The Adelaide Advertiser has reported that Packed to the Rafters star Erik Thomson has split from his wife of more than 25 years Caitlin McDougall.
New Idea first reported that a possible separation was on the cards in early 2024 after eagle-eyed fans noticed several signs that indicated something was amiss in their relationship.
As of January that year it had been more than 12 months since Erik had uploaded a photo of Caitlin to his Instagram grid, with the last being posted in February 2022 for her birthday.
Meanwhile, Caitlin’s last post concerning the popular All Saints actor was in December 2022.
Other photos of the couple shared to social media also appeared to show that they had taken off their wedding rings, and the pair hadn’t made a red carpet appearance together for a considerable amount of time either.
Erik and Caitlin have yet to make an official comment about their marital status, with Erik’s management also declining to provide a comment to New Idea when we originally broke the story over a year ago.
In the event that Erik and Caitlin have split, it would devastate their fans, as they have long been one of Australia’s favourite showbiz couples.
The pair first met in September 1997, in a pub on AFL Grand Final day. Scottish-born, New Zealand-raised Erik previously told SALIFE magazine that neither he nor Caitlin was into the game so they just “sat together and chatted for hours”.
He further shared with the New Zealand Herald that when they first met, “we both felt like we’d known each other before. There was a familiarity and an ease.”
They wed two years later in April 1999 at a winery in South Australia’s McLaren Vale region owned by her mother and stepfather. In 2004, they co-starred in the Channel Nine TV movie The Alice and its subsequent TV series, which was cancelled after one season.
Initially based in Sydney, the couple eventually settled in Port Willunga, SA, where Caitlin’s family live nearby. With Erik’s roles in Packed to the Rafters and 800 Words seeing him away filming in Sydney and New Zealand for long stretches, Caitlin paused her own acting dreams to focus on being a stay-at-home mum. She has since transitioned into a career as an artist.
In 2018, Erik – who shares two kids, daughter Eilish, and son Magnus, with Caitlin – spoke to New Idea about how hard it was to balance family life and his career.
“We had a bit of a hard year last year,” he admitted at the time. “I was away for big chunks of time and my kids are only young. I would ring up and there would be tears, it made things a bit more difficult.”
However, as many families can relate to, both parents and kids were forced to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation.
“We just dealt with it on a daily basis. We kept in touch and we would get together when we could,” he said.
In May 2021, while speaking with SALIFE, Erik claimed that Caitlin and his shared ability to “forgive each other’s humanness” was the secret to their longevity.
“I think sometimes people expect their partner to be perfect and not make mistakes and have the same aspirations that you do, but I think we just have a deep respect for each other,” he told the publication.
“We have our moments, like all couples, and we’ve come close to breaking up at times but that reality, when we really think about the idea of not being together,
it’s not palatable to either of us.”
Let’s hope this remains the case for the couple.
