Ever since the ‘90s, Kenan Thompson has been making sketch comedy history. Last year, the longtime SNL cast member accomplished a massive milestone of being in over 1,500 sketches and just had his Good Burger sequel hit Paramount+ subscriptions in November. With his new memoir When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown out, Thompson explains why his divorce hasn’t been hugely discussed in the new book.
The former Nickelodeon actor officially filed for divorce from his wife, Christina Evangeline, after 11 years of marriage. During his interview on The Today Show, Kenan Thompson explains why in his memoir the ending of his marriage is hardly spoken about.
I didn't really want to speak out of turn on people who aren't there to tell their vision of the story as well. So I just kind of told my perspective, basically
I give Kenan Thompson a lot of respect for that. A lot of celebrities tend to use memoirs as an outlet for revealing to the public what their marriage was like behind closed doors. Jada Pinkett Smith exposed in her memoir Worthy back in October that she and her husband Will Smith were separated for years. That same month, Britney Spears published her “brutally honest” memoir The Woman in Me shedding light on her and Justin Timberlake’s relationship. Even Hugh Jackman is writing a “bombshell” book about the end of his 27-year marriage. Thompson, on the other hand, looks like he’d rather talk more about lessons he learned growing up and being a parent than about his divorce.
According to TMZ, Kenan Thompson said there’s no bad blood between him and his ex-wife. The alleged reason for the split is because they “simply grew apart” with Thompson temporarily relocating to California when he filmed his sitcom Kenan while Christina Evangeline stayed in New York. TMZ estimated they’d apparently been separated for at least a year prior to the divorce filings. This is pretty common when people are married for a long time and they grow apart instead of together.
The Kenan and Kel actor met his wife in 2007 and were dating for four years before they got married at the Georgia Aquarium. They plan to continue co-parenting their two children working on an even custody arrangement so each child could be with each parent 50/50 while living in close proximity in New York. It was said back in 2022 that Christina Evangeline was reportedly dating her ex-husband’s former SNL co-star Chris Redd. Evidently, Redd and Evangeline were friends for six years before dating. How Thompson reportedly felt about his ex-wife’s new romance was that there’s no drama between everyone as they’ve both moved on with their lives and “wishes her happiness."
Kenan Thompson may not talk much about his marriage ending in his new memoir, but it’s his own choice. Not every celebrity has to be open about their marriage if they don’t want to. Clearly, the sketch comedy actor has his own priorities on what he’d prefer to fill his first book about such as parenting and life lesson tips. You can get more insight into Thompson’s memoir When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown out in bookstores and on Amazon.
