Frankie Muniz and his wife, Paige Price, expected to receive compassion when they recently announced they were divorcing after a decade together. Instead, their announcement quickly became a social media firestorm. The controversy began when the ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ star turned NASCAR driver posted a video of himself, Price, and their five-year-old son, Mauz.

The video captured them dancing to the song “Check Yes, Juliet” by We The Kings. “Who says you can’t stay best friends with your baby momma?” Muniz captioned the video. He thought the video captured the essence of the couple’s future. But a lot of fans saw it quite differently.

After fans misconstrued the tone of his divorce announcement, Frankie Muniz soon found himself responding to criticism. He responded to the criticism head-on by stating that neither he nor Paige Price thought their divorce was something to celebrate.

“It wasn’t to celebrate our divorce. Far from it. We grieved our divorce beyond anything you can imagine. It was to celebrate the fact that we’re both adults and can handle it like adults moving forward, amicably. Everyone is just used to the hideous mudslinging a lot of couples do at the end of a relationship so they don’t know how to take it when two people are cordial.”

Muniz decided to take down the video completely after backlash erupted on social media. Instead, he posted a straightforward family photo of himself, Price, and Mauz along with a long statement outlining the couple’s choice to proceed with the divorce. Muniz clarified that the video had been misinterpreted in the new post.

“After 10 beautiful years together, we’ve grown in ways that made us realize our relationship feels most natural and strong as a deep friendship and as co-parents,” Muniz wrote. “I’m endlessly grateful to Paige for everything she’s done for me and our family. She put her own dreams on hold so I could chase mine, and she was always my biggest supporter.”

Price defended Muniz in the comments of the new post. She directly addressed the criticism they received over the video and trashed the rumor that they were celebrating the divorce.

“Frankie, I am so sorry that you felt the need to delete an old fun video of our family because people are so cruel to you,” Price wrote. “Divorce is bad, sure, it’s not like we’re excited about it… But we’re two adults who know how to be on the same team. I can’t believe people could scrutinise that.”

Muniz and Price first met in 2016 at a celebrity golf tournament. They got married on October 3, 2019, less than a year after announcing their engagement on November 18, 2018. The couple welcomed their son, Mauz, in March 2021. Mauz has been the reason for Muniz’s return to racing in 2021 after he took a break from it due to a devastating injury.

While the marriage is ending, Muniz’s message repeatedly emphasized that the relationship itself is not disappearing. Rather, it is changing into something else. Throughout his statement and subsequent clarification, he stressed that friendship, mutual respect, and shared parenting responsibilities would remain intact.

Frankie Muniz stated they will not publicly share details of their split. He also asked fans to respect their family’s privacy.

“Thank you for the love and support. We both choose to not entertain any questions on this matter. Please respect our families privacy during this time,” he concluded.