The Biggest Rumors About Hallmark Channel Stars

This article contains references to sexual harassment.

As we all know, rumors spread faster than wildfire, and the worst part is that almost no individual goes the extra mile to scrutinize the credibility of rumors. However, nobody can deny the fact that spreading a rumor is always easier than going into concrete detail. Over the years, several Hallmark Channel stars have been subject to various rumors. Some of them have been proven to be true, some have been proven to be false, and some still remain a mystery.

After years of research — and binging — we have constructed a list of the biggest rumors about Hallmark actors that have ever spread across the web. From allegations of adultery to speculations about potential feuds, the following list covers a wide range of interesting rumors as well as what we know so far. Thus, it's time to get comfy and dive into the nooks and crannies of nine widespread rumors concerning Hallmark Channel stars.

Hallmark Channel star Beau Mirchoff, who starred in the network's 2022 movie "Hidden Gems" and 2023 series "Ride," allegedly dated (or is still dating) influencer and former actor Brooke Schofield. People on the internet first linked Mirchoff with Schofield in October 2023, thanks to a few subtle revelations Schofield made on an episode of "Cancelled," a podcast she co-hosts with fellow influencer Tana Mongeau. Speaking of her love life, Schofield noted on the show, "I'm like talking to this guy ... He is a man that I have been in love with since I was literally [a teenager] ... years later, I met him last night for the first time ... He got out of a very serious relationship like alarmingly recently." Soon, fans began speculating that the man in question could be Mirchoff, citing three specific facts to back up their claim.

The first fact netizens cited was that Mirchoff was winning hearts with his portrayal of Matty McKibben in MTV's "Awkward" back when Schofield was a teenager. The second fact was that Mirchoff's engagement to psychologist Jenny Meinen was called off shortly before the said "Cancelled" episode was released, and the third was that Mirchoff and Schofield were filmed doing a pre-show warm-up for a live show of "Cancelled" at the time. With all that said, as of the time of writing, the rumored couple is yet to publicly address the speculation.

August 2024 was truly a whirlwind for Hallmark star Joey Lawrence — who played Rob in the channel's 2012 movie "Hitched for the Holiday" — actor and writer Melina Alves and their then-estranged spouses. In mid-August, Lawrence and actor Samantha Cope, who had been married since May 2022, filed for divorce. On August 22, TMZ reported that Alves' estranged husband, Edward Rider, accused her of cheating on him with Lawrence — who will soon be seen acting opposite Alves in the upcoming movie "Socked in for Christmas" — in legal paperwork filed for their divorce. The outlet claimed that the said documents were from July 2024 and that Rider came to know about his wife's alleged infidelity in March 2024. Then, on August 23, an insider told People that Lawrence and Cope's divorce was fueled by Lawrence's adulterous affair with Alves, noting, "Joey met Melina Alves on the set of their movie ... He then love-bombed her ... He continued to date Melina even after Samantha found out about it and confronted him."

Both Lawrence and Alves denied the allegations in statements shared on their respective Instagram accounts. On August 28, Alves noted on Instagram, "There was no sexual relationship between Joey and myself while we were on set filming Socked in for Christmas. Our relationship was a meaningful friendship that developed naturally due to the many similarities in our personal situations." She also mentioned that she separated from Rider in January 2023. The same day, Lawrence stated in an Instagram post, "Melina and I became close friends and I did not have a physical relationship with her while filming the movie "Socked in for Christmas." These rumors are false." He also noted that his relationship with Cope was already falling apart when he first met Alves.

Making her Hallmark debut in 2010's "Backyard Wedding," Alicia Witt has starred in 10 of the network's films, with the last one being 2020's "Christmas Tree Lane." Witt has always been notoriously private about her love life, but over the years, numerous websites have linked her to various men, including film producer Nathan Foulger, actor Peter Krause, an unnamed banker, singer-songwriter Ben Folds, and a man she never met.

In 2013, Witt discovered that Google's homepage and the website Who's Dated Who listed Foulger as her ex-husband. The website also claimed that Witt once dated musician Eric Clapton. To set the record straight, Witt promptly took to Facebook and explained that she had never come across anyone named Eric Clapton and that she dated Foulger in the early 2000s but was never married to him, or anyone for that matter. She also asked her fans for help, saying, "If enough of you submitted feedback on Google that it was wrong, and maybe even posted the same on whosdatedwho.com, maybe we could get it removed." The website doesn't mention anything about Clapton anymore, but it has kept its claims about Witt's alleged marriage to Foulger intact. It also lists Krause as her ex-boyfriend and Folds as the current one, though none of these claims are backed up with any sort of evidence.

