Netflix Couple File for Divorce After 9 Years of Marriage

Orange Is the New Black couple Samira Wiley and Lauren Morelli are splitting after nine years of marriage.

The actress, 38, and writer, 43, who met while working together on the Emmy-winning Netflix show, announced on Friday that they had decided to end their marriage.

A representative for the couple told Out that they were “amicably filing for divorce,” and that they remained dedicated to co-parenting their daughter, George Elizabeth, whom they welcomed in April 2021.

“After nine years together we have decided to end our marriage,” they said in a statement, “however, our lifelong commitment to co-parenting will forever remain.”

Wiley and Morelli first met on the set of Orange Is the New Black in December 2012. Wiley starred as Poussey Washington on the prison dramedy, while Morelli wrote for and produced the show throughout its seven seasons at Netflix.

Morelli was married to husband Steve Basilone when she started at Orange Is the New Black, but divorced him in 2014.

Wiley and Morelli then announced their engagement in 2016 on Instagram, sharing a photo of them smiling together as the actress showed off her engagement ring. “Yes,” the caption read simply.

That same year, Morelli told Out of their relationship journey, “I had started questioning my sexuality as a result of being in the [Orange Is the New Black] writers’ room and talking about all the themes on the show. I was still very confused, but I knew the attraction between us felt magnetic.”

“I think — I know — I would not be where I am without Lauren,” Wiley added at the time. “When I was first being thrust into the public eye, I wouldn’t talk about my orientation. Being with Lauren taught me self-love.”

The couple got married in March 2017 in Palm Springs, Calif., and four years later, Morelli gave birth to the couple’s daughter.

Following the end of Orange Is the New Black in 2019, Wiley went on to star in The Handmaid’s Tale opposite Elisabeth Moss, winning an Emmy Award for her role as Moira. Morelli went on to create Tales of the City for Netflix in 2019, adapting Armistead Maupin’s novels into a miniseries.