Jesse Metcalfe and Cara Santana split after more than a decade after photos showed him cozying up to different women
After Desperate Housewives star Jesse Metcalfe was photographed cozying up to two women in one day over the weekend comes news that his engagement to Vida star Cara Santana is off.
A rep for Santana tells Yahoo that the actress and designer won’t be commenting about the split and “asks that everyone please respect her privacy at this time.”
Yahoo had previously reached out to a rep for Metcalfe about the photos and received no response.
On Tuesday, the tabloid the Daily Mail ran the photos of Metcalfe, 41, cuddling and holding hands with the two women, one identified as Hungarian model Livia Pillmann, and reported a source close to Santana saying she was “completely blindsided” by the news.
A photographer seemingly trailed the Passions alum all day, first capturing him leaving Gracias Madre restaurant in West Hollywood holding hands with a woman identified as Pillmann. Pillmann — who has appeared on magazine covers around the world — was not hiding in a bright orange coat.
A rep for Pillmann tells Yahoo that the model met Metcalfe doing a photo shoot for Heroes Motors in December and they ”stayed friends — nothing more.”
Pillmann posted a photo with Metcalfe from that shoot last month.
Later that night, Metcalfe was snapped with his “arms wrapped around a tall blonde” outside of a bar in the San Fernando Valley.
Metcalfe and Santana dated for a decade before becoming engaged in 2016. During the proposal, the John Tucker Must Die star gave her a 5.5-carat emerald shaped diamond ring that he designed. He popped the question on a sailboat in the middle of the Hudson River in New York with Eric Clapton’s “Pretty Girl” played in the background.
Last year, they gave mixed statements about their wedding plans. In October, she said they were “back on track to planning the wedding,” blaming his work schedule for holding things up, while a month later he described their wedding planning as “non-existent.”
Either way, Santana said they didn’t feel pressure to wed, telling Life & Style, “You know what, I feel married. It’s like I don’t feel the pressure which is why I think we are so laissez-faire about it. We own two properties together, so I think it just releases the pressure. But I am definitely traditional, and I want to have that moment when my dad walks me down the aisle, and we can really celebrate the relationship in front of the people we love.”
Metcalfe and Santana spent Christmas in Belgium and were on the red carpet together as recently as Jan. 4. A day later, she was solo at Golden Globes parties. On Jan. 10, the paparazzi agency X17 caught Metcalfe on camera while out solo with friends, noting he “woke up on the wrong side of the bed” prior to the exchange.
Metcalfe found fame on Desperate Housewives playing teen gardener John Rowland, whom Eva Longoria’s married character Gabrielle Solis set her sights on. He was on the show — often shirtless — from 2004 to 2009, then went on to appear in the Dallas reboot and Hallmark Channel’s Chesapeake Shores.
This story was originally published on Jan. 22, 2020 at 3:33 p.m. ET.
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