What Leah Remini shared about Angelo Pagán in their 21 years of marriage

For 21 years, Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán have been an on-and-off-screen pair. Married since 2003, they’ve often shared the screen in several of her sitcoms and a TLC reality TV series.

Remini and Pagán announced in a joint Instagram post on Aug. 29 that they were splitting up.

“This decision came after a lot of thought and care, and as hard as divorce is, we are approaching this with a positive outlook because we know it’s what’s best for us,” the couple wrote alongside two then-and-now pictures of themselves together.

As their relationship moves into a new phase, let’s look back at what we know about Remini’s soon-to-be ex.

Angelo Pagán and Leah Remini shared the screen

They weren’t quite co-stars, but the husband-and-wife duo were often on set together.

Like Remini, Pagán has been a performer for most of his life: The pair met when he was performing at the Cuban club/restaurant El Floridita in Los Angeles in 1996, something Remini told Redbook magazine in 2010 was “love at first sight.”

Once he and Remini connected, there always seemed to be a guest role for him on her shows. Over the years, he appeared sporadically on CBS’ “The King of Queens," “Kevin Can Wait” and “Fired Up” with his wife.

They also filmed two seasons of TLC’s reality show “Leah Remini: It’s All Relative,” which ran from 2014 to 2015.

When they met originally, he was a singer and he still performs now, co-hosting shows around Los Angeles. Pagán’s Instagram profile currently lists his occupations as “actor, singer, producer and entrepreneur” and “the worlds greatest dad!”

Over the years, Pagán has appeared on series like “Bosch: Legacy,” “Shameless,” “The Last Ship,” as well as in movies like “Garlic & Gunpowder” (2017) and “7th and Union” (2021).

He's also in business with the family

Pagán co-owns a restaurant in Studio City, California, called Vivian’s Millennium Café, with Remini’s mother and stepfather. The café was featured on the family's TLC show.

On the website, Pagán's bio reads, "When he’s not performing your favorite salsa music or golfing with your favorite celebrities, you can find him here at Vivian’s eating the 2+2+2 Combo!"

What was his role on ‘King of Queens’?

Appearing in a total of six episodes, Pagán played multiple characters on “The King of Queens”: as a customer in Season 1; then as Rico, a co-worker of  Doug’s (Kevin James) at IPS in Season 3 and 4; as Dr. Garcia in Season 6; and Hector in Seasons 7 and 9.

Angelo has children from 2 relationships

Born and raised in the Bronx, Pagán’s family hails from Puerto Rico. He a has a daughter — Sofia Bella, born in 2004 — with Remini.

Pagán posted an Instagram video from Sofia’s prom party in 2022, tearful at her moving on to the next stage of her life. “So proud of my beautiful little sweet angel @sofiaapagann ,” he wrote in the caption. “(M)ama killed it with the festivities ! Nobody throws a party like @leahremini ! #off2college“

He also has three full-grown sons from an earlier relationship, per his Instagram: Angelo Jr., Alex and Nico.

They had a 'hard time' at the beginning of their relationship

In her 2015 memoir “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,” Remini called Pagán a “serial cheater."

"In 1996 the universe provided me with Angelo Pagán. A man with a history of cheating, and three kids. Perfect. Now, I’ll preface this by saying this is not a love story. I mean, it’s a story about love — just not the kind that you hope to tell your kids one day," she wrote in her memoir.

But she called the relationship "instant magic," and said she fell "head over heels."

Then, Remini learned Pagán was married. Remini recalled what happened next in her memoir. At the urging of the Church of Scientology, of which she was then a member, Remini asked Pagán to reconcile with his wife and get counseling. Remini also had to meet with his wife and own up to her actions.

Because of counseling, Pagán said he realized he was "living a lie."

"He had already told his wife he was leaving," the memoir reads. After, Pagán and Remini got together and married six years later. Remini parted from the Church of Scientology in 2013.

She reflected on that time in their marriage in interviews, too.

“We did have a hard time at the beginning,” Remini said on “RuPaul” in 2019. “We didn’t meet under the best of circumstances. We got counseling, and it was not an easy road … but the truth of the matter is, he is my rock.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com