Emmy Rossum Lays Bare the Full Story of Her Secret Marriage and Divorce After 16 Years—“We Picked Either Break Up or Marry Before Getting on the Plane”

Emmy Rossum (39), the star of the U.S. hit drama Shameless and well known in South Korea for The Phantom of the Opera, laid bare shocking behind-the-scenes details, in her own words, about her secret marriage and divorce with her former husband, music producer Justin Siegel, which took place only a few months after they met—some 16 years after the fact.

■ “Either Break Up or Marry”… Ultimatum Delivered Right Before She Got on the Plane

According to reports from overseas media on the 8th (local time), Rossum appeared on the globally popular podcast “Call Her Daddy” broadcast that day and recalled her first marriage to Siegel, which she said had been carried out without attracting public attention in February 2008.

Rossum said of the time, “I met Justin Siegel, who worked at Interscope Records, where I was under contract, and we started dating. It was only about two months, and we had good feelings toward each other.”

The strange turn began when she was cast as “Bourma” in the Hollywood live-action film Dragonball: Evolution, a 2009 release. She had to leave for location filming in Durango, Mexico, for no less than six months. Rossum said, “On the night of my departure, Justin came to me and said, ‘I don’t know if we can endure a long-distance relationship. So choose—either break up now or get married’—and he issued an ultimatum. ” That confession left the studio reeling.

■ “A White Turtleneck Pulled Out Casually From the Closet”… The Ghost Wedding Kept Completely Under Wraps

Put under sudden pressure in her early 20s, Rossum said she couldn’t make a rational decision in the moment. She explained, “At the time, I had only just gone through the pain of a breakup, and deep down in my heart there was a ‘trauma (Core Wound)’ about being abandoned. I was too afraid of being abandoned and hurt by someone again.” She added that, as a young mind formed the thought, she even had the dangerous idea, “How complicated can divorce be? If we don’t match, we can just part cleanly later.”

In the end, the two forced the wedding that night in a rush—like roasting beans over a flash fire. Siegel printed the marriage contract off the internet and called a judge he had hurriedly found online to Rossum’s home.

Rossum said, “I didn’t even have the awareness that it was a wedding, so I rummaged through my closet, pulled out a plain white turtleneck T-shirt, and made a vow. In my head, the warning lights of ‘This isn’t right, stop right now’ were blaring like crazy, but I ignored them. I promised myself I wouldn’t tell anyone because I knew, on instinct, that something was wrong.”

■ Zero Visits for Six Months… She Learned at the Moment She Stamped the Divorce Papers

After they became a married couple on paper, Rossum went to Mexico alone, but her husband, Siegel, never came to visit even once during the six-month filming period. When she finished shooting and returned home, she said she realized with painful clarity that the two were partners who didn’t fit together in any way.

Ultimately, the short marriage ended in September 2009, a year and a half later, when Justin Siegel filed for divorce. So thoroughly did they keep the matter secret that even Rossum’s biological mother learned of her daughter’s marriage only after the process had reached the divorce stage.

Rossum said, “I called my mom and told her, ‘I’m breaking up with Justin and I need a lawyer,’ and she said, ‘What are you talking about?’ So I finally confessed, ‘Mom, the truth is I was married.’” Fortunately, her mother didn’t blame her daughter. Instead, she quietly arranged for a moving truck and handed Rossum the reservation vouchers for a nail shop, telling her, “Go gather yourself and come back. I’ll handle the rest,” and she steadfastly escorted her through the divorce journey.

After the brutal failure of her first marriage, Emmy Rossum briefly dated Adam Duritz, the vocalist of Counting Crows, before meeting her fated partner in 2013. The lead was Sam Esmail (Sam Esmail), the genius director and producer of the hit Mr. Robot. After four years of dating, the two married in 2017 and continue to build a happy household in Hollywood as one of its representative “love birds,” with a 5-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son.