Aisha Tyler Gets Emotional Discussing Divorce From College Sweetheart: ‘We Had an Extraordinary Love Affair for 25 Years’
Aisha Tyler’s husband, Jeff Tietjens, moved to end their 20-year marriage, filing for divorce earlier this month after a 15-month separation. On Monday’s The Talk, the co-host opened up about her headline-making divorce from her college sweetheart.
Describing the split as “a very painful thing to go through” especially in public, the 45-year-old actress and comedian said, “I’m sure you can imagine it’s pretty frustrating to have people talking about your private life who don’t know anything about it and speculating and saying lots of crazy stuff.”
That said, there was something she wanted to share and that is that their love was strong — and they’re trying to keep that love intact now that they’re no longer a couple.
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“My husband and I met when I was a teenager and I’ve been with him for more than half of my adult life,” she said. “He’s my only adult relationship. Other than my parents, he’s the person who has influenced me and cared for me the most… It’s very hard when you love someone very much [but] also start to realize that maybe you want different things for your lives. You don’t want to accept it and you don’t want to believe it. For a long time, we were really fighting to stay together. That’s why I didn’t talk about it.”
Aisha Tyler and her soon-to-be ex-husband, Jeff Tietjens, in 2006. (Photo: Getty Images)
Tyler continued, “I love him and I will always love him. When you love someone as much as I love him and as long as I love him, even though we’ve decided to part ways, that doesn’t go away. That doesn’t die… I don’t — not in anyway — see this relationship as a failure. I had this extraordinary love affair for 25 years of my life and that is how I feel. I think we did it exactly right. We loved each other passionately and we lived life fully and we’re trying to let each other go in the kindest way we possibly can.”
She ended with, “That’s what I’m going to say about the relationship and the rest of it is none of your damn business!”
Tyler has been very vocal about her struggle with infertility — on the show in 2013, she admitted they tried everything to have a baby, but doctors said there wasn’t much hope — and those quotes have come back to haunt her as her divorce has played out.
In Tietjens’s divorce filing, he cited irreconcilable differences and said that they separated in January 2015.
