The Shady Side Of Hallmark's Leading Men We Can't Ignore

We can't deny that the leading men on the Hallmark Channel are easy on the eyes — and on viewers' hearts — as they frequently portray lovable characters, flaws and all. With the actors in films titled "Nantucket Noel" and "The Holiday Sitter," how could viewers not imagine that they're just like their on-screen personas? Of course, even though the Hallmark Channel had some big scandals, the network is careful to pick leading men who don't have a sordid past, as they need to uphold its family-friendly image. However, that doesn't mean that the actors don't have a shady side.

While fans may not hear of the Hallmark men getting arrested or having an illicit affair, they do sometimes have a saucy side to them. Whether they clapped back at a fellow Hallmark star or got caught up in some legal drama, these actors are definitely not as wholesome as they appear.

Long before he was a leading man on the Hallmark Channel, Cameron Mathison rose to fame as Ryan Lavery in "All My Children," and he was one of the celebs to show off his skills in "Dancing with the Stars" Season 5. Although Mathison never won the Mirrorball Trophy, during his time on the competition show, he foxtrotted and tangoed his heart out with his partner Edyta Śliwińska before getting eliminated by the judges.

Fans couldn't deny the chemistry between the two, but in a July 2024 episode of "Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans," Mathison revealed that he begged the casting director not to be paired with Śliwińska. While it was a shady move, his reasoning was pretty noble. "I knew my wife and I — we were going through a little bit of a challenge at that time, and Edyta didn't wear a lot of clothes," he shared. The former soap star added, "We'd recently gone through a bunch of stuff, and it wasn't great timing, and I was off in LA spending time with this beautiful woman, dressed up, against her, sweating with her five hours a day rehearsing, and then doing all the press and touring stuff together, and it was really hard." Sadly, Mathison announced his split with his now-ex, Vanessa Arevalo, in July 2024 but it wasn't for lack of effort on his part to prevent jealousy.

It's hard being a struggling actor in Hollywood, and before he made it big on Hallmark, Trevor Donovan was apparently hard up for cash. As reported by TMZ in 2010, the "'Twas the Text Before Christmas" star owed Wells Fargo over $40,000 in unpaid credit card bills. The company passed the debt on to a collection agency, which then, in turn, went after the actor for lawyers' fees, the debt amount, and whatever interest had accumulated.

It's unclear whether the matter was ever resolved, but now Donovan seems to be smarter about money. In February 2024, he doled out advice to his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, and wrote, "Just read about a financial advisor scammed for $50K. Rule of thumb: If anyone asks for cash or claims you owe money, ignore them. Scammers are crafty. Always double-check directly on official sites. Reminder: legit banks or gov agencies don't cold call for payments. Stay sharp."  

As a child star, Candace Cameron Bure was known for her wholesome image, but she ruffled a lot of feathers when she revealed the reason for the jump from the Hallmark Channel to a more traditional network. "I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core," she told The Wall Street Journal in November 2022. Many fellow actors were quick to call out Bure, and Jonathan Bennett tastefully shaded his former Hallmark Channel colleague. "I'm just proud to be part of Hallmark channel that is doing so much inclusive programming like 'The Holiday Sitter,' which is an LGBTQ+ led Christmas movie," he shared with E! News. Bennett added, "I'm just so proud to be on Hallmark Channel that's making these movies for everyone because Christmas is for everyone, and Hallmark channels are for everyone."

Bennett, who has been open about his sexuality, doubled down on his comments about working with a network open to creating more LGBTQ+ content. "What I love so much about Hallmark Channel is the care they take in the quality of telling the story, especially when it involves LGBTQ+ people — it's handled with so much respect," he stated to People. The "Aloha with Love" star praised Hallmark for consulting LGBTQ+ employees on how to handle certain scenes appropriately and realistically, adding, "It's just been an unwavering amount of support from the network on telling the story and wanting to tell it and letting us do it how we want."