Alan Ritchson is focusing on self-love following the end of his 20-year marriage. The Reacher star shared a video about the importance of loving yourself just a few days after he and his estranged wife, Catherine Ritchson, announced their split.
Alan Ritchson explains how childhood attention and his mother’s response affected his self-worth
The 43-year-old actor said in a video shared via Instagram on September 20, “Here’s some post-sauna clarity for ya. Today I want to talk about learning to love yourself and how I think this could be the great antidote to our times and the frustration that many of us feel. You know, the world bombards us with so many messages each day about how we’re not quite enough, right?”
He then continued, “If we just bought this thing or if we were not sober, we’d be more fun, more relational, we’d be better friends, you know? If we had this or that material thing, we’d be worth more to the world and more worthy of love, right? It’s kind of the message that capitalism teaches us, and it’s hard in Western cultures to get rid of that lie.”
The actor reflected on his childhood while discussing feelings of unworthiness. Ritchson said his mother noticed that he often got attention without having to do much to earn it. He said, “As a kid, people would just approach us. ‘Look at him’ and, ‘Oh, he’s so, you know, so cute.’ In my ear, she’d whisper, ‘It’s not all about you.'”
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare star’s message came shortly after he and Catherine announced the end of their marriage. The couple married in May 2006 after meeting in high school while doing ballet. Alan filed for divorce in December 2025, but they later tried to reconcile. The attempt did not work, and they announced their split in a joint Instagram statement on September 12, 2026. The former couple has three sons together.
