The Real Reasons Chris Pratt And Anna Faris Split

In August 2017, seemingly perfect Hollywood power couple Chris Pratt and Anna Faris announced their separation in a joint statement, thereby pretty much destroying everyone's faith in love forever.

"Anna and I are sad to announce we are legally separating. We tried hard for a long time, and we're really disappointed," Pratt's statement read (via People). "Our son has two parents who love him very much and for his sake we want to keep this situation as private as possible moving forward. We still have love for each other, will always cherish our time together and continue to have the deepest respect for one another."

What on Earth happened to these two lovebirds?

When Pratt and Faris first got together, she was a movie star, while he was pretty much just the chubby Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation (2009-15). That didn't last long: Pratt's career exploded with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), leading to star turns in Jurassic World (2015), The Lego Movie (2014), Passengers (2016), The Magnificent Seven (2016), and the rest of the Marvel sequels and cameos that come with playing Peter Quill, including Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018), as well as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018).

The adjustment may have been quite tough for the pair.

Pratt told GQ, "I've had those moments where I was like the guy holding the purse at events and people just looked right through me. And, you know, actors come up and just blatantly hit on my wife in front of me and don't even look at me. I'm like, 'What the f**k, dude?' I can think of exactly who they are, too, and I hope they f**king audition for Guardians Of The Galaxy ... Also, producers and studio people now who will come up to me and treat me the same way that they were treating Anna. They're like, 'I always knew...' I'm like, 'Is that right? That's interesting, because you f**king stared right through me the last time.'"

Faris was used to being the bigger star in the beginning of her relationship with Pratt. It was a dynamic she was used to, and it was a dynamic that may have led to the demise of her first marriage to actor Ben Indra. 

"[My success] kind of destroyed my [first] marriage," she told Marie Claire. "The divide became too great." Faris was forced to pay Indra $900,000 in their divorce settlement. She added, "The hardest thing in my industry is longevity, getting your next job. It's hard to get the first job, but it's so much harder to get the sixth or seventh as a woman."

Faris wasn't as excited about Pratt's makeover into buff Marvel superhero Star-Lord as the rest of the world was.

"[When I was overweight, I] didn't feel too great about who I was. My bones ached, I had cardiovascular issues, I was unhealthy, I was feeling rotten," Pratt told GQ. "But she was so okay with it. Probably in many ways preferred me that way. I think I was outwardly having more fun. I was more fun to be around, probably. That image that I was casting, to convince people that I was okay, was a really fun person to hang around. Now I have less fun. I focus more. She doesn't get to cook for me the way she used to. I was like a great pet fat guy."

He added, "She understands and she just supports me regardless. I think that part of her is hedging her bets that one day I'll be fat again, and she'll say, 'Remember, honey, I always told you I preferred you this way.' She's probably just playing the long game."

Still, once Pratt shaped up, sources claime Faris freaked out. Star (via Radar Online) reported that their "chaotic" last few years took a toll on her health. "She became obsessive about losing weight," a source said. "That, at least was something she could control." Another insider noted, "Being alone as much as she is would be enough to make any woman insecure. Her friends are starting to worry that she's frazzled."

Perhaps Faris' alleged insecurity was well-founded. The National Enquirer (via Radar Online) reported that Pratt may have had his sights set on other blonde beauties during their marriage. A source said Pratt flirted "shamelessly" with a hot blond after the 2016 MTV Movie Awards. "She looked a little like Anna, just a bit younger," the spy said. "No one thinks Anna and Chris will ever divorce because he's incredibly religious, but there's no doubt that things aren't great for them right now."

Pratt confessed in December 2016 that he was jealous of future Marvel co-star Chris Evans when he and Faris had to film sex scenes for What's Your Number (2011), and that Faris may have been nervous when Pratt filmed Passengers (2016) with co-star Jennifer Lawrence.

