Nearly two years after separating, Steve Burton (“Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital,” et al.) and Sheree Gustin Burton are now officially divorced, several media outlets reported on Thursday.
In July 2022, Burton filed for divorce from his wife of nearly 25 years, citing irreconcilable differences. According to the filing, their official separation date was listed as March 1, 2022, with Burton seeking joint legal and physical custody of the couple’s two minor children, Jack, now 17, and Brooklyn, now 9. Their eldest child, Makena, is now 20 years old.
News of Sheree and Steve’s separation first came to light in May 2022 when Burton commented through an Instagram story to clear up confusion following fans posting messages on his timeline congratulating the actor after Sheree made a since-deleted post on Instagram to announce she was pregnant with her fourth child. The daytime veteran stated the child was not his.
“I wanted to clear something up. Sheree and I are separated,” said Burton in his Wednesday, May 4, 2022 post. “She recently announced that she’s expecting her 4th child. The child is not mine,” he noted, adding, “We are still co-parenting our three beautiful kids. We would appreciate privacy at this time.”
In February, Sheree announced the birth of her daughter. In a post on Instagram, she said, “Some things I’ve realized with having my 4th baby in my 40s…I know how fast it goes by. I don’t sweat the small stuff, and I do my best to be present with all my children and live in the moment.” She added, “I know I’m far from perfect but my kids know they’re loved and ultimately that’s really all that matters.”
In October, Shree again took to Instagram to announce she was expecting her fifth child, another daughter. In her post, she shared, “If you would have told me I was going to have 5 kids with 2 of them being born in my 40s I would have laughed and said you were crazy but God has a plan, and here I am and I couldn’t be happier or more grateful for my life and the people in it.”
Sheree has yet to indicate by name either child’s father publicly.
According to PEOPLE, both parties waived their rights to spousal support “now or at any time in the future, regardless of the unforeseen circumstances that may exist in the future.” However, Sheree will receive $50,000 in retroactive support, while Steve will pay her $12,500 per month in child support for the aforementioned minor children until April 2024. Thereafter, the amount will be reduced to $10,000 per month.
Since exiting “General Hospital” as Jason Morgan in November 2021, after he was let go from ABC for not complying with the network’s since vacated vaccine mandate, Burton has reprised his original soap role as Harris Michaels on “Days of our Lives.”