Brittany Snow is opening up in a deeply personal way about how her divorce from Tyler Stanaland reshaped her life, her mental health, and even her relationship with food. In her Self magazine cover story, published November 6, the 39-year-old actress detailed the emotional aftermath of their split and how she learned to treat herself with compassion during the healing process.
Struggling to Eat After the Split
Snow admitted that immediately following her separation from Stanaland in 2022, she could barely eat. The stress and emotional shock were so severe that she had to talk herself through meals gently and lovingly, almost as if parenting herself. She recalled moments where she would say, “OK, baby girl, do you want a bagel? Let’s get you a bagel. We’re going to toast it. We’re going to put some cream cheese on it. Is that all you can eat? OK, that’s OK.”
This simple shift-treating herself with softness instead of criticism-became transformational. Snow, who has been open about her difficult history with food and body image, said this new approach “completely changed my way of thinking about my body.” She added, “I was talking to myself like someone I loved. And then I just never stopped doing that.”
Why Selling the OC Played a Major Role in the Divorce
Snow married Tyler Stanaland in March 2020, long before he appeared on reality TV. She emphasized in the interview that their relationship looked very different in the beginning. “I think people forget that when I got married, I got married to a real estate agent,” she said. “He wasn’t even in my business whatsoever. He was definitely not a reality star.”
Everything shifted when Stanaland joined the cast of Selling the OC in August 2022. The intense spotlight placed on their marriage was never something Snow expected-or wanted. Within a month of the show’s release, the couple announced their separation. Their divorce became official in July 2023, and Stanaland has since gotten engaged to Hannah Morrissey.
The Reality TV Drama Snow “Did Not Sign Up For”
Snow explained that she was blindsided by the media and fan attention surrounding her husband’s behavior on the show. Stanaland made headlines for getting flirty with coworkers Kayla Cardona and Alex Hall. He alleged that Cardona attempted to kiss him off-camera, and viewers watched intimate “nosey” interactions between him and Hall. Snow said the whole situation felt chaotic and destabilizing. “It felt like it was a running snowball that I couldn’t catch,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what the heck was going on because it was so public and I couldn’t control it.”
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Despite staying relatively private about the details of their breakup, Snow maintains she knows the truth of what really went on. “That’s all that matters,” she said.
Brittany Snow’s Hints About What Really Ended the Marriage
Though Snow has not spelled out the precise reason the marriage ended, she has dropped several unmistakable hints. During a March 2024 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, she suggested that the public’s suspicions were accurate. “I was not aware of a lot of things, and I’ll say that,” Snow said. “So, I will say, what people think happened, happened.”
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Tyler Stanaland’s Side: “I Was Never Unfaithful”
Stanaland has pushed back on rumors of cheating. In a March 2024 Instagram Story, he wrote that he and Snow had agreed never to publicly discuss the intricacies of their marriage. While honoring that agreement, he insisted, “I was never unfaithful in my marriage and the accusations of infidelity couldn’t be further from the truth.” He added that relationships are complex even without outside judgment and that he would not comment further.
The Divorce Became a Turning Point for Snow
For Snow, the end of the marriage sparked a deeper introspection that led her to rebuild not just her life but the way she treats herself. Her eating struggles ultimately became a doorway to discovering a gentler relationship with her body. She said that learning to nourish herself with kindness had fundamentally shifted how she thinks and feels on a day-to-day basis.
The actress described the period after the split as painful and disorienting, especially as she dealt with private hurt becoming public drama. But she also credits the experience with forcing her to slow down, confront long-standing emotional patterns, and nurture herself in ways she had never done before.
Today, Snow continues to emphasize self-compassion, emotional awareness, and grounding her identity in her own truth rather than public speculation. Her openness about the divorce and its aftermath has resonated widely, particularly with fans who have navigated breakups under far less scrutiny.
By sharing how she rebuilt herself, bagel by bagel, as she put it, Snow illustrates that healing isn’t always glamorous. Sometimes it starts with something as simple and as brave as feeding yourself and speaking to yourself with love.