Riverdale Star Vanessa Morgan Opens Up About ‘Painful’ Divorce From Michael Kopech

Nearly four years after their split, the Riverdale star sat down with Rachel Bilson for a new episode of her podcast, Broad Ideas, where she got candid about her marriage ending while she was pregnant with her and Kopech’s son, River, 3.

“In the moment, it’s so painful,” Morgan recalled. “It’s almost like we idolize what our dream reality [was] from when we were a kid… [then] you mourn the future that never happened. You mourn the fantasy that you created, and that wasn’t the reality that was the best alignment for me.”

News that Kopech had filed for divorce from Morgan broke in July 2022, just days after the 31-year-old actress revealed she was expecting her first child.

In the pregnancy announcement, Morgan made no mention of Kopech, who had also just confirmed that he was taking time off from playing for the White Sox’s 2019-2020 season due to “personal reasons.”

Morgan and Kopech got engaged in July 2019 before tying the knot in early January 2020, only to divorce just six months later.

Looking back at their split, Morgan explained, “I went through two years of pain.”

Morgan said that a lot of the pain stemmed from being embarrassed by their public breakup and “not wanting to face that you have a broken family.”

She continued, “You get married, and you want to kind of have that fantasy. I think it’s almost like you feel disappointed to tell people that it didn’t work out.”

After working through that pain, Morgan said that she realized things unfolded in a way that allowed her to grow and be the best mom to her son.

“The beauty of life is that it doesn’t always go as planned,” Morgan said. “I don’t want to be a victim. Otherwise, I’m just going to feel bad for myself all the time and I didn’t want to feel bad for myself. I have a beautiful son, and that was my blessing.”

It’s also allowed her to find the right person for her.

In the years since her divorce, Morgan’s found love with basketball player James Karnik, whom she’s been dating since 2022.

And he’s become a big part of their family as well, with Morgan telling Bilson that River looks to him as a “father figure.”

“At least  [River] will always know that my partner now has been there from what he will remember, as the beginning,” she said of Karnik. “They’re together every single day… he looks at him like a father figure.”

While Kopech doesn’t get to see his son very often, Morgan did note that he is very much in River’s life.

The baseball star has also moved on since their divorce, marrying Morgan Eudy and welcoming a child of their own, son, Vander, in 2022.