Cameron Mathison and Vanessa Mathison announced their divorce earlier this week, but General Hospital fans are wondering what really happened between the longtime couple.
The soap star, 54, and his wife, 57, announced they are divorcing in a joint statement on Instagram on Wednesday, July 31, just four days after they celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary.
"After 22 years of marriage, we have made the difficult decision to part ways," the couple wrote. "We enter this new chapter with deep love, kindness, and respect for each other. We hold gratitude in our hearts for the wonderful years we shared together."
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But through the years, the couple has shared clues about trouble in their marriage through interviews and social media posts. Just a week before the bombshell announcement, Cameron shared some insight into his relationship with his then-estranged wife in an interview, saying she is in a " self-exploratory " phase at the moment.
"It’s like a new chapter for everybody in our life. We’re just trying to figure it all out," Cameron told UsWeekly. "But she’s really on a self-exploratory kind of phase right now, doing a lot of really cool stuff for her. And she’s learned the bass and she’s back to her modeling days and she’s traveling and doing things, and I’m really encouraging that. And yeah, we’re just trying to figure it all out."
The exes shared that their children — son Lucas, 21, and daughter Leila, 18 — will “continue to be their priority" in their statement. "Our children have been and will continue to be our highest priority, and we will forever share in our devotion and love for them. We remain friends, and both wish the best for one another," the statement concluded. "We sincerely appreciate your respect for our family’s privacy during this transition."
As far as Cameron and Vanessa, they said they will remain friends and that they "wish the best for one another."
Cameron and Vanessa met one year before they went on their first date in 1999 and got married in 2002. After three years of dating, they welcomed their son one year later and welcomed their daughter in 2006.
Through the years, the couple has made comments about their "ups and downs" in their marriage on social media—without giving much insight into what they dealt with behind closed doors.
"Happy 18th anniversary @vanessa.mathison In the entertainment business it’s like dog years … you multiply by 7," Cameron wrote in July 2020. "Vanessa you are my best friend, my travel partner, my Vajrayogini, and the most loving and supportive wife I could ever imagine."
He added: "We’ve been through some ups and downs through the years, but it definitely made us stronger. So grateful for you in so many ways."
In September 2019, the actor announced that he was diagnosed with kidney cancer after experiencing stomach troubles. He underwent surgery to take out a small portion of his inflected kidney, which proved to be successful. A month later, Cameron revealed that he was cancer-free and healing well post-surgery. His wife shared posts on social media calling him her "inspiration."
The actor recently opened up about some hesitation he had before joining Dancing With the Stars in 2007 because of his marriage. He appeared in an episode of Cheryl Burke's podcast Sex, Lies and Spray Tans in July, and the General Hospital actor revealed that he was asked to join the ABC show but he didn't want to be paired with pro dancer Edyta Śliwińska because they were having problems in the marriage.
"I watched the show, so I knew Edyta. She’s a very beautiful woman, and I don't even know if Edyta knows this," he said. "I actually called Dina Katz, who's my dear friend now, who at the time was casting director, I called her and I said, 'Listen, I'm so happy that you've offered me the show. I can't wait. I'm in. Just do me a favor. Put me with anybody but Edyta.'"
"Because I knew my wife and I, we were going through a little bit of a challenge at that time, and Edyta didn't wear a lot of clothes," Cameron said jokingly.
"Vanessa was a trooper," he shared. "We'd recently gone through a bunch of stuff, and it wasn't great timing and I was off in LA spending time with this beautiful woman, dressed up, against her, sweating with her 5 hours a day rehearsing, and then doing all the press and touring stuff together, and it was really hard."
"I tried. I did everything in my power to make that as easy for [Vanessa] as possible," he added. "But it just is what it is. I mean, you can be married and do the show, obviously, but it can be, depending on the circumstances — I think if you all lived in LA or whatever, but being on a plane and traveling and hotels and the whole thing, I think it's just really hard."
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