Tori Spelling Told Dean McDermott She Filed For Divorce On Her Podcast

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 2, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 2, 2024 |

As anyone who keeps up with important current events knows, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott separated last June after seventeen tumultuous years of marriage and five children.

Since then, a lot has happened: 50-year-old Tori and the kids temporarily moved into an RV due to an “extreme” mold problem in their rental house. Dean, 57, went to rehab for his alcohol and prescription drug addiction. Now he’s working as an alcohol and drug counselor and living with his 32-year-old girlfriend. Tori was papped smooching a new guy, witnessing a tense hostage situation, and having tearful public conversations with Dean.

On Friday, the news broke that Tori had officially filed for divorce. She listed their separation date as June 17, 2023, the same day Dean posted a now-deleted Instagram post announcing their split. Unfortunately for Dean, Tori did not give him a heads up about the filing, and the news soon went public. Messy, messy. Tori’s only option was to call Dean and let him know she filed… while recording the first episode of her new podcast, misSpelling.

At the beginning of the episode, Tori told listeners, via Entertainment Weekly:

“It’s public. I don’t know what feels more like a punch in the stomach: that it’s out there and it’s final, or that I have to call him right now. Shit, he’s at work. He’s at work, you guys, this sucks.”

Spelling proceeds to leave McDermott a message: “Hey, it’s T. I know you’re working. Can you call me? It’s important. Everything’s fine, the kids are fine. But call me, please. Bye.”

Tori goes on to explain that her lawyer just informed her that the filing is public. She says:

“There’s this weird thing that I didn’t know about before that you have to be careful with your ex — it’s a he-said, she-said, who filed first. I had to file and go through the process, and then once it was accepted and publicly posted, then I’m allowed to call and fill in my ex. So I just called Dean, he’s working, and I’m super nervous because I don’t like confrontation.”

Soon, Tori gets a call back from Dean. She doesn’t put him on speaker (classy), but we hear her side of the conversation. Tori tells Dean that “they’ve done it”:

“It’s like one, it’s just the formality, it’s like a one-sheet, you check off, and next you’ll have to sign it. You have a lawyer?

Wait, it’s gonna be spun what way, that I had enough of you? What? What do you mean? I mean, in all honestly, after this whole journey, if it’s about that, like who files first, the other person’s wrong, I feel like I deserve to file first then.”

Tori ends the phone call with an “I love you” and they hang up. She explains to listeners that Dean told her he has a lawyer, that he was eventually “gonna do this,” but, “cool, saves me $500.” Ahh, Dean. Ever the gentleman. Here’s the audio of the phone call:

Over the weekend, some paps from the Daily Mail just so happened to catch up with Dean while he was out getting coffee. They asked how the divorce was going, and Dean replied, “It’s been a long time coming. But T and I are good.”

Any normal human might be a little pissed off that their estranged wife blindsided them with a divorce call on her podcast, but, remember, Dean’s the guy who ran to the Daily Mail last fall to spill every single detail about the demise of his marriage. One of those details was that the couple slept separately for years cuz Tori shared her bed with a pig and multiple incontinent dogs. TMI: it doesn’t exist for the Spelling-McDermotts! And, in that way, they were perfect for each other. End of an era.