Odette and Dave Annable look like the picture of marital bliss on social media these days, but the celebrity couple came close to splitting up seven years ago. After announcing their separation in 2019, the duo reunited nine months later, thanks to a life-changing letter they received.
Odette, who recently starred opposite Andrew Walker in Hallmark Channel hit “Kentucky Roses,” shared part of the letter, sent by “someone we both love and respect very much,” in a Substack essay published on July 24, 2026.
Odette & Dave Annable Initially Broke Up in 2019 After Nearly a Decade of Marriage
The Annables married in October 2010, according to People, while Dave was starring in ABC’s hit series “Brothers & Sisters.” They welcomed their first daughter, Charlie May, five years later.
They were both juggling recurring roles on series — Odette on The CW’s “Supergirl” and Dave in Netflix’s “What/If” — when they issued a statement in October 2019 that said, “It’s with heavy hearts that we have come to the mutual decision to separate at this time.”
But in Odette’s Substack essay, she wrote that in the middle of their separation, they received a letter that “completely changed the way we navigated our time apart… and eventually found our way back to each other.”
She decided to reveal the letter’s impact on her relationship with Dave, who currently plays Zoe Saldaña’s husband on “Lioness,” because she knew multiple people she thought it could help right now, writing, “I want to share a few of the things from that letter that carried me through one of the darkest seasons of my life.”
Odette Annable Shares Excerpt of Letter That ‘Changed Everything For Me’
Among four life lessons for difficult times that Odette shared in her essay, the first was on how to “be gentle with yourself,” with insights she gained from that poignant letter.
“One part of the letter stopped me in my tracks,” she wrote. “This one’s for anyone going through a separation or a divorce and share children, or honestly even just going through a hard stretch with your partner. It said:
“You are bound to each other through life, and that never changes. Punishing each other only punishes your child, the only perfect thing you did together. The rest of it is sloppy. It’s hard. It’s empty and oppressive and wonderful and uplifting and revelatory. It’s life. That’s all it is.”
Odette, who went on to star in “Walker” from 2021 to 2024, then wrote, “Holy shit, that’s good. I remember reading that and just sitting there with it. That one changed everything for me, and I know it did for Dave too.”
In another life lesson on moving slowly rather than rushing “to fix your life,” Odette shared that the last line of the letter said, “We have one shot at life and we must spend it reveling in every moment, even the toughest ones.”
“I still keep that letter with me,” she wrote. “I used to read it every day to keep me going. I haven’t read it in a couple years and I opened it today, to pay it forward for a friend who needed to hear it. But I should read it more often, not because I’m still living in that season, but because it reminds me that I MF survived it.”
The Annables have since welcomed another daughter, three-year-old Andersen (Andi) Lee. Odette told Us Weekly in May that she’d “absolutely” love to star in a Hallmark movie with her hubby in the future. To read her full essay about how they got through their rough patch, check out her ESTA Substack blog.
