“After much consideration I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi. This is not a step taken lightly or easily,” she said in a statement to CNN Wednesday. “I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together. It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserve. I request that others give us that privacy as well.”
Jayne, who also appeared on “Dancing With the Stars,” wed Girardi in 1999.
According to her 2018 memoir, “Pretty Mess,” the couple met at a restaurant where Jayne was a server and Girardi a frequent customer.
The age difference — she is 49 and he is 81 — is something she has addressed on “The Real Housewives.”
“I’ve dealt with this forever, the younger woman that married the wealthier, older man,” she said on one episode of the Bravo reality series. “I’m tired of having to justify my 20-year marriage.”
Girardi is an attorney and has appeared on the show.