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Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott divorce rumors hit a new level two weeks ago when McDermott took to Instagram to announce a split after almost two decades of marriage. He then quickly deleted his post. In the following days, Spelling was spotted heading to a friend’s home with luggage, and McDermott was photographed taking boxes to a storage facility without his wedding ring on. The couple hasn’t publicly commented on the social media commotion. Now rumors are swirling that the duo staged the divorce post to stir media interest. It’s not the first time they’ve been accused of manufacturing marital problems. Back in 2013, Dean McDermott was allegedly caught cheating. Tori Spelling insisted she was heartbroken, but some fans and followers believe the couple planted a fake cheating scandal to drum up interest in their reality TV series.

So what led to so many people believing Dean and Tori faked their marital strife? We’ve got the details.  

Dean McDermott was caught cheating while filming in Canada

In December 2013, reports surfaced that Dean McDermott cheated on his wife, Tori Spelling. According to media publications, McDermott met a friend of a friend while filming Chopped Canada. McDermott’s alleged affair partner, a woman named Emily Goodhand, did not have any ties to the entertainment industry. 

According to a report by Us Weekly, Goodhand and McDermott met over dinner with friends and flirted mercilessly before McDermott slipped Goodhand his hotel key. She met him in his room, and they had a one-night stand. Goodhand reportedly told the publication that McDermott said he and Spelling had a sexless marriage. 

Fans started to theorize that Dean and Tori manufactured the drama 

While Spelling spoke openly about her feelings about McDermott’s infidelity, not everyone was convinced it happened. Fans searched for the woman McDermott allegedly cheated with but couldn’t find anyone who matched the description. In an increasingly digital age, Emily Goodhand was literally untraceable. She didn’t have social media, and even the story about how the duo met felt sketchy. 

Dean McDermott and TorI Spelling are seen walking out of a store in Los Angeles in 2014
Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling | Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
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Dean McDermott Announces Divorce From Tori Spelling, Then Deletes His Post

TMZ helped give the rumors that Spelling and McDermott fabricated the affair legs. According to International Business Times, TMZ on TV, news director, Mike Walters, said he believed Emily Goodhand wasn’t real and the affair was made up on an episode of the show around the time the affair news broke. Later, several publications searched for the existence of Emily Goodhand, often coming up with the wrong woman. 

Was Emily Goodhand real or fake? 

It’s hard to say whether the cheating scandal was real or fake. Goodhand did disappear into anonymity as quickly as she skyrocketed into the public eye, and no one has seemingly spoken to the woman since Us Weekly published a story chronicling the then 28-year-old’s one-night stand with McDermott. 

The timing is interesting, too. News of the affair broke in December 2013, just six months before the premiere of Spelling and McDermott’s reality series True Tori. The series was canceled after two seasons, but it did heavily lean into the drama of the supposed affair. 

While it’s hard to say what happened regarding the affair, fans are understandably skeptical about McDermott’s recent divorce announcement. Did the duo have a spat that led to the announcement, or are they simply trying to drum up attention for another project? Only time will tell. 

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