In “let love rule” news, Grey’s Anatomy alum Patrick Dempsey and his wife, Jillian, are reconciling, calling off their divorce and even planning on renewing their vows.
Jillian filed for divorce back in January of 2015, implying the reason for the split was Patrick’s obsession with racing, which kept him away from her and their 3 kids, Darby, Sullivan and Tallula. After that, allegations arose that Patrick was involved in an “inappropriate relationship” with a Grey’s staff member. But then, later in the year, the pair were going on dates, even taking a trip to Paris together.
Of course, there’s a catch. A source close to the couple told Radar Online, “It’s incredibly exciting for all their friends and family, but Jillian wouldn’t never [sic] have accepted unless he agreed to slow down on his motorsports racing. It was devastating when they split and he’s still not out of the woods yet. Jillian wants to take things slow, as though they were dating for the first time, and rebuild from scratch before renewing their vows.” The source went on to say, “Patrick thinks it’s a shame to have to quit racing” in order to salvage his marriage, but “he’s determined to not mess things up.”
It does appear that Patrick is committing to saving the relationship. He recently pulled out of an upcoming high profile racing event in New Zealand. And, Patrick’s Dempsey Racing website has a farewell message of sorts from the actor. On the site’s homepage, Patrick thanks his team, competitors and fans and states “At this point in my life, after an amazing season thanks to my friends at Porsche and TAG Heuer, I need to take a step back and focus on both my family and my acting career.” He did add, “I hope my schedule permits me to enjoy some race weekends at least as a Team Owner.”
These changes, if he can stick with them, might truly bode well for the couple. It’s looking good for now, at least. Jillian posted a photo of the couple on her Instagram last week, with the caption, “Happy 5″0″!!! @patrickdempsey xxx” That’s encouraging, right?
I want to be positive, but I really don’t know about this. Patrick has been into racing forever. I just don’t see him giving it up for his wife. My husband was obsessed with fishing and hunting and I never gave him an ultimatum to quit. Maybe I should have, as he did more and more of it until I had to bail. Best decision of my life. Despite my personal cynicism, I do hope Patrick and Jillian can work things out.
Photo Credit: Instagram/Jillian Dempsey, WENN.com, Getty Images, Fame Flynet
Darby, Sullivan and Tallulah? Wtf?
It could be worse!
I read it as Tarantula, which is definitely worse!
Not the worst celeb baby names by a long shot. Darby and Sullivan pay homage to Patrick;s Irish heritage.
Having hobbies is one thing. Prioritizing them above your family is a bad idea. Hopefully he can make a few changes and be more involved with his wife and kids. IF that’s the real story. Either way, good luck to them.
Is this his second wife? Wasn’t he married to someone in her 40s when he was 21?
Was coming to say the same thing. Hopefully it’s his decision to take it down a few notches so he won’t resent her for it. But sounds like he needs more time with all of them–children can be the ones to be ignored the most with hobbies (something I have to remind myself of a lot when it comes to social media). Hobbies and being your own person, sure. Obsessions? easier to regret having them when you look away from them and see your kids are grown.
And this hobby is dangerous as well – so I’m sure that was another factor in it. When you have kids that need you, you kind of have to lay off the dangerous activities.
He was – I believe she was his manager or something. It was not reported to be a healthy relationship.
I also want to add – I saw a biography on him and he had been into very competitive ski racing as a teen (I think he made it to states or something). I don’t think his passion for fast and dangerous competitive sports was new. I don’t like it when spouses try to change the person they marry, but I also understand trying to hold a partner acceptable as a parent and spouse.
Agreed – hobbies are great, unless they take over your life and mess up your most important relationships.
I hope they can work it out – it’s rare, especially in Hollywood, to come back from the brink of divorce. If they’re able to be happy again and keep their family intact, that’s great.
I see this working for a year or two and then back to he’s racing and cheating.
+1 I wish her good luck.
Man, her face is jacked in the first pic. Looks like Madonna
Yep, she has had a lot of work done.
Hey, if he is willing to sacrifice something he loves for someone he loves, then so much the better. I live in the south and it’s sad to say that I know many men who would never do that. They are too busy spending all their free time hunting. They rationalize that because they work they should be able to do what they want in their off time, much to the detriment of a happy healthy marriage. This leaves many women at home basically raising their kids by themselves.
Yeah, I’m from Georgia, and giving up hunting, fishing, golf, etc. would never even be a conversation. My mother says southern men are the most spoiled men anywhere, and I have to agree.
Was he racing when they got married? It can be so dangerous. I imagine the problem wasn’t just that he was racing but that he was racing and acting, and maybe as a result his wife and kids were forced to take a backseat.
Men marry women hoping they won’t change, women marry men hoping they will.
