Jennie Garth Says ‘Really Hard’ IVF Journey Played a Part in 2018 Split From Husband Dave Abrams

For the first time, Jennie Garth is opening up about how IVF treatment led to a 10-month separation between her and husband Dave Abrams .

“[We] were trying to have a baby, and it kept failing,” Garth, now 52, said in an interview with SELF , which was published on Thursday, September 12. “And that was really, really hard on both of us individually and on our relationship.”

After several unsuccessful rounds, Garth and Abrams, 43, decided to "let go" of the possibility of expanding their family.

"It freed us up to love each other in a different way," she noted about now being able to appreciate Abrams more. “Dave is just an incredibly supportive, loving person. He’s just always thinking of how he can make me happy and make the day go better. I'm so grateful for the generosity of his spirit and his love.”

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Garth found love with Abrams after ending her marriage to Peter Facinelli , with whom she shares daughters Luca, 26, Lola, 21, and Fiona, 17. Abrams and Garth got engaged in 2015, three months after they were set up on a blind date. They got married that same year. After filing for divorce in April 2017, Abrams ultimately filed a petition to dismiss the divorce proceedings in February 2019.

Earlier this year, Garth and Abrams reflected on how therapy has helped their dynamic.

“I’m really proud of us,” Garth said on a May episode of her “I Choose Me” podcast. “Finding somebody, like [when] I found you, I knew, ‘This is a good man. This is a person I can see in my home, I can see around my kids and I can see growing into who we’re going to be as a couple. I can see that with him.’ You were very willing and seemed like you wanted it too.”

Abrams also recalled how his life changed from being single to a stepfather of three, adding, “All of sudden, I’m taking them to school [and] walking them to class. They were still in the lower school … and [Jennie] had stuff to do and we were delegating between [when] Peter had them one week and then we had them one week.”

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He continued: “If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the kids were involved and that’s the main thing. Then all your crazy stuff that’s going on in your head that it may seem crazy overwhelming, well you made this choice. We had to figure this out.”

Garth, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for how he handled things.

“You dove in. But I think because we did fast-track everything, there was a lot of learning and growing on both our parts, but mostly your part,” she noted. “I mean in like, having a family and having all these responsibilities put upon you and having to model for the kids a certain behavior.”