Brad Garrett's Secret Split

Tue., Aug. 15, 2006 5:45 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

It turns out that Brad Garrett only plays a 'Til Death guy on TV.

But it's okay if you didn't know. Nobody knew.

The six-foot-eight Emmy winner told USA Today that he and his wife of seven years, Jill Diven, managed to amicably separate and divorce this past year without anybody catching on--not even Garrett's parents.

As late as Monday, the newspaper reported, the crew on Garrett's new Fox sitcom didn't know their leading man was also a single man, either.

Marriage "is a blending of neuroses," the always-on funnyman said. "It worked in the olden days because there were no cars, and you really couldn't get away."

But beneath that joking exterior lies a mature family man who had nothing but the nicest things to say about his ex, calling her an "extraordinary woman" and "the greatest mom in the world."

Diven weighed in on the situation, as well, saying that she had "nothing but positive things to say about Brad. We both realized we're best friends, and we're always going to be best friends. People grow apart. We could do the 'he said/she said' thing, but that's not us."

The pair have two children, seven-year-old Max and six-year-old Hope, and each maintains a bedroom at the other's residence.

"Our number-one focus is our kids and parenting," Garrett said. "We will always be friends because we will never be single parents. We will always be two parents."

But "you can't stay together for the kids, because kids know everything. Sure, it's daunting to have Daddy move out, but when he's back two days later, and he gives Mom a hug, and everyone goes to lunch--that's what it's about."

Garrett met Diven while she was working as a cocktail waitress at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas. But he wasn't ordering drinks--the 46-year-old actor has been off the sauce for 10 years.

Being both a recovering alcoholic and Jewish, Garrett was then asked his thoughts on the whole Mel Gibson hullabaloo.

"I pray for his sobriety," Garrett said. "Booze will make you do some scary, scary things. In the days when I used to drink, I would get drunk and yell out awful things about Lethal Weapon 3."

It's harder to come up with insults to direct at Garrett's career right now. He won three Emmys playing attention-deprived older brother Robert on Everybody Loves Raymond and, while his own spinoff wasn't in the cards, a deal with Fox was.

'Til Death, starring Garrett and Joely Fisher as a disillusioned married couple living next door to starry-eyed newlyweds played by Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster, premieres Sept. 7.