Grey’s Anatomy star Chyler Leigh announced that she and husband Nathan West have quietly split after 23 years of marriage.
Leigh, 44, got candid about her separation from West, 47, during the Tuesday, May 12, episode of the “Books That Changed My Life” podcast. “I think getting to a point where my relationship with my ex had reached a point where it was just time,” she said while reflecting on a time she needed to ask for help.
“It was time to let it go. Even after such a long time,” Leigh, who shares kids Noah, 22, Taelyn, 19, and Anniston, 17, with West, shared. “We’d been together … it would [have been] 26 years this year.”
Noting that she and West are on “amicable” terms, Leigh continued, “It just hit a point where it was like, ‘OK, what you want and what I want aren’t really lining up anymore.’ And I’d rather us be on good terms and us not harbor the resentment and the anger … all that stuff. It’s not worth it.”
Leigh also shared that their differences had become “so abundantly apparent” to their kids. “It just shifts the mood and the dynamic of everything. He went through a lot of trauma with his family. I went through a lot of trauma with my family. So we’re just perpetuating that cycle. And so it was like, ‘OK, we have to make a choice.’”
The duo met in 1999 when Leigh was just 16 years old and West was 20. They tied the knot in July 2002 in Alaska. In December 2003, when she was 21, Leigh gave birth to Noah.
Leigh, who played Lexie Grey on Grey’s Anatomy, worked alongside West in a number of projects through the years. In 2000, she appeared as a guest star in three episodes of 7th Heaven, on which he had a recurring role as Johnny.
They also collaborated on music projects under the moniker WestLeigh, which contributed to West’s band, East of Eli.
Leigh previously opened up to People about being a mom of three in August 2009.
“Going from zero to one is a huge shock,” she shared. “One to two was a little more challenging. Two to three was a bit more challenging, but once you get used to multiples, you figure out how to put things together quicker. You learn how to organize. With number three coming, you get more confident as a mom. It’s like calm mom, calm baby.”
West also gushed about becoming a father of three at the time, saying, “I couldn’t imagine our family without [Anniston]. She just completed it.”
