Joey Lawrence Accused of Affair With Costar Melina Alves Amid Divorce From Wife Samantha Cope

The Joey Lawrence and Samantha Cope divorce is getting messy, as it has been alleged that infidelity played a significant factor in the breakdown of the marriage.

According to People, a source close to the former couple claimed the pair separated after Lawrence began an affair with his co-star Melina Alves, the Brazilian actress and writer who stars alongside Lawrence in his upcoming film, Socked In For Christmas.

“Joey met Melina Alves on the set of their movie, where she was a producer,” the source claimed. “He then love-bombed her just like he love-bombed Samantha. He continued to date Melina even after Samantha found out about it and confronted him.”

The source added that Cope “wanted to go to counseling,” alleging that Lawrence “fooled their counselor” and would “get ready for dates with Melina while Sam watched, bawling her eyes out.”

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Alvez’s estranged husband, Edward Rider, filed for divorce in July, just a few weeks before Cope filed for divorce from Lawrence. In the documents, Rider alleged that he discovered in late March that Alves was having an affair with Lawrence.

In the filing, Rider claims that Alves and Lawrence were having the affair in California — where they were presumably located for filming — and went on to engage in infidelity “at various other times and places.”

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Joey Lawrence’s Wife Samantha Cope Files for Divorce & Requests Sole Custody of Their Daughter

Lawrence, who is best known for his roles in Blossom and Melissa & Joey, met Cope while they were working on the 2021 Lifetime movie My Husband’s Secret Brother. The actors got engaged in August 2021 and tied the knot in March 2022.

The former couple shares a one-year-old daughter, Dylan Rose, who Cope has requested sole physical custody of. In Cope’s court filing, she cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their separation. She also noted that she and Lawrence separated two months prior to her filing the divorce papers.

Lawrence was previously married to Chandie Yawn-Nelson, with whom he shares two daughters, Charleston, 18, and Liberty, 14. The former couple split in July 2020 and finalized their divorce in February 2022.