I guess you could say it was a coincidence or faith if you will,that brought these two actors together. Once "Friends" ended it`s 10 year run, Matt got his own spin-off show "Joey" , based on his character Joey Tribbiani from "Friends" scheduled to premiere in September 2004. "Jericho"`s Ashley Scott were originally cast to play Matt`s neighbour and love interest. But test audiences and members of the entertainment industry felt a lack of chemistry between them and the actress were let go. About a month later they recasted the role and Andrea Anders got the part.
At this time Matt was happily married to former model Melissa McKnight who had just a couple months prior given birth to their first child, Marina Pearl. Andrea had a boyfriend of several years who moved from New York to Los Angeles with her a year before she landed her role on "Joey".
The show struggled it`s way through the first season , and both Matt and the show got nominated and won the People`s Choice Award for Best New Comedy and Favorite Male Actor, and managed to get renewed for a second season. Everything seemed to go in the right direction. However, as the second season started, Matt was struggling in his personal life.It turned out that "Joey" wasn`t really the success he was hoping for after all, his daughter was sick and him and Melissa were having marital problems. And while Melissa were at home taking care of their daughter and her two children from her previous marriage, Matt spent most of his time on the set with co-star Andrea Anders. The two actors had grown a lot closer during this time. Andrea had offered him a shoulder to cry on and one thing therefor led to another. And by Christmas 2005, after falling in love on screen, they both realized they also had romantic feelings for each other off screen as well. In January 2006, Matt moved out of the home he shared with his wife and kids and bought an apartment so he could be closer to the set and Andrea. Andrea also quickly dumped her boyfriend and allegedly moved in with Matt. Two months later after realizing Matt was not interested in working on his marriage, Melissa became suspicious that he was involved with someone else.After confronting him, Matt then admitted him and Andrea were in fact seeing each other and filed for divorce shortly after on March 30th.Their divorce became final October 6, 2006.
Information Source: www.people.com/people/article/0,26334,1180477,00.html
| Where/How First Met |
On the set of "Joey" in July 2004 |
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