Talking about Evans, Pratt told Sway in the Morning, "He's so handsome and cool." He added that Evans went out of his way to put him at ease, which he appreciated. "Immediately any weirdness that was there disappeared," he said, "and I felt like the same thing happened with Anna and Jen. Jen was like, 'Hey man,' and gave her this nice Dior handbag and called her and texted her and appeared on her podcast and stuff. It's like you just have to un-weird the situation. We have an understanding of what we do for a living, and I think that if I was married to somebody who was, like a schoolteacher or a different job, maybe it'd be a little harder for them to comprehend what exactly goes down and the sacrifices you have to make."

Pratt may have thought Faris was friendly with Lawrence, but that didn't stop Faris from taking unsubstantiated rumors of an on-set hookup between Pratt and the Oscar winner to heart.

Part of it may be Pratt and Lawrence's own admissions that they got tipsy before filming their Passengers love scene. "Aside from doing a great job and telling a story, your primary goal is to make the other person comfortable," Pratt told MTV News. "[Lawrence] wanted to have some wine and so we did. That was nice."

Faris addressed the cheating rumors with Us Weekly: "I had always kind of believed that part of the rumors of celebrity couples were sort of true because they had never been part of my life. I was like, 'Oh, maybe there's a kernel of truth to that.' It's been a little devastating because for us, it's like, 'What the heck? This has been blindsiding to us. We have an incredible relationship. It has been weirdly stinging. [That] stung a little bit harder than I thought it would."

A source told Star (via Radar Online) that Pratt's family was hard-up for cash and hitting the actor up for money, especially his brother, Cully, who was described as a "starving artist." That may not have sat well with Faris. 

"Most of the family has had its share of financial problems," a source said. "Chris doesn't come from a lot of money. He has worked hard for what he's got. Chris knows what it's like to struggle with money, but he feels like he worked his butt off and cleaned up his life by himself—and that they should be able to do the same. Now that Chris is rich, he feels a lot of pressure to bail his family members out of their money woes. He hates to see them struggle, but he doesn't like the expectation that he'll provide for them financially. The whole situation is a strain on Chris."

Just three weeks before announcing their breakup, Faris told People that being half of a power couple was hard.

"I don't think that's something, when you're an actor, that you're prepared for," she said. "There are two different roles that you play—the one on-camera and the one in public. That's the tricky part."

Faris told Us Weekly, "Now that Chris is, like, a crazy huge movie star, going out is just a whole different thing. It's just a whole different weird. We look at each other sometimes and we're like, 'Oh, my God.' Because it feels very surreal sometimes, since we both grew up in Washington State. We just are sort of cherishing these times."

She also vented on her own Unqualified podcast in December 2016, "We grapple with the idea of being a public couple. For the first time, maybe a year ago or 10 months ago, we were in the public a little bit. There were some tabloid rumors about strain on our relationship. I just remember feeling so hurt in a way that bothered me because I didn't want to think of myself as somebody that could be affected by tabloid s**t. There was a picture of me walking alone on the beach: 'Aging Anna Faris, Alone on the Beach.'"

Faris confessed on her Unqualified podcast in December 2016 that being separated from Pratt while he was away filming movies left her feeling insecure. "I take pride in how great my relationship is with Chris. Having said that, of course, in this crazy world where he's off doing movies and I'm in L.A. raising our child, of course I'm going to feel vulnerable, like any normal human would," she said. "It did make me feel like, 'Is public perception—even though it's false—is there a grain of something?' It made me feel incredibly insecure."

In September 2016, Pratt told Parade that he would be taking six months off to spend time with Faris and the family after working and traveling for 14 months straight.

A source told People, "Anna is a very sweet girl, and it did often seem that the distance between her and Chris—his busy schedule and hers—was hard on her. He was gone on various projects and that's never easy. She always seemed so happy when he was back from filming. I assume it was hard for both of them, with a young child and busy careers, to balance all of that."

A source told Radar Online in 2015 that Pratt's ego grew alongside his fame and box office clout. "Chris' ego has exploded," the source said. "He's cocky and rude to Anna, who's worried she's old news now. All the differences between them have risen to the surface." Insiders also claim Pratt bragged about making more money than Faris.

