Alan Ritchson, star of the Amazon Prime series Reacher, and his wife Catherine have announced that they are separating after 20 years of marriage. The couple shared the news in a joint statement posted to Ritchson's Instagram on Saturday.
Ritchson, 43, and Catherine, 42, have known each other for 27 years, having met as teenagers, and share three sons: 13-year-old Calem, 12-year-old Edan and 10-year-old Amory Tristan.
The Instagram post read: "After twenty years together, Cat and I have decided to end our marriage and continue alongside one another in a different way. We grew up together. We built a life and a family together. And we are raising three incredible boys who will always be the center of our world. Nothing can diminish what these years have meant to us - or the love and respect we will always share."
The couple said their priority now was co-parenting their sons. "The best gift we can give one another - and our boys - right now is friendship, grace, and a commitment to become the strongest co-parents we can be. We also want to give each other room to grow into the people we are becoming," they wrote.
They asked for privacy as they navigate the split. "Change is hard enough without the whole world weighing in. We hope, especially for the sake of our boys, that you will allow our family to move through this chapter with privacy and compassion," the post continued. "Thank you for supporting us as we continue making the health and happiness of our family our priority. - Cat and Alan."
A divorce filing kept quiet
The Daily Mail can reveal that Ritchson had already filed for divorce from Catherine once before this year's announcement. Legal documents show he filed on December 1, 2025, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple reconciled three months later, on March 4, 2026.
That reconciliation came shortly before Ritchson was involved in a physical altercation with a neighbor in Brentwood, Tennessee, which made headlines around the world.
High school sweethearts
Ritchson and Catherine met as teenagers in a ballet class in Florida, when he was 17 and she was 16. Speaking on The Road to Wisdom podcast in 2023, Catherine recalled the moment she first noticed him. "I'll never forget seeing him for the first time in the [dance] studio. I turned to my friend Miriam and I said, 'Who is that?' He, at some point, came up to me and we just got chatting," she said.
The couple got engaged in 2005 and married the following year, in 2006.
The Brentwood altercation
The clash with neighbor Ronnie Taylor erupted in Brentwood, Tennessee, in March. Footage captured by Ritchson's own camera appeared to show him hitting Taylor following a dispute over his motorcycle, which he had been riding through the neighborhood.
Taylor allegedly stepped in front of Ritchson's motorcycle in an attempt to stop him speeding through the area, sparking the fight. The Brentwood Police Department concluded that Ritchson had acted in self-defense and closed the case without filing charges.
Catherine's birthday joke
Days after the altercation, Catherine revealed she had spent her 42nd birthday alone on a retreat, disconnected from the news coverage of her husband's fight. She posted a photo of herself smiling behind a birthday cake with the caption: "I spent my birthday attending a week long retreat which included an off-grid digital detox. Did I miss anything?"
Ritchson replied in the comments with a joke referencing the fight: "Who's gonna tell her..?"
Reacher's fifth season
Ritchson has played the title role in all four seasons of Reacher, the Amazon Prime series based on Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, in which he plays a former US Army military police officer. A fifth season of the show has already been announced.
