Actor Michael C. Hall, 42, and his former wife, actress Jennifer Carpenter, 33, met while co-starring on the popular show Dexter, which began in 2006 and is in its eighth and final season. Hall, who plays the main character, Dexter, and Carpenter, who plays his sister Deborah Morgan, eloped on New Year’s Eve 2008 after two years of dating. They announced their divorce in December 2010 after Carpenter petitioned that summer citing “irreconcilable differences,” and it was finalized in December 2011.
In 2011, Carpenter said of Hall, “he is and always will be one of my best friends in the world. And just because the marriage ended doesn’t mean the love isn’t still there. We take very good care of each other and our cast — we always have — and I’m just really lucky.” Although there were rumors of reconciliation this year, the stars remain strictly friends as the show concludes on September 22.
On Thursday, September 12, at the PaleyFest Dexter Fall Farewell event, the couple was asked to comment on working together after their divorce. “It’s gratifying, honestly,” Hall maintained. “The fact that Jennifer and I worked through whatever was going on with us personally in the way we did and maintained our commitment to telling this story was never in question. It was always what we needed and wanted to do.” Carpenter also added, “I feel like marriage is sort of like a generic label. Our marriage didn’t look like anyone else’s. And our divorce didn’t either. So, I’ve said it before and we’ve said it before. Just because the marriage ended doesn’t mean the love did. It’s an awkward thing to talk about your personal life in front of a bunch of strangers, but there’s nothing but love and respect. Nothing.” The couple says that their continually evolving friendship is “a testament to our individual and collective commitment to the show. We’ve been through quite a journey in our personal life, but thankfully that remains a fundamental friendship and respectful.”
The couple has definitely parted ways romantically. Co-worker Dana Wilson, who plays Detective Angie Miller, says that by the time she joined the show last season, the couple has been “so cool with each other. They’re just friends. You can tell they’re just good friends, that care about each other. They joke with each other. They hang out with each other. It feels seamless. I would’ve never guessed that anything weird would’ve happened.” Hall has been dating his girlfriend, novelist Morgan Macgregor, since May 2012 while Carpenter started dating folk singer Seth Avett earlier this year.
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