Inside Mark Valley’s Life with Ex Wife, Family, and How He Was Plagued with Gay Rumors
Mark Valley has mostly kept his personal life off the media. His last known relationship was with his ex wife, Anna Torv.
They did not last long and separated soon after they got married. Since then, neither of them has made many headlines about their love life.
However, people on the internet seem to dislike when there is a lack of information. And what usually happens, or at least what happened in their case, is that people like to fill that void up with their own theories.
Mark Valley’s Relationship with Ex Wife Anna Torv
Valley and his ex wife Torv's relationship began secretly. They were on Fringe, a TV show where they portrayed each other's on-screen romantic interests.
Mark Valley (Photo: Twitter)
They began dating but let nobody know. It was only when they announced they were married that everyone realized what had happened.
The former couple secretly tied the knot over the holiday season in December 2008. According to E! News's report, they might have gotten married just days after his 45th birthday.
However, things went south for the couple real soon, and by the time April 2010 arrived, they had separated. When People broke the news about their split in April 2010, they reported the former pair had been living separately for "a few months."
Since then, Valley has remained mum about his dating life. And so has Torv — she had been living in LA until the pandemic hit but moved to her native Australia right as the lockdowns began.
During her July 2021 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, she shed some light on why she remains off social media. It was, the article put it, her way of "keeping a distinct line between private and public personas."
"I should have trusted you."
Last goodbye ✨
Fringe || 1x13 || The Transformation
Olivia Dunham || John Scott
Anna Torv || Mark Valley pic.twitter.com/irsTz1yRnT — Best Of Fringe (@Bestofringe) March 21, 2022
Going by how scarce Valley's presence on social media is, it might not be too far off to assume he has a similar philosophy.
The two did not have any children, and the details of their divorce did not make the news. But, despite their romantic relationship ending in 2010, gossip about the two lasted for years after that.
Even until 2015, people on various internet forums were speculating about the two. Most of those concerned Valley and his former partner's sexuality and their reasons for getting married.
Many thought the Blood and Tressure actor was gay, and his marriage with Torv was only a publicity stunt, either to put off the gay rumors or for fame. They had similar theories about Torv, who they thought was also either gay or bisexual, solely because the internet was void of any speculations about her love life.
Further, they opined the ex couple had staged their public sightings and PDA, and even said the actor's daughter from his previous relationship proved nothing about his sexuality. The actor has admitted to being straight during an appearance on Father Time with Jamie Kaler podcast.
Mark Valley’s Ex Girlfriend and Daughter
Valley became a father a while before he achieved any fame in the mainstream entertainment industry. Born into a regular family in Ogdensburg, New York, he went straight to military college after high school.
He joined the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated from there in 1987. That was also the year he had his first child — daughter Sherri.
During his appearance on Father Time with Jamie Kaler in October 2017, he went into detail about how his initial days of fatherhood treated him.
"When I [became] a dad, I was really young. I was still in college," Valley recalled, while also calling himself a "trailer park dad."
"My girlfriend was pregnant," he said, then mumbled, imitating his confusion at the time about whether they should get married and whatnot.
Being at a military school made matters more complicated for him. Valley mentioned everyone kind of "frowned" upon it.
Happy Trivia Tuesday!
Aside from Matthew Ashford, which actor played Jack Deveroux? That would be Mark Valley! He played Jack on @nbcdays from 1994-1997. Did u know:
He graduated West Point in 1987 w/ a degree in mathematics & served in Operation Desert Storm. #trivia #dool pic.twitter.com/qLDQQcWQV4 — Dishin' Days (@_DishinDays) November 20, 2018
His girlfriend was a local girl who did modeling. They did not get married, but they had their baby after he graduated.
The mother of his child got married soon after they had their baby. As for him, he flew off to Germany on a military mission and did not see his daughter before she was five years old.
After returning from Germany, he went straight into acting and only then went to see his daughter, who was living with her mother in Boston. The first (awkward) time he saw her daughter, he realized she had all his good traits and thought, "oh my god."
Valley and his ex girlfriend, who did not part ways amicably, came up with legal settlements about Sherri after his return, and she has been in his life ever since.
Those initial days of being a father were difficult. He, being a struggling actor and retired army person, had very little income. He had difficulties paying child support.
His ex also put him through a lot of legalities about their daughter and child support. But eventually, everything settled down.
Sherri showed up at his house in Venice, California, when she was 16, and they lived together for a while. It was "insane" but also the best time of his life — he had to find her a new school and take care of her while working full-time on Boston Legal.
Now, Sherri lives in New York. At the time of the interview, she lived in Rochester, was a pilates teacher, and was attending community college.