Who Is Leah Remini's Ex-Husband? All About Angelo Pagán

Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán have finalized their divorce.

The actress, who first met Pagán in 1996 when he was performing at El Floridita, a Cuban club and restaurant in Los Angeles, filed for divorce from the entrepreneur in August 2024 after 21 years of marriage. Two months later, they finalized their split on Oct. 11.

"Well, here we are. After 28 years together and 21 years of marriage, we have decided to file for divorce," they wrote in a joint announcement on Instagram. "This decision came after a lot of thought and care, and as hard as divorce is, we are approaching this with a positive outlook because we know it’s what’s best for us."

The former couple wed in 2003 and welcomed one daughter, Sofia Bella, on June 16, 2004. Pagán also has three sons from a previous relationship.

In 2010, Remini recalled to Redbook magazine that it was "love at first sight" upon meeting the singer. Throughout their relationship, Remini and Pagán worked together on various occasions, including on her hit sitcom The King of Queens, in which Pagán made several guest appearances.

So, who is Leah Remini's ex-husband? Keep reading to learn more about Angelo Pagán.

He was born in New York City

Remini and Pagán are both New York City natives. Pagán was born and raised in the Bronx along with his five siblings, and he is a fan of his hometown's sports teams, including the New York Knicks.

Pagán's family is originally from Puerto Rico, and he often posts about his home country on Instagram and shows support for other Puerto Rican entertainers.

He met Remini at a Cuban club

During a 2019 interview on the eponymous talk show RuPaul, Remini recalled meeting her Pagán in 1996 when he was singing at El Floridita, a Cuban club and restaurant in L.A.

"I saw him across the room and was like, 'Damn! What time do you get off?' " Remini joked. "It was like everything wrong, like everything that you should not do as a girl is ask a guy when he gets off work, hit it real quick, and it was a lot of that ... I was like a groupie. It was just really bad, all bad looks."

Jokes aside, Remini said their relationship had difficulties, but they worked through them.

"It's a beautiful love story because we did have a hard time at the beginning," she continued. "We didn't meet under the best of circumstances. We got counseling and it was not an easy road. So I'm saying these things to be funny, once again, but the truth of the matter is he is my rock."

He is an actor, singer and restaurateur

Pagán began acting in the '80s and '90s, earning a few small roles in various TV series and TV movies. After meeting Remini, he began appearing alongside her in several of her projects, including The King of Queens, Fired Up, Kevin Can Wait and In the Motherhood. He's also made guest appearances on other popular shows, including Martial Law, Dharma & Greg and Shameless.

In a joint interview with Remini on The Early Show in 2011, Pagán joked that people thought he got cast on The King of Queens because he was "sleeping with the lead," but he said he had to audition. He also admitted that appearing on the sitcom was a challenge.

"Ask my wife — I'm not funny," he said, to which Remini replied, "He's not the funny one. No. He's the looks of the two."

According to his Instagram bio, Pagán is also a singer, producer and entrepreneur. He was working as a singer when he met Remini in the '90s and continues to perform today; he frequently co-hosts shows and performs at venues around L.A.

Pagán also runs a restaurant with Remini's mother and stepfather, Vicki and George Marshall. The family has co-owned Vivian's Millennium Cafe in Studio City, California, since 1999. Pagán has also brought a taste of the East Coast to L.A. with Angelo's Pizza, located inside Vivian's. The brunch spot has had famous friends stop by, like Don Cheadle, George Lopez and Cedric the Entertainer.

He and Remini got married in 2003

Pagán proposed to Remini at an L.A. restaurant on Christmas Eve in 2002, and they wed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas on July 19, 2003.

"It was outdoors at night and still 110 degrees," Remini's The King of Queens costar Kevin James told PEOPLE after the wedding, adding with a laugh: "The best part was toweling off."

The sitcom's producer, Rob Schiller, told PEOPLE that during their vows, Pagán "credited Leah with making him a better father," while Remini "credited Angelo with giving her some soul," a reference to salsa lessons they took together.

He is a dad

Remini and Pagán welcomed their daughter, Sofia Bella, on June 16, 2004. Pagán also has three sons from a previous relationship — Angelo Jr., Alex and Nico — as well as two grandchildren, Mila and Markus.

In June 2022, Pagán shared a tribute to both his daughter and Remini on Remini's 52nd birthday, which was also the day before Sofia's 18th birthday.

