Jeremy Allen White will submit to alcohol testing five days a week in order to see the two daughters he shares with soon-to-be ex-wife Addison Timlin.
The teenage sweethearts whose marriage ended in May are hammering out the divorce and custody agreement. According to court papers, they will share joint custody of Ezer and Dolores as long as The Bear star, 32, passes Soberlink testing to ensure he’s not intoxicated when he’s with the kids. Each week, he must attend individual therapy and no fewer than two Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings. Custody would be terminated in the event of a positive or noncompliant test with attorneys for both parties determining next steps.
According to Entertainment Tonight, a breach of their agreement led to the court papers being filed. The Californication actress, 32, signed them Sept. 30 with White — who’s now reportedly dating model Ashley Moore — signing on Oct. 3.
This has all been a 180 for the pair, who were teen crushes and looked in love at the 2023 Golden Globes. Let’s travel back to their beginnings…
Classmate crushes
The pair met as freshman in high school in 2005 when White, 14, transferred to the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC, where Timlin, 13, was a student. Timlin — who by then had already appeared on Broadway in the Gypsy revival and did a national tour of Annie — said in an interview with White on the Showmance podcast in 2019 that it was “love at first sight.” She gushed, “He has really blue eyes and his blue shirt brought out the blue eyes. He came in hot, so to speak, and [me and my classmates] were all so in love with him.” They “spent all our time together,” including cutting school and smoking pot, but it was a smoldering crush versus a romance. “We were each other’s lifelines,” she said. White told GQ in 2022, “I was instantly very much into her and she, me too, I think. But she had a boyfriend.” When Timlin and the boyfriend split, she expected White to make his move, but he didn’t. “I was just so clumsy about all that stuff,” he said.
Here they are, center, in 2005:
Teen drama and one very awkward audition
Timlin said on the podcast that they got in a fight when they were 15 and she transferred schools. “It was so dramatic,” she recalled. White added, “She was like, ‘Bye! See ya later!’ And I was just like, ‘But I just found you!'” He said it seemed more dramatic at the time, when she actually just moved to a non-performing arts school about “20 blocks away.”
White told GQ he “was really broken up” by their fight over her switching schools. But “the universe never really let us separate,” Timlin said on the pod. While they weren’t talking, they both ended up being cast in 2008’s Afterschool, which saw them playing prep school kids alongside star Ezra Miller. They came face-to-face for the first time when they were paired for a chemistry reading. “We worked through our problems there,” she said, noting that they discussed their fallout in front of the director and that tension helped them both land their roles. They became friends again, but they had a few more big spats, including when she was dating an older guy and kept it a secret from White, who became upset when he found out.
Los Angeles transplants — and roommates
At 18, they both found themselves living in Los Angeles. White landed Shameless right out of high school, playing fan fave Lip Gallagher for a decade. Timlin scored a recurring role on Californication, getting steamy with David Duchovny. While acting on TV and in films, they decided to be roommates.
“We moved in together and were figuring out a new city together,” she said on Showmance. They became just the best of friends. “I knew that at some point we were gonna really give it a go” romantically she said, but “I wasn’t sure when that was going to be… I felt certain that my journey had to go elsewhere before it was going to land on us.”
They had other romantic relationships, but realized during a road trip that their relationship made them feel “grounded and calm” and just felt “right,” she recalled. They ended up getting together.
By 2013, they were paired up but didn’t want to make it officially official. Timlin told Harper’s Bazaar at the time, “I’ve got a sweetheart who I will not disclose… We have a nice foundation from being friends for a long period of time, and then it took a hard right turn into romance.”
Baby make 3!
While their relationship blossomed, they didn’t make things social media official until 2016. When he joined Instagram that October, she called him her “ride or die guy.”
Things were full speed from there. On Timlin’s birthday in 2017, they announced she was pregnant. “We made a baby and my heart is bursting at the seams,” she wrote. “Today is my birthday but my wish already came true. This is 27 and the best is yet to come.”
The same year, the couple shared the screen again in the 2017 short Chasing You, which she also produced.
Their first child, daughter Ezer Billie, was born that October.
In early 2019, the American Horror Story and That Awkward Moment actress was spotted wearing a ring on that finger and they confirmed their engagement.
They do!
The couple exchanged vows at the Beverly Hills, Calif, courthouse in October 2019. “Happy hearts,” the bride captioned a social media photo of them in matching denim jackets with their nicknames for one another (Buddy and Billie) embroidered on the back for the ceremony. Guests included Dakota Johnson — who is godmother to both of the couple’s children — and her partner Chris Martin.
