What ‘Will & Grace’ Star Eric McCormack Said About Marriage More Than a Decade Before Divorce

They say marriages don’t last in Tinseltown, and even those that span beyond 20 years can throw in the towel. In the case of Will & Grace star Eric McCormack, even his marriage of 26 years couldn’t be salvaged. Us Weekly reports that on Thanksgiving Eve, his longtime wife Janet filed for divorce in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The typical irreconcilable differences was cited as the reason for their split, but a date of separation was not listed. Janet is requesting that Eric pay both spousal support and her attorney fees. She asked that no support be awarded to Eric and is seeking an equal division of property. They share one adult son, Finnigan, born in 2001. He’s now 21, so no minor children are involved.

Eric and Janet met in 1994 while filming Lonesome Dove. They wed in 1999. Speaking to The Guardian once about their love story, Eric noted that at the time of their meeting, he had just ended a relationship and was considered a bachelor of sorts. “I met my wife, Janet, in 1994 on the set of a TV series. She was the assistant director,”he said in a 2007 essay. “I was just coming out of a relationship, and not to be trusted. I’d been dating actresses but Janet was different. She wore jeans, drove a pick-up truck … At first she wasn’t too keen. She knew actors are a lot of work: it would be like taking your work home with you. But I managed to convince her.” They had to keep their relationship on the low due to working together. “We had a secret affair the first season. I mean, dating crew!” he added. “Actually, it was much worse for her, because she wasn’t supposed to give any of the actors preferential treatment.”

By the time he landed Will & Grace, he was in his 30s and had already been married. At the time of his essay for The Guardian, he credited his marriage surviving the success of the show and his star rising due to his maturity. 

“I think I was very lucky that I didn’t get well-known until my early thirties. If it had happened when I was younger, you might have seen me falling out of nightclubs,” he admitted. “I think I conducted myself as a much better human being because I was already married when all that came along (I got married five months after I got the role as Will). Once in a while I wish that I’d had those crazy parties, but I’d have been scared of ending up as a 29-year-old has-been.”

Much of their relationship has been out of the spotlight, despite Janet accompanying Eric on red carpet events and to charitable galas.