Yet again, in 2018, the website Married Biography alleged that Witt was married to an investment banker at the time, going so far as to claim that their children were named Luke and Emma Grace. In an August 2018 X post, Witt denied the claims, adding, "Gotta give [Married Biography] an A for creativity." The claims have since been retracted.

Over the last decade, Luke Macfarlane has successfully retained his position as one of Hallmark Channel's leading male actors. He started his Hallmark journey with 2014's "The Memory Book," which was last seen in 2024's "CrimeTime: Freefall." Additionally, he will soon be seen starring in the upcoming home design show "Home Is Where the Heart Is" on Hallmark+. Having come out as gay in 2008, Macfarlane is one of the very few Hallmark stars who have been open about their sexuality. Thanks to Macfarlane being under intense public scrutiny from the very beginning of his career as an actor, his love life has always been a much-speculated topic.

Rumors of Macfarlane dating men first spread in the late 2000s. In 2006, paparazzi photographed the actor with the then-recently-out-of-the-closet "Grey's Anatomy" alum T. R. Knight in Santa Monica, and the internet soon speculated that the duo were dating. Then, in 2007, Macfarlane and "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller were spotted taking a stroll around Los Angeles, and the internet was at it again, alleging the two were romantically involved. Even in 2021, various publications alleged that Macfarlane and Miller were still a thing, although some outlets claimed they had called it quits in 2018. At the time of writing, Macfarlane, who never addressed the said claims, is dating alpine skier Hig Roberts. The couple welcomed their daughter, Tess, in 2023.

Although Jodie Sweetin and Candace Cameron Bure never worked together in a Hallmark Channel production, separately, they have both been crucial parts of the network. Sweetin and Bure, who played sisters in ABC's "Full House" and its Netflix sequel, "Fuller House," and once shared a sisterly bond, first sparked rumors of a potential feud in late 2022, and the story behind it all is pretty complex and multifaceted.

After ending her journey with Hallmark Channel, which began with 2008's "Moonlight and Mistletoe," Bure joined Great American Family as the network's chief creative officer in early 2022. In a November 2022 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bure made a controversial remark when asked about Great American Family's plans to represent LGBTQ+ romances. She noted, "I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core." Criticizing Bure for her statement at the time, queer singer and dancer Jojo Siwa noted in a now-deleted Instagram post, "This is rude and hurtful to a whole community of people" (via People). Soon, Sweetin — who made her Hallmark film debut in 2017's "Finding Santa" and was last seen in the network's 2024 movie "The Heiress and the Handyman" — commented on Siwa's post, saying, "You know I love you." Meanwhile, fans of the actors noticed that Bure wasn't following Sweetin on Instagram anymore and speculated that their friendship had fallen apart.

Sweetin and Bure have since been spotted under the same roof at multiple events, and the former still follows the latter on Instagram. However, whether their seemingly fractured friendship is truly on the mend is a question that remains unanswered.

Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry-Housley — who came to the spotlight as child actors with the 1990s TV series "Sister, Sister" — have starred in various Hallmark Channel movies as adults (albeit not together). In September 2024, the internet started speculating that the once-inseparable twins had parted ways for good, and sadly, the rumors weren't exactly baseless. In a sneak peek of We TV's new reality show "Tia Mowry: My Next Act," which showcases her lifestyle as a recently divorced parent and full-time actor, Mowry candidly spoke about her 2023 divorce from actor Cory Hardrict and said, "Being alone has been the most challenging part of my divorce. It's times like this when I feel and wish that my sister and I were still close and I could pick up the phone and call her." Quite obviously, Mowry's statement was enough to make fans question whether the twins were still close.

