Criminal Minds star Zach Gilford has split from his wife, Kiele Sanchez, after 12 years of marriage and two children together, reports claim.
The 43-year-old actor starred alongside Kiele in the crime drama, where the husband and wife played an on-screen couple. According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Zach filed for divorce on Friday, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason. The date that the couple separated has not been listed and is marked with “TBD”.
The actor is requesting joint legal and physical custody of their two children, Zeppelin, seven, and Revel, four. The documents also states that the Friday Night Lights star could award Kiele spousal support.
The couple were married in December 2012 and their castmate, Jesse Plemons, played the guitar during the ceremony. Jonas Peterson, who was the photographer at the wedding, told ABC about the big day: “Oh man, that guy [Plemons] can play guitar! He’s in a band called Cowboy and Indian and they were good – very good! [Gilford and Sanchez] are the most normal people in the world. They are the most in-love couple you’ll ever see. It’s really amazing.”
At the time, Zach was enthusing about his love story with Kiele, telling the photographer: “This is the love of my life and I want you to come capture that.”
While they enjoyed starring together on Criminal Minds, they actually met on the set of The Matadors during a pilot for ABC in 2010. The series never materialised after the network decided against proceeding with it.
After their first child was born via surrogate, Zach spoke about his marriage to Kiele in a 2018 interview with Us Weekly: “My wife isn’t like anyone I’ve ever met in my life. I think when people meet her they just fall in love with her.
“I feel like she’s taught me how to love and you just see her looking at this baby and you just know she’s a mama lion and nothing will ever happen to this kid. It’s really incredible.”
Netflix star Zach had previously described a horrific swelling on his face that required treatment. Writing on Instagram, the actor revealed about his drastically different face: “Sooooooo… Yesterday was fun.”
He later returned to share a picture of himself wearing a face mask with noticeably puffier face. His face was so swollen one of his eyes was forced shut. He wrote: “Good thing we wrapped @criminalminds last week.”
After seeing the doctor, Zach thanked staff for their help as he showcased his slowly recovering face. The star said: “Thanks to all the nurses, doctors, and staff at @huntingtonhospital for coaxing my face back to normalcy…still a little ways to go.”
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