Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett may be headed for divorce, but they remain focused first on their children.
Multiple sources have claimed that the couple is preparing to split after nearly nine years of marriage, but they are hoping for a “graceful separation” for the sake of their kids, son Hank IV, 8, and daughter Alijah, 3.
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“They’re still talking, but it’s mostly for the kids,” a source told PEOPLE. “It’s really important to both of them that they don’t traumatize the kids.”
According to the insider, the Kendra on Top personality is focused on making sure her children “feel safe” ahead of the impending divorce. She is also taking more time for herself to make a healthier transition to life as a single woman.
“She’s been going on hikes, working out, doing a ton of pilates and just trying to stay healthy,” the source said. “She’s also spending a ton of time with girlfriends and has been leaning on them for support. They’ve been trying to help her keep her mind off of her marital issues.”
An insider said the couple the couple has been “having a really tough time” particularly in the last three to six months. They have not been wearing their wedding rings as of late either.
Wilkinson, 32, and Baskett, 35, wed in 2009 at the Playboy Mansion. Their marriage was rocked by scandal four years when Baskett, a former football player, allegedly had an affair with a transgender model while Wilkinson was eight months pregnant.
The couple remained committed to each another in the wake of the scandal, though The Girls Next Door cast member famously flushed her wedding ring down the toilet and they appeared on Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars Edition to flush out their problems.
But in recent months, Wilkinson admitted that they were having “marital problems.”
Their marriage faced even more strain as the couple lived away from each other when Kendra was in Las Vegas for her Off-Broadway comedy, Sex Tips for Straight Women From a Gay Man.
“To be honest with you, it was weak at first. It was really weak,” Wilkinson told E! News in July. “I was starting to really miss home, he was starting to miss me. It was almost like a detox we were both going through because we’re so used to being together every minute of the day… Now that we’re apart… it was heavy. It was pretty intense.”
Despite weekly trips back to California, the miles weren’t easy on the couple.
“They’ve grown further and further apart especially while she was in Vegas. He would come to visit her and she went back home about once a week, but it was really hard on them,” the source told People.
According to the source, the couple “bicker all the time and she hasn’t been able to trust him.”
“Kendra is just not happy,” added the insider. “She’s always been someone who wanted to be fully committed, married forever, and was definitely a ‘I’ll never get a divorce’ kind of girl, but she really lost trust in her marriage and she’s realized there’s no turning back.”
The news of the couple’s reported impending divorce filing came days after Wilkinson experienced a sort of breakdown on social media over the weekend. She shared several black-and-white selfies with cryptic messages like “life isn’t making any sense to me right now” and “I need to love myself again.”
She did not say explicitly whether the message concerned her relationship with Baskett.
