‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Tears’: Joey Lawrence’s Estranged Wife Samantha Cope Breaks Silence amid Divorce…Read More

Samantha Cope is speaking out for the first time following her divorce from Joey Lawrence.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, the 37-year-old actress shared her first Instagram post following the news that she and the Melissa & Joey actor, 48, are splitting two years after tying the knot.

“An amazing friend of mine recently told me ‘don’t be afraid of the tears. Let them flow. Because every tear is God gently squeezing the pain and devastation from your heart to make room for new beautiful feelings to come in,’ ” she began the caption of her post.

“She also reminded me: ‘the more you cry, the less you pee,’ ” Cope jokingly added. “So let them flow. You got this. .”

Alongside her caption, Cope included a video composed of a series of clips that highlighted recent good times, including one of herself and her daughter, Dylan Rose, 1, in the car, and another of the mother-daughter pair having a lakeside outing. She also included moments of them dancing around their house, going out for ice cream and having lunch together.

Cope also shared a glimpse into more emotional times she had over the past few weeks, including clips in which she could be seen shedding tears in her car and outdoors.

According to Lawrence and Cope’s divorce filing, which was obtained by PEOPLE, the actress cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split and submitted the paperwork on Aug. 13 — two months after their date of separation, which was listed as June 7.

She requested to block the court’s ability to award either side spousal support and is seeking full physical custody of their daughter Dylan, while permitting Lawrence visitation at her discretion.