NFL Wide Receiver Splits From Victoria’s Secret Model Wife After Almost 4 Years of Marriage

NFL wide receiver Sterling Shepard and Victoria’s Secret model Chanel Iman have called it quits. The couple met in 2016 and married two years later. Shepard, who plays for the New York Giants, officially filed for divorce in June 2021, a source told Us Weekly Wednesday.

The couple plan to “try and remain civil and friendly towards each other,” a source told Us Weekly. Iman, 31, and Shepard, 28, have two daughters, Cali Clay Shepard, 3, and Cassie Snow Shepard, 2. The two continued regularly posting photos of their children on Instagram, but they deleted pictures of each other in recent months, notes TMZ.

Shepard listed “irreconcilable differences” that “existed for at least six months,” according to court documents Page Six obtained. There is “no reasonable prospect of reconciliation,” the documents read. Shepard asked for joint legal custody of their daughters and asked for his home to be their primary residence. He requested that Iman have “supervised parenting time.” 

In another filing on Sept. 7, the couple said they had attended two mediation sessions and had another scheduled in October 2021. A case management hearing was set for Feb. 23. The former couple also hired appraisers to look at their shared home and Oklahoma properties.

Shepard and Iman met at Victor Cruz’s 30th birthday in 2016. In December 2017, Shepard proposed, and they married in March 2018. Throughout their marriage, the two seemed inseparable and gushed about their relationship in interviews. “That woman takes care of me like no one ever has,” Shepard told Us Weekly in August 2019. “I mean, the closest thing to [compare it] is my mom, so I love everything about being married to her. She’s one of a kind.”

In that same interview, Shepard talked about how challenging married life became once their first daughter was born, especially considering their own professional commitments. “It’s honestly tough whenever you put a baby into the situation because you’ve got to still try to find time for each other and a lot of the focus goes onto the baby,” Shepard said at the time. “So that’s the main thing is just me trying to carve out a little time in my schedule and her trying to carve out time in her schedule because we’re both pretty busy. That’s the toughest thing about it, but we find a way to get through it.”

Iman has been modeling since she was 12. She became a Victoria’s Secret Angel in 2010 and walked in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows. She also broke into acting, appearing in the movies Dope and Mad Families. Shepard was drafted by the Giants in 2016. His 2021 season ended early in December when he suffered a torn achilles injury during a game against the Dallas Cowboys.