four years and share a three-year-old daughter.) “Joshua obviously didn’t realize it was this bad, that Jodie was this unhappy.”

The couple’s friends were shocked, too: “Their friends are baffled and trying to understand how this came about,” the source added. And, while they said it’s true that Turner-Smith and Jackson had “a whirlwind romance,” meeting at Usher’s birthday party in 2018 and marrying the next year (and welcoming a child the year after that, all in rapid succession), they seemed deeply in love. “They became glued to each other after the first night they met, and then parenthood soon followed,” they said. “It was a huge lifestyle change, especially for a free spirit like Jodie. But they seemed so devoted to each other, so everyone is shaking their heads.”

The split itself may be a shock, but the couple made waves in September 2022 when eagle-eyed fans noticed that the two no longer followed each other on Instagram. (They later refollowed each other, and following or not following one another on a social media platform does not a divorce make.) Whatever issues the couple may or may not have had seemingly resolved themselves, and they celebrated Turner-Smith’s thirty-seventh birthday on September 9 together. Turner-Smith filed for divorce on October 2, but listed their separation date of September 13, just a couple of days after her birthday.

Though “Jodie seems quite sure of her decision,” they said, “the ball is in Joshua’s court, though right now he’s likely trying to sort things out himself.” There could still be hope, however seemingly bleak; the source said that some of the estranged couple’s friends are “hoping there’s still a chance for reconciliation.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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