Laurence Fishburne and Gina Torres played a married couple on NBC’s “Hannibal.” (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
A day after photos surfaced of actress Gina Torres kissing a man other than her husband, Laurence Fishburne, she officially announced their separation. After marrying in 2002 and raising a 10-year-old daughter, things appear to be coming to an end.
“With heavy hearts, Laurence and I quietly separated and began the dissolution of our marriage in the early fall of last year,” Torres said in a statement to People magazine Wednesday, Sept. 20. “There are no bad guys here. Only a love story with a different ending than either one of us had expected. Happily, however, our family remains intact and we will continue to raise our daughter together with love and joy and awe. As well as raise each other up with respect and love and the continued understanding that we’re in this together, if not side by side.”
Torres, who most recently appeared on USA’s “Suits” was photographed last week kissing a man Page Six identified as Kevin Wright. Sources told the website Torres spent more than an hour at Los Angeles’ Sweet Butter cafe with the entrepreneur and solar energy investor.
Paparazzi shots captured the couple displaying tons of affection. Torres rested her hand on Wright’s face as he gazed into her eyes. The couple also shared kisses. The images set off speculation that Torres and Fishburne were no longer an item.
“I think when you’ve been married a long time and you become single, you look for someone that has what your ex was missing,” an insider told Page Six Tuesday, Sept. 19. “I think she finds in Kevin [what] she didn’t find in [Laurence Fishburne]. He’s the opposite of a Hollywood guy — he’s just cowboy-type, ‘I’m going to go ride my horse’ type of guy.”
Related: More on Laurence Fishburne
Can Laurence Fishburne Resurrect ‘The Alchemist’ Without a Major Backer?
Laurence Fishburne Gets Top Billing in ‘Roots’ Remake; Will Portray Author Alex Haley
Laurence Fishburne and Idris Elba Look to Team Up for ‘The Alchemist’
Unlike the cheating scandal currently rocking fellow actor Kevin Hart’s marriage, the images had many believing Torres had left her husband. The couple hasn’t been photographed together since the 38th annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala in 2015. Plus, it’s been months since either was seen publicly with their wedding bands on, according to E! Online.
The couple was fairly private throughout their relationship. Fishburne only revealed they were engaged by accident on “The Tonight Show” in 2001, The New York Times reported. They issued a short statement to media in 2007 saying they were expecting their first child together. Fishburne has two adult children from his first marriage.
While there hasn’t been any word on exactly what caused the pair to split, their careers likely didn’t play a role.
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for each other and each other’s work ethic. We don’t bring it home,” Torres told KTLA in 2015. “Work is work. We are journeymen actors in a lot of ways. We’ve been doing this for a long time. We love what we do, we appreciate the art, and we love our home life, and we like to keep it that way … we talk about it from a place of knowing and understanding … I don’t think what we do for a living dictates [our home life].”
