Joey Lawrence’s Wife Samantha Cope Breaks Silence on Divorce

Joey Lawrence’s estranged wife Samantha Cope posted a video to Instagram seemingly showcasing her emotion about the end of her marriage. In the video, she’s crying. There are also shots of her dancing with her and Lawrence’s toddler daughter, Dylan, in her arms and petting a horse on a ranch.

In the video, Cope says a friend told her not to fear her tears and to let them go, “cause each tear is God gently squeezing the pain and devastation from your heart to make room for new beautiful feelings to come in.”

Cope filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences from Lawrence. In the documents, she demanded 100% physical custody of their daughter with strict restrictions on visitation.

A source tells PEOPLE that Lawrence, 48, and Cope, 37, “had troubles from the beginning of their relationship.” Another source claims that Lawrence began a relationship with Melina Alves, a writer and costar on his upcoming film, Socked in for Christmas. Despite such, the source says “infidelity isn’t the cause” for Lawrence and Cope’s split, “not by a long shot.” Alves’s now-estranged husband filed for divorce and July and mentioned the alleged affair.

While Lawrence is reportedly OK with the divorce, with a source saying  the actor is “relieved the marriage is over because he can breathe.” 

A source says he is devastated by his estranged wife’s custody request. “He had gotten to a point where he had hit his limit with defending his kids, his mom, and his family to Samantha,” the source says. “Joey loves his kids. He is a great dad and his daughters adore him. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for those girls, and that includes Dylan too. He prides himself on being very involved with family and putting family first always. He loves Dylan. He’s torn up that it’s going to be difficult to co-parent Dylan with the demands Samantha has made. Joey is a man of integrity. He is a hard worker. He is a professional.”