*NFL icon Emmitt Smith announced over the weekend that he and his wife of 20 years are calling it quits.
The Dallas Cowboys running back shared the news in an Instagram post, in which he and wife Pat released a joint statement announcing their decision.
The two noted that they intend to continue to co-parent their children as well as run their various businesses and charities.
“We are publicly sharing that after much contemplation and prayer, we have decided to separate,” Emmitt and Pat said in a statement. “We will continue to move forward with love and compassion for one another, as co-parents and friends. We will work together in the best interests of our children, our family, community, and businesses. As we take this journey toward the next chapter in our lives, we ask for privacy at this time.”
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News of their separation comes three months after the couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in April.
“20 years doesn’t come without a lot of work, prayer and a fight to stay together,” Pat wrote in an IG post at the time (see post below). “I have learned to keep my focus on our marriage and celebrate the beauty, uniqueness and challenges of ours! While continuing to grow together and as individuals, I can see that we are definitely not the two people we married 20 years ago!! I can truly say we are better people than we were then!! Marriage has a beautiful way of molding you and building you into the people God truly wants you to be!! And for that I celebrate today!!”
She concluded her post by adding, “Hubby, I love you so dearly and I’m extremely grateful for all that we have built together and for the love that we share together.” Along with the loving message, she shared a photo of herself an Emmitt together. In June, Emmitt and Pat happily celebrated their son’s high school graduation with family pictures together, as well.
The couple have three children together, and their oldest child, EJ, just signed to play running back at Stanford back in December, per 24/7 Sports.
“He was torn between two schools and two coaches. I think he prayed on it and we always ask him go pray on it don’t make no emotional decisions. You make an emotional decision sometimes you have a lot of regrets. He had to go through the process and I think through this process it will help him mature and understand how to create a process for himself to make better decisions and better choices and taking his emotions out of it.”
Smith doesn’t want his son to feel pressured to follow the same path as his famous father. He simply wants EJ to make the best decisions for himself.
“You got to be at peace with your decision,” he said. “Because you have to lay your head down. You have to get up every morning. You have to go train. You have to do all those things to prepare for college as well as prepare for football and all those kinds of things you have to do that. Not me, not your mom. You have to live your life. That’s you. So, you wanted to study business. This is the first part of it. You have to figure out how to make a good business decision for yourself.”
Pat was previously married to Martin Lawrence from 1995-1997. They share one daughter, Jasmine. Emmitt also has a daughter, Rheagan, with ex-girlfriend, Hope Wilson.
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