Cameron Mathison and Wife Vanessa Split After 22 Years of Marriage (2024)

Cameron and Vanessa Mathison are going their separate ways.

The former couple announced they are getting a divorce on Wednesday, July 31, just four days after their 22nd wedding anniversary. They explained their decision in a joint statement on Instagram.

"After 22 years of marriage, we have made the difficult decision to part ways," the General Hospital stars said. "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."

"Our children have been and will continue to be our highest priority, and we will forever share in our devotion and love for them,” their statement concluded.

PEOPLE has reached out to Cameron and Vanessa's representatives for further comment.

Entertainment Tonight was first to report the news.

Cameron and Vanessa wed on July 27, 2002, and welcomed son Lucas in April 2003. Three years later, their daughter Leila was born in July 2006.

The All My Children alum, 54, has recently spoken about some changes coming up in his life,including becoming an empty nester with his daughter leaving for college in the fall.

Just hours before announcing the divorce, he even took to Instagram to share what he and his two kids have been up to this summer. “Summer photo dump☺️,” Cameron captioned it. “Last few weeks before I’m an official empty nester😢.”

Although Vanessa, 57, wasn’t featured in any of the 10 photos — which showed the trio hiking and spending time outdoors on a trip to Arizona — she did leave a sweet comment under the post.

“❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️,” she wrote.

During an appearance on Cheryl Burke's Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast in June, Cameron explained a past struggle he and Vanessa had in their marriage. When he was asked to be a contestant on Dancing With the Stars, the actor admitted he was worried about working with pro Edyta Śliwińska.

"I called [the casting director] 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,'" he recalled. "Because I knew my wife and I, we were going through a little bit of a challenge at that time."

Cameron joked that Śliwińska "didn't wear a lot of clothes," but he ended up dancing with her anyway and the two became "really close."

"Vanessa was a trooper," he continued. "We'd sort of 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 five 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 her as possible, 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 — it's just really hard," he added.

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A few months earlier, in May, the actor opened up to PEOPLE about his kids growing up. He noted that “it's tough” to send his daughter off, adding that his son also has “already been to college.”

“It's the best thing in the world,” he said. “But at the same time, I don't think I'm ready. I mean, you think you are. You're like, ‘Oh, it's going to be awesome,' but I'm going to miss them.”

Once he has some more time on his hands, he revealed his plans to explore other interests to keep himself occupied.

“I think that I have a lot of passions. I have a lot of hobbies… What I don't want to do is just sort of have that time wasted,” he told PEOPLE. “But I feel I have some plans.”

“I'm big into health and fitness and longevity, and I'm studying to become a functional health coach myself,” he added. “I've got things brewing, never mind being on TV and hosting and acting and stuff, other stuff too.”