Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry: Did ‘The Talk’ Co-Host Hint at a Split Earlier This Year?

Now that Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry have legally separated after five years of marriage, some are wondering if there have been warning signs about the couple hiding in plain sight for months now. The first indicator was when Gilbert had left her role as co-host of The Talk in April of this year. She seemed genuinely broken up about the decision, saying she wanted to spend more time with her three children.

“I’ve decided that it’s time for me to leave the show at the end of this season,” Gilbert said. “I obviously love it here, and like I said, this was extremely difficult. Last season, I did The Conners and was also producing and [hosted] here,” Gilbert continued. “I loved it and felt totally empowered, but also, if I’m being honest about it, my life was slightly out of balance. I wasn’t able to spend as much time with my three kids as I’d like, or time for myself.”

In the wake of their split, fans have begun speculating this was a sign that the marriage between The Conners star and the former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman wasn’t doing so well.

“Sad to hear maybe this,” one fan wrote, believing that Gilbert “left The Talk to try to make this work to spend my time with her family and her wife.”

Another fan added to the speculation, claiming they “saw this coming when she left The Talk. She was trying [to] save her family. Sadly might [have] been too late. All work and it pushes people away.”

When Entertainment Tonight posted the story last night on Twitter, another fan wrote “So sad. I saw this coming for the last year for so I was hoping it wasn’t true.”

Gilbert herself claimed the reason she was leaving The Talk, which she helped to create when it debuted in 2010, was that the workload between the talk show and her revival/spinoff sitcom, The Conners, was gaining in popularity. While she said working both jobs was “empowering” at first, she confessed that the workload left her feeling “slightly out of balance.”

Perry, meanwhile, sang the praises of her then-wife back in November. “She’s got her own thing, and so she created it, so now she’s blossoming, she’s shining,” Perry gushed. “I’m super happy for her because it took her a bit to get there, and now it’s happening, and I couldn’t be more proud.”