“Sophie loves staying home, wearing sweatpants, and pouring shots for Joe during his Instagram Live DJ sets.” – Team Coco’s 2020 YouTube caption for the above video.
This week, Joe Jonas, age 34, filed for divorce from Sophie Turner, age 27, and TMZ broke the story with a “source with direct knowledge” telling the outlet an alleged reason for the decision: “She likes to party, he likes to stay at home. They have very different lifestyles.”
People do tend to publicly take sides during divorces, and it often feels more amplified during celebrity splits. However, it has not gone unnoticed that, only a few years ago, Sophie appeared on Conan O’Brien’s TBS show and revealed how Covid-19 quarantine suited her “introvert” ways. She was “loving it,” as Turner told O’Brien.
“I’m an introvert, I’m a homebody. If I could stay at home all day I would, so this is great for me,” Sophie gushed at the time. “I leave my house like once a day anyway to walk my dogs and then that’s it.” She then added, “I don’t understand how people are really struggling to practice social distancing.”
Conan, in response, asked how Sophie and Joe were doing with quarantine closeness, which was a relevant question at the time because rising divorce rates began to surface as some couples locked down and discovered that they were driving each other nuts. Well, Sophie didn’t feel that way.
“Joe and I, it’s actually kind of… everything seems to be working out in my favor here.” she admitted. “Because Joe is a real social butterfly and I struggle to lock him down and just spend time with me. It’s like a prison for him, but it’s great for me.”
NBC News reporter Kat Tenbarge hasn’t forgotten this interview, as mentioned on Twitter.
Sophie Turner in 2020: “I’m an introvert, I’m a homebody […] If I could stay at home all day I would, so this is great for me. I leave my house like once a day anyway to walk my dogs and then that’s it.”https://t.co/B6LkTNRJcW
— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) September 5, 2023
Sophie and Joe have now released a joint statement that makes mention of how “[t]here are many speculative narratives as to why” they are splitting, and the couple stressed, “[T]ruly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”
Prior to the divorce, Joe and Sophie were clearly not in quarantine solitude anymore due to their work schedules. Sophie has been filming a drama series, Joan, in England, and Joe has been on tour with his fellow Jonas Brothers. TMZ’s source previously claimed that Joe was shouldering the childcare duties: “We’re told over the last 3 months, Joe has been caring for their 2 young children ‘pretty much all of the time,’ even as his band was touring. We’re told Joe currently has both kids, as the group plays around the U.S.”
Divorce is never fun. Divorce in the public eye might be even worse.