Ashley Darby, 33, and husband Michael Darby, 62, of Real Housewives of Potomac have split after 8 years, according to Bravo TVs The Daily Dish. But the two are parting ways with respect for one another, and Ashley released a statement to that effect, along with an explanation for the decision to part ways. “Almost eight years ago, when Michael and I said ‘I do,’ we anticipated sharing every single day together from that moment forward,” Ashley’s April 19 statement reads. “Unfortunately, that is not our current reality. We have decided to separate.”
Ashley continued, acknowledging that the move would cause questions. “We are aware that there will be many speculative views as to why we have made this decision,” the statement said. “People will be quick to assume that the causes were too much intrusion by reality TV into the most personal parts of our lives, age gap issues, cultural problems, or child-rearing differences. Pieces of all these may have affected our pure love for each other, but no one reason is the root cause of our mutual decision to go our separate ways.”
Ashley’s statement cited “different stages” and “different goals” as ultimate causes of the breakup. “We both want the other to achieve true happiness and fulfillment and feel that we cannot do this together,” the statement further said. Ashley and Michael married in 2014, just two years before RHOP premiered, and they share two sons, Dean, 2, and Dylan, 1, who she says remain their primary focus going forward. “They will always feel loved and supported, for they were truly created out of love,” the statement said. The births of Dean and Dylan have been an integral part of the couple’s arc on RHOP, as fans watched them expand their family and mature as a couple.
But Ashley and Michael haven’t been without stressors in their marriage — during filming of RHOP in 2018, Michael was accused of groping a cameraman, but the charges were later dropped. The scandal rocked the show, but the couple has since moved past the incident. “So, the way that everything else did play out in the legal system and beyond that is very different in contrary to what is being said on the show,” Ashley told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY in 2019. “And I wish I could talk about it with you – it’s Michael’s thing to talk about – but certainly it’s not what was said in the court case and the charges that were brought against Michael and nothing about what’s actually being shown on the show.”