Why Drew Carey And His Fiancée Amie Harwick Broke Up Before Her Death

Drew Carey remained an important person in Amie Harwick's life until her tragic death. In fact, Carey last spoke with Harwick just two days before her ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, allegedly strangled the famed sex therapist before throwing her off a balcony on February 15, 2020, CNN reported. "I got a text from her, 'I would love to get together with you and talk.' And I said, 'Yeah, I would love to do that. I love you,'" the "Price Is Right" host recalled on the 2022 CBS special "48 Hours: The Final Hours of Amie Harwick."

By then, Carey and Harwick had been apart for a little more than a year. "The Drew Carey Show" star and "The New Sex Bible for Women" author announced their split in November 2018, just 10 months after getting engaged. Despite their breakup, Carey still had feelings for Harwick. "I feel like a widower, you know, in a lot of ways, because I wanted to marry her, and then we had this horrible breakup," Carey told CBS' Erin Moriarty. "And then before I could talk to her again, somebody killed her."

Though Carey couldn't meet with Harwick, he's glad the two were able to share their feelings over text. "That's the big solace I get from it," he said. "Is that she loved me and held me in a dear place in her heart." If Carey and Harwick had feelings for each other, why did they break up? Pursehouse and the media were partly to blame. 

Amie Harwick and Drew Carey got along great, but his fame was a problem for more than one reason. As a former "Playboy" model who went on to become a therapist specializing in sex-related issues, Harwick attracted a fair share of detractors who tried to dismiss her and her profession. The criticism became more acute after she got together with Carey and her name became more widely known. "That would be a fight sometimes," Carey said in a documentary titled "The Final Hours of Amie Harwick."

Harwick often became defensive, blaming Carey for the attacks. "'I wish you weren't famous. You know? This is all because I'm dating you,'" she would say, Carey recalled. But her reputation wasn't the only issue. Coverage of Harwick's relationship with Carey would also intensify the issues she had with Gareth Pursehouse. "It would only happen if we were in the paper or something," Carey said. Indeed, Harwick seemed concerned for her safety amid her breakup with Carey.

A month before, Harwich called the cops to Carey's house, where she was staying alone while he was away, to report trespassing on the property, according to the Daily Mail. It wasn't unusual for Carey to have to go out of town for work, which also got in the way. Additionally, friends of the then-couple also hinted that they had communication issues, according to Rolling Stone. "We finally just had to call it a day," he told Erin Moriarty. 

Amie Harwick had a tumultuous relationship with Gareth Pursehouse, with whom she lived about a decade before she died. Harwick accused Pursehouse of abusive behavior, for which she was awarded two restraining orders in 2011 and 2012. "He has suffocated me, punched me, slammed my head on the ground, kicked me," she reported to authorities when she filed for protective measures, per CBS News. But they weren't in effect when she died.

Harwick had no protection against him when she ran into him at an awards ceremony about a month prior to the attack, when he verbally attacked her, Deadline reported. "Amie told me after the incident that she was scared he would show up at her home," Harwick's friend Jasmin St. Claire told Page Six. "She went to the police, but they did not take it seriously. He was really obsessive over her." 

Pursehouse was charged with murder in connection with Harwick's death and is awaiting trial. While Pursehouse is innocent until proven otherwise, Carey always believed he's guilty. "When I heard that she got murdered, right away, I thought: 'It's gotta be that guy,'" Carey said on "The Final Hours of Amie Harwick." 

But Carey has empathy for Pursehouse, too. "I forgave the guy who murdered Amie," Carey said on "The Talk" in 2020. "I did it as soon as I could, right away because he was mentally ill, the guy was abused when he was a kid."

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.