White and Timlin get tattoos of their couple nickname, as well as their firstborn’s name.
The following year they seemed to be going strong. On her birthday, Timlin shared a photo of them with Ezer, writing, “I’m so grateful for my 28th year. I married my best friend of 15 years, who happens to be the love of my life. We have the coolest kid in the world … I have beautiful friends and family that restore my soul and I feel so full of love all the time.”
White posted his own tribute to his wife, writing, “I love you forever.”
They welcomed their second daughter, Dolores Wild, in December 2020. “We did it baby,” Timlin, who was hospitalized for a month before giving birth, wrote to White.
They both got Dolores tattoos.
The Bear era
White made a big professional change in 2021 when Shameless ended its decade-long run.
That year, Timlin praised White in an anniversary post, writing “Happy anniversary baby. My favorite thing on planet earth (besides our kids) is saying ‘my husband.’ You are the greatest person I’ve ever met and you make my life seem touched by God. I know you think this public display of affection is goofy but there isn’t a rooftop I won’t shout it from, I love you!! This year was hard but we love harder.”
The in-demand actor landed The Bear, on which he plays a chef.
For Timlin’s birthday in June 2022, White called her his “number one” and “the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks for taking care of so many of us. You’ve been at the center of my life for so long now, I can’t remember much before, I’m lucky for it. You’re my whole heart.”
The same month, The Bear premiered. The couple hit the red carpet together.
She used social media to urge people to tune into his show, writing, “Congratulations to the whole team but to Jeremy especially, watching your dreams come true will always put a fire in my heart. I am infinitely proud and also very pleased to turn to you and say-I told you so.”
White started receiving a lot of attention over his breakout performance.
In an interview with InStyle in August, he talked about how his life has changed since he had a family. He called his daughters his “best friends,” adding, “I learn a lot from them. I feel like in a lot of ways, they’re teaching me all the time how to be better: how to be better to them; how to be better to my wife, my friends, my parents, my sister. I think I’ve been ready to domesticate for a long time, and I’m so happy to be in the house all the time with them.”
According to Timlin’s divorce filing, they secretly separated on September 1, 2022.
Surprise divorce after a public declaration of love
At the Golden Globes in January 2023, The Bear star won Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series and closed out his speech by telling his wife, who was his date, “Addison Timlin. I love you deep in my bones. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for everything that you’ve done.”
On May 11, Timlin filed for divorce from White after over three years of marriage. She listed their separation date as eight months earlier.
Three days later, on Mother’s Day, Timlin shared a candid post about her new life as a “single mom” and how challenging the previous nine months had been. She later edited the post calling them co-parents instead. The rest of the post remained the same: “It is so f***ing hard. It is all out covered in s*** crying on the floor kick you in the shins screaming with no sound coming out hard. Its not the natural order of things. It can be exhausting but more than anything it can just be so lonely. when something magical happens and you have to tell yourself ‘don’t forget this’ because theres no witness by your side. It’s so painful.”
Over the summer, White and Timlin are photographed out with their daughters, including at sporting events. They seem friendly, hugging and kissing as they greeted each other.
In August, White was photographed kissing model Ashley Moore — and they are photographed together many more times. That same month, a source told People, White and Timlin “are still separated, but getting along. They love their children and all spend time together. When she filed for divorce, she was upset. Things have settled a bit.”
White agrees to alcohol testing to see his children
In October, legal papers are filed stating that the exes have a custody deal in place that he can spend four days a week (or more) with the children as long as he undergoes alcohol testing five days a week.
He’s able to do the testing via Soberlink’s portable professional-grade breathalyzer. It verifies that not only is he sober, but it is him taking the test via digital imagery. If he fails, he takes a second test. If he fails that, or is non-compliant, their attorneys will meet to discuss next steps. White also has to attend weekly therapy sessions and AA meetings twice a week.
Entertainment Tonight reported that a breach of their agreement was behind the documents being filed in court.
The filing also noted that White and Timlin agreed that either parent can be present at any of their kids’ activities (games, performances, etc). They also have an exact schedule for who will have the kids when. They have a mediation in January to go over the terms of the custody agreement.
Since testing began, White’s been spotted out solo with his daughters on multiple occasions, including attending a birthday party of their godmother, Dakota Johnson.
This story was originally published on May 15, 2023 at 2:29 p.m. ET.