However, in an October 2024 interview with Today, Mowry claimed that her words were misinterpreted and that Mowry-Housley "agreed that [the rumor] was ridiculous." Mowry added, "It is very normal that as we get older, we take on different roles and responsibilities. Some of those roles are being married and being a mother. Her children, they lean on her. My children lean on me and that's what I meant by that. That we're just not as close in proximity." That said, even after making an attempt to clear the air about her alleged rift with Mowry-Housley, Mowry also spoke to Today about the possibilities of diving into future projects with her twin and said something that brought things back to square one. As she put it, "You can never say, never, but it's just not where things are right now."

Since 2014, Bethany Joy Lenz has been one of Hallmark's go-to female leads, with her latest Hallmark project, "Savoring Paris," being aired in 2024. On the other hand, Hilarie Burton, who joined Hallmark's team in 2012, made her exit from the network after making her fourth Hallmark appearance in 2018's "The Christmas Contract." That said, the actors are best known for their work in the TV series "One Tree Hill."

Fans first sensed a feud between the actors in February 2024 when Burton shared a quote on her Instagram stories and X (formerly known as Twitter) account. The quote in question stated, "I don't think imitation is the highest form of flattery, I think it's annoying." Soon, fans speculated that the quote was aimed at the fact that the cover of Lenz's then newly launched memoir, "Dinner for Vampires," bore a striking resemblance to that of Burton's 2023 memoir, "Grimoire Girl." In March 2024, netizens discovered that the actors were no longer connected on Instagram, which fueled the speculations. In July 2024, Burton quit the podcast "Drama Queens," which featured her, Lenz, and their "One Tree Hill" co-star Sophia Bush, rewatching and scrutinizing each episode of the show. As the reason behind her exit, Burton cited the facts that she quit "One Tree Hill" after the sixth season and that the trio was done rewatching the first six seasons at the time. Still, her exit further strengthened the base for the rumors.

That said, in October 2024, Lenz indirectly confirmed the rumors were true. In an episode of the podcast "Call Her Daddy," she told host Alex Cooper, "I love Hilarie ... There have been some bizarre misunderstandings that I really hope we can figure out one day, but I love that girl."

Broadway star Laura Osnes has appeared in a total of five Hallmark Channel movies from December 2019 to November 2021, which, considering the number of movies, is a fairly short span of time. In August 2021, Page Six published a report claiming Osnes had been dismissed from a then-soon-to-be-staged production of the musical "Crazy for You" over safety concerns because she wasn't vaccinated against COVID-19. A spokesperson for East Hampton's Guild Hall, where the show was staged, told the outlet at the time, "The policy of Guild Hall is that performers have the option to provide proof of full vaccination or a recent negative COVID test result."

A few days after the Page Six article was published, she took to Instagram to set the record straight. In the now-deleted Instagram post, Osnes pointed out that she was never "fired" but amicably left the production after Guild Hall mandated that every individual involved with the show be vaccinated. She stated that she wasn't even offered a chance to choose between proving she was vaccinated and handing the authorities a negative test result — the latter of which was something she said she "would have [done] in a heartbeat." Osnes went on to say that the false reports caused her choice to remain unvaccinated, which obviously is a personal medical decision, to be "broadcast with an attitude of shame and demonization."

A representative for Guild Hall later confirmed that Osnes was actually being truthful, telling Variety, "Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication of our policy, and Laura Osnes voluntarily opted out ... She was graciously doing this event as a charitable gesture to Guild Hall ... and we look forward to working with her again in the future."

In 2014, rumors spread across the internet that actor Hunter King — whose seventh Hallmark Channel movie, "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story," is set to air in November 2024 — had accused her "The Young and the Restless" co-star Michael Muhney of sexual harassment. The speculations began in January 2014, when TMZ reported that Muhney had inappropriately groped King's breasts twice while on the set, and he was let go from the show on the basis of the complaint King made to the authorities in 2013.

However, in 2018, when King made her comeback to "The Young and the Restless" after quitting the show in 2016, Muhney's fans were rather rude to her on social media. Addressing the rumors and defending King at the time, Muhney wrote on X, "Let me be absolutely clear: People sending hateful tweets to @HunterHaleyKing about me must STOP. That internet rumor was FALSE. It never happened. She NEVER made those accusations. She's a talented actress, let her do her job without this nonsense. Spread love, not hate." As for the reason behind his lay-off, Muhney noted in a December 2013 HuffPost interview: "Part of me feels this is because I've always been outspoken, and sometimes I've been too outspoken. Sometimes I've walked around with a big backpack full of hubris."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).