"18 years ago on her birthday, I was driving this beautiful creature [Remini] to the hospital, where she gave me my beautiful @sofiaapagann!" he wrote. "What an absolute champ you were! Thank you Lele for making this dream come true. I'm the luckiest man in the world I get to celebrate my girls together."

That fall, Remini and Pagán sent Sofia off to college, which the mother of one described as the most "excruciatingly painful and proudest moment of my life."

She wrote on Instagram, "Angelo and I sat in the parking lot of our daughter's school, crying like babies, and discussed pulling her out and homeschooling her."

He and Remini starred on their own reality show

In 2014, Remini and Pagán gave a glimpse into their family life on their TLC reality show, Leah Remini: It's All Relative. The show ran for two seasons before it was canceled in 2015.

"My family is not so different from the rest of America," Remini told PEOPLE ahead of the show's 2014 premiere. "I think people love to see that, oh, just because she's on television and in Hollywood, I can still relate to her."

He supported Remini through tough times

Since leaving Scientology in 2013, Remini has been vocal about her experience with the organization, including documenting her exit in her book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, the three-season docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath and her podcast Scientology: Fair Game.

Through it all, Pagán was by her side, supporting her both in person and on social media; he and Remini's mother also left Scientology in 2013.

In a 2015 interview with ABC News' 20/20, Remini said she was scared of the repercussions when she decided to leave the church, as she didn't know if her family would stand by her.

"[I thought,] 'I'm ready to walk away from everybody that I've ever known and cut ties with my own husband, my own mother,' because you don't know what they're going to decide," she recalled, noting that their decision to stick by her meant "everything."

Pagán was also there for the less serious things in life, like when Remini realized she was "a scaredy-cat" while visiting Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.

"I had my arms around my husband's waist, and I walked with him with my eyes closed," she told PEOPLE in 2014. "Every time I opened my eyes, something scary was there."

He is an avid golfer

One of Pagán's favorite hobbies is golf, and he often enjoys golf outings with his sons. One of his other frequent partners on the links is none other than George Lopez.

"Playing golf with my brother @georgelopez is like @disneyland for big kids and yup that was my birdie!" the singer captioned an Instagram video in January 2022.

He is good friends with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Remini and Jennifer Lopez have been best friends since the early aughts; the pair met through Lopez's ex-husband, Marc Anthony, with whom both Remini and Pagán are close. In fact, Pagán has referred to Anthony as "mi hermanito" on Instagram, which translates to "my little brother."

"I was friends with Marc Anthony and then he started dating Jennifer, and he was doing a film, Man on Fire. I went to his premiere and he said, 'Oh my God, you have to meet Jennifer!' " Remini later told Entertainment Tonight in 2018 when she and Lopez were promoting their film Second Act.

She continued, "And he was telling Jennifer, 'You have to meet Leah and Angelo,' my husband. We went to the premiere, I went hoping she was gonna be ugly in real life. And then, when I was approaching her, I was like, 'I hope it's the lighting. Maybe she just looks good in here.' And as I got closer I was like, 'Oh damn, there's a lot of light right here and she looks really pretty.' "

He adopted a rescue dog

In addition to Sophia, Remini and Pagán are also parents of a Husky mix named Louie. They adopted the rescue pup in September 2019 and he is regularly featured on both of their Instagrams.

"A boy and his dog! This guy right here is keeping me young. I'm 12 again," Pagán captioned a 2019 video of him and Louie.

Remini and Pagán's divorce became final in October 2024

On Aug. 29, 2024, Remini and Pagán revealed in a joint Instagram post that they were divorcing after 21 years of marriage.

In their joint announcement, the pair said, "We both changed, as people do, and we got used to playing roles that didn’t fit us anymore."

"Our bond is still strong—it’s just evolved into something different," the announcement continued. "We think a marriage that lasted this long and created so many beautiful memories, especially raising our incredible daughter, is something to celebrate. From our perspective, this marriage was a huge success. And now, we’re looking forward to creating even more cherished moments—just in a different way."

Remini and Pagán added that they hope their relationship journey "can inspire others to see that relationships—whether they change or end—aren’t failures."

The King of Queens actress filed for divorce one day later. She cited irreconcilable differences and listed their date of separation as Aug. 1, 2024.

The former couple settled their uncontested divorce on Oct. 11. According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Remini and Pagán agreed to the terms of their split in mediation, and the details of their divorce will remain confidential.