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When you think about Patrick Dempsey, chances are you think about his time on Grey’s Anatomy, the fact that he got the title of “Sexiest Man Alive” at 57 years old, or even his touching romance with his wife of over 20 years Jillian Fink. But there’s a lot more to the A-lister than people realize. Like, did you know about his passion for racecar driving? That he’s a proud father of three? Or that his first marriage was one of the most controversial in the 1990s, and one people often forget about?
It’s true, Dempsey’s first marriage was to a woman named Rochelle “Rocky” Parker, who was 26 years his senior and started dating him when he was around 18. They were married for less than a decade before their explosive divorce.
Today, people have been finding out about the relationship, and have a lot of questions.
While Dempsey has spoken briefly about the relationship after their split, but Parker remained quiet about it up until her death in 2014 from throat cancer.
From the details about their divorce to how they really met, here’s everything we know about Dempsey’s first, controversial marriage. Check out the details on Dempsey and Parker’s controversial marriage below:
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How They Really Met
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. There have been a lot of conflicting reports about Dempsey and Parker’s relationship before working together. Some claimed they met because she was his mom’s best friend, or his best friend’s mom, but the truth is simple. They met while working on a play together in 1984 called Brighton Beach Memoirs, where they played aunt and nephew. He later became best friends with her son after their romantic relationship started.
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They Had a Seriously Big Age Gap
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Dempsey and Parker had a 26-year age gap. When they met, he was 18 and she was 44. When they married, he was 21 and she was 48.
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They Got Married After a Few Years Together
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Speaking of their marriage, they married on Aug 24, 1987, after three years together, per Distractify.
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But They Kept Their Marriage a Secret for Awhile
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. However, per Spock and Christine, they kept their marriage a secret from the public eye for two years out of fear of controversies like their age gap, that she was his manager, and that her children were older than him.
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They Worked On Their Craft Together
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Along with working together, and Parker working as Dempsey’s talent manager, they reportedly went to classes at the NYU film school together.
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They Kept Their Marriage Details Insanely Private
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Truly, Parker and Dempsey’s marriage was quite private, and not much is known about the intricacies of their relationship. However, they did go to numerous red-carpet events together, in more casual wear.
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They Divorced After 7 Years Together
Image Credit: Photo by Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Things took a dark turn in 1994, specifically on April 26, 1994, when Parker filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences,” per Celebrity Nine AU.
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Cheating May Have Been the Cause of Their Breakup
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. While nothing has been confirmed about this, it’s alleged that both cheated, and Parker later alleged Dempsey physically abused her.
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And Parker Claimed Dempsey Allegedly Abused Her
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Speaking of those abuse allegations, they grew a bit fuzzy as time went on. Here’s what we mean: Parker accused him of assaulting her on the set of the 1987 film Can’t Buy Me Love. In legal documents from 1994 obtained by The Sun, she reportedly claimed, “While we were on the set of his (1987) movie Can’t Buy Me Love, he beat me up because he claimed he ‘wanted to see what it was like to beat up a woman!’ I now suffer from arthritis in my hand from where Respondent injured me.”
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But She Later Retracted These Claims
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. However, in 2006, Parker retracted the allegations, saying she “had been advised to make those accusations,” per Celebrity Nine AU.
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Dempsey Didn’t Have Nice Things to Say About the Relationship & Said He Had to Heal From It
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. Dempsey has talked about the extreme age difference. In one instance, he said that his marriage was a “Freudian nightmare that is public knowledge.” And he later told Barbara Walters in 2006 that he was still healing from that relationship. “I think I needed a mother. There were a lot of negative things that I’m still undoing from it,” he said, per Mamamia. “She had a son one year older than me.”
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Dempsey Did Address the Age Gap
Image Credit: Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images. He spoke about the relationship again sometime later, saying he liked the age difference because he wanted someone with experience to help him navigate life.
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