In May 2017, just months before their separation, Faris and Pratt gushed about one another at his Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony.

Faris said of Pratt (via People), "I'm the beneficiary of all this because I get to spend every day with this wonderful man... I know that if our circumstances were different and we weren't as fortunate to be standing here and living our Hollywood life, we would be happy in the woods together, I think... At the premiere of Guardians 2, on the red carpet he whispered something unbelievably inappropriate into my ear and it was awesome. Honey, I want to thank you for being the most incredible person. I love you so much."

Pratt then took the mic and said, "I want to thank my wife Anna, I love you. You've given me so much. You gave me the greatest star in the galaxy in my little boy, I love him and I love you. We have bonded to make this molecule that is more important to me than air or water, and without it none of this means anything to me. With every challenge, with every day, week, month, decade, we become more bonded. You make me laugh like nobody else. You're very caring, and thank you for your trust and your sacrifice—and for your dedication and your heart. I will do my best to protect it, and in return I will give you all of those things as well. You have my heart, my dedication, my trust."

On the July 31, 2017 episode of Faris' Unqualified podcast (via People), she expressed distaste for public life.

"I play a character on MOM, I play a character in movies, but I also play a public character. There's definitely a loneliness and, like, an internal element to being a performer. I feel like I have to laugh... I play a public character. I laugh loud sometimes—maybe too loud but it is a public character sometimes. Like, if I have a red carpet thing or whatever, which I'm never comfortable with, but I'm always like, 'I'm fine!' And it never feels like me."

Pratt may have felt similarly. A source told the National Enquirer (via Radar Online) that Pratt was tired of pretending that his marriage to Faris wasn't in trouble. "[Pratt is] getting tired of having to make her feel better every time they are together," the source said. "[Faris is] panicking that the whole world thinks her marriage is failing."

Two weeks before announcing the split, spies said Pratt actually seemed to be "in great spirits." A witness at a party told People, "[Pratt] was friendly, outgoing and playful. I was surprised by how he looked to actually be having fun, and that he was there voluntarily." Another spy added, "Chris seemed different, like he was 'free' almost."

In an interview that awkwardly hit newsstands just as Faris and Pratt's split made headlines, Faris, who's been open about getting breast implants (but not other suspected work), hinted that she has some deep-rooted self-esteem issues.

"There was a time when I was willing to make any cute boy that looked at me," she told Live Happy (via E! News). "I felt like if someone was attractive and wanted to hook up, it was a validation of my own identity." She added, "I can't stand confrontation, which maybe is a character flaw. But having said that, I do feel like when I do get upset, which is rare as my husband and family would say, I have a hard time letting go."

Sources told TMZ that Pratt and Faris' images of their future were worlds apart. Faris reportedly wants a family that's settled in one place most of the time, which would likely make it more convenient for her to film MOM and maintain balance. Pratt, however, doesn't want to waste the opportunities being afforded to him by Hollywood, and those opportunities require him to do a lot of traveling for filming and promoting his blockbusters, often for months at a time.

What's more, Faris reportedly wants more children, while Pratt doesn't see having more kids and pursuing his career goals working. Sources told Page Six, "He isn't the same person she married. Plus, he has developed very strong Christian beliefs. He's a born-again Christian."

Insiders told Us Weekly that Pratt's soaring stardom made Faris feel even more insecure than she already was, and that it reflected in both professional and social settings. One source dished, "[Pratt's success] definitely caused tension in their marriage... Anna would stop by his movie sets a lot more than the other wives." Another source said that among friends, the tension was palpable, noting, "When they're in a big group, they each want to be the one telling the funniest joke."

A source concurred to Page Six, "They're very competitive with each other. At parties they compete over who's funniest and get insecure if they're not." All that playful ribbing ended up being no laughing matter.

Patti Stanger, host of WE tv's Million Dollar Matchmaker, told Entertainment Tonight that Faris and Pratt are still cohabiting, so there may be hope for a reconciliation.