I guess they should be commended for trying to make it work.
Don’t know if it will, though.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Sounds like he’s not 100% on board with quitting or cutting back the racing, and that can only lead to resentment. Yet kudos for wanting to keep the marriage/family together. I’m not all that positive it will work out.
I’m wondering if the problem isn’t so much the racing as its place with regard to his career. He spent much of their marriage working on Grey’s Anatomy, and shooting those network TV shows takes a good bit of time. Since being fired, it looks like the only thing on his plate is the Bridget Jones sequel. Maybe the problem wasn’t so much that racing was taking him away from home as that it was taking the place of his acting career? I can see that being both a valid objection from a spouse and a promise that might be able to be kept, especially if Patrick gets another TV gig.
It wasn’t just a hobby. He was consumed with it while also working extremely long hours on a TV show. His wife and kids would have had little time or energy from him, or at the least his kids got what was left over, and his wife nothing.
It’s great to see that he really changed his life to focus on getting his family back and not the usual, moving on to someone new telling him how wonderful he is. I’m sure one day when the kids are older and he has more free time he will get back into it, at a time when it’s not to the detriment of his family.
Looking at the photos, his wife really got some horrible cheek implants. What was she thinking? When recent photos of her surfaced, a lot of comments were made about her bad cheek implants.
I just can’t fathom how people can stand cheek implants… that sensation of foreign objects on your face under your skin. Shudder.
Personally, the minute I find myself or my husband to be prioritizing a “hobby” before one another, I nip that shit in the bud. I would be okay with more balance (rather than cutting it out completely.) But, my husband explained to me once when I pointed out that he had been gone running marathons every weekend for 6 weeks and it was starting to wear on me, that he didn’t know how to scale back without cutting it out completely. Maybe that’s what this is. Patrick knows he is passionate about this, and doesn’t think he can honestly have a better balance unless he takes a big breather. Whatever it is, it sounds like he is prioritizing his family above a “hobby” and I think thats awesome. I hope they are all the happier for it!
Mama has a Serious case of RBF but if reports of how HE is are true, who can blame her for looking perma dour?
Yes, and I thought along the same lines. Girlfriend looks grim and who can blame her?
in that last photo, he looks like he’s on his way to steal your girl
Men who are that obsessed with a hobby whether it be hunting, fishing or racing, must 1) have no sex drive, or 2) cheat. Dempsey is a cheater. She is crazy if she thinks not racing will last or work. More power to them, but I do not think some men are family men. They can get married, have kids, and be good to them when they’re with them, but that doesn’t make them family men. Family men WANT to be with their family – like the family IS their hobby. He cheated – alot! She broke off with him and had plastic surgery. She had more plastic surgery after that because the initital nose job was “off” so she had it tweaked by a different surgeon. This pairing wreaks of insecurity (her) and selfishness (him). Jillian, he didn’t cheat on you because you don’t have the perfect nose. He cheated because he’s a selfish schmuck who does what he wants when he wants.
Now, see, *I* would have said the strings attached would be to KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS UNLESS YOU’RE HOME WITH ME!! I’m pretty sure the racing wasn’t the cause of his infidelity.
I hope it works out for them. I don’t think ultimatums usually do, though. If it meant a lot to him to spend time with his family, he would have in the first place. My husband loves to sail and to play the guitar, and we pretty much center our lives on the former and the latter takes even more time. But I’m glad he has balance to his life and does more than just work, and I would never ask him to give either one up. However, we don’t have kids for him to ignore, so that would be entirely different. I’m rambling, sorry. I just don’t know how this is going to play out.
Sometimes it takes losing your family to realize how much they mean to you and to realize your life is out of balance and priorities way off. He still will have his foot in the door with his passion, but you can’t have a racing career and an acting career in a long-running hour drama show like he had and devote any meaningful time to your young children/wife. They’ve spent the better part of this year slowly reconciling and I’m sure in therapy, so I think whatever they are doing or deciding it was never a rush to reconcile, but instead to slowly see if they could rebuild the marriage.
Hope it works, then.
God damn he is hott!!
Race tracks attract groupies just as rock concerts do. It’s not hard for a driver to find willing women to “party” with.
After years on Grey’s, he had more money for this hobby. Three small children is another good reason for his wife to object to it.
His wife looks better now then ever. I’m rooting for them
I don’t understand why someone with a demanding career and an extremely time consuming hobby would have children. It’s pretty unfair to the kids and to the spouse.
Well I hope for her sake that he doesn’t wind up resenting her in the long run.
I hope they stay together.
you don’t want your partner to resent you for not being able to do what they want. reducing the hobby is called for, but eliminating it all together?
He didn’t ‘decide to step back’ from racing – he lost his factory ride with Porsche for 2016.