"I don't know what happened there. He's still living in the house. Let's pray it turns around," Stanger said. "I want them to get back together." She added, "I feel like [the problem is] communication. It has nothing to do with him being bigger than her... But it could be, like, he's not in town with her, she's raising the kid alone, and there could be issues with that. They're very grounded and down to earth."

She continued, "If the person doesn't leave the house, there's a lot of hope there. That means they still love each other... There's a lot of best friend factor there. They're very close as BFFs."

Faris and Pratt's reps responded: "Patti Stanger is not an authorized spokesperson for Anna and Chris and her comments (about their marital status and personal life) are invalid."

In her Unqualified podcast, Faris hinted that Pratt may not have been there when she needed him, both physicaly and emotionally.

When a caller asked for love advice, Faris told her (via People), "Life is too short to be in relationships where you feel this isn't fully right or somebody doesn't have your back, or somebody doesn't fully value you. Don't be afraid to feel your independence if things aren't right. I made that mistake, I think, a little bit, like 'I'm checking my relationship off the list.' And if that would be the final piece of advice I could give you, that would be know your worth, know your independence."

An insider also told People, "He was gone for a great deal of time, one movie after another. It made her very sad... They really didn't have a roadmap for what this would all be like. They are both fun-loving and gregarious types, but she had much difficulty with the separation."

A source told People that Pratt and Faris are going to couples counseling, "which is what you do when you want to divorce and there are children involved." 

The insider said, "It won't likely change the status but it could help with their future co-parenting." The pair's issues reportedly haven't gone away. "Their work separations have taken a toll, and it is not likely that the marriage can be repaired enough to work right now, but there is still love between them," the source said. Another insider added, "Chris is in demand now and will continue to be traveling all over the world, keeping them apart. That doesn't make young marriages fare well."

A source told Life & Style that Pratt was reluctant to go to counseling when they were still together but now feels like he has no choice. "Chris was reluctant because he was always so busy working. And he just didn't believe he needed it," the insider said. "It's the first time they've ever been in counseling together and it only happened after they split. They have committed to it."

TMZ reported that though Pratt and Faris have both been spotted out and about without their wedding rings, there's still a chance these two will work it out. Insiders said there was a "serious underlying issue" in their marriage, though no one specified what it was—but the same sources also pointed out that neither Pratt nor Faris has actually filed for divorce or even hired lawyers.

A source told Radar Online that Faris has been very flirty with Pratt's fellow Marvel actor, Captain America star Chris Evans—and that Evans has had a crush on Faris for a while.

"Evans has a rare opening on his calendar, and thinks the time is right to reconnect with Anna," the insider told Radar Online. "Unfortunately, his old buddy Chris Pratt thinks he's swooping in way too fast on his ex!" The insider added, "Chris Evans and Anna go way back. They really hit it off when they filmed the 2011 romantic comedy What's Your Number?" The source added, "The movie totally bombed, but their chemistry completely exploded—in a great way... He's always raved about Pratt being the luckiest guy in Hollywood, not only because of Anna's beauty, but her sassy humor and what a genuinely cool person she is. But now that Anna's free, all bets are off. Evans has never had a problem corralling the ladies, and now that Anna's fair game, he's ready to take a swing at it."

Rumor has it Faris moved on from Pratt remarkably quickly. TMZ reported that she's dating cinematographer Michael Barrett, who she met while filming Overboard (2018). The pair have reportedly been seeing each other since early September 2017, cozying up everywhere from dinners to carnivals.

"Anna has been hanging out with Michael for weeks," a source told People in October 2017. "They were hanging out occasionally in September, but started seeing each other more frequently recently."

Faris told People in early October 2017 that she and Pratt remain friendly. "We'll always have each other and be incredible friends," she said. "There is still so much laughter in our lives together, and he is so proud of me, still. We watched each other grow, and he still cracks me up all the time. And I think I crack him up—unless he's a really good actor and great at faking laughter... It's understandable that people seemed so invested in our happiness together. All I can say about that is, it's all true, that we truly adore each other, and we love each other, I think it still comes through."