Deadliest Catch Star Jake Anderson Ends 13-Year Marriage, Confirms Divorce
Deadliest Catch season 22 sets sail with a gut punch as Jake Anderson confirms he and wife Jenna separated last year, ending a 17-year relationship and 13-year marriage.
Deadliest Catch kicks off season 22 with something a lot heavier than weather reports: Jake Anderson uses the premiere to say he and his wife Jenna have split. It is personal, messy, and, yes, it bleeds into his work life too.
The reveal
Jake, 45, confirms the divorce in the season opener and says the two actually separated last year. The episode was shot in fall 2025, and at that point they had been living apart for eight months. The timing checks out with where the new season drops on the calendar.
"After 17 years being together, 13 years married, Jenna and I have decided to call it quits."
He does not linger on the relationship details on camera, but he does explain the basic why: long stretches at sea and the pressure of providing for three young kids while not exactly holding down a 9-to-5 on land. If you have watched the show, none of that will surprise you, but hearing it from him still stings.
A little history
Jake has been on Deadliest Catch since 2007, which means a lot of his adult life has unfolded with cameras nearby. He and Jenna met back in 2009 at a Seattle festival after her family asked him for an autograph; he scrawled a flirty note, they traded calls for a few weeks, and that was that. They married in 2012 and built a family far from the spotlight. Over the years, Jake has occasionally posted glimpses of home, but Jenna rarely shows up in those photos.
- Together 17 years; married 13
- Met in 2009; married in 2012
- Kids: Aiden (11), Cadence (8), Luka (6)
- Separated last year; eight months apart by fall 2025 filming
- Jake has been on Deadliest Catch since 2007; he is 45
Single-dad snapshot
Right before the premiere roll-out, Jake shared a couch shot of his two sons watching the show with him. It read like a low-key nod to his new day-to-day without spelling anything out.
The work side gets complicated
On the professional front, the premiere shows Jake meeting with a lawyer about his stake in the Titan Explorer. The advice is basically: do not pour any more money into that ownership right now, because in a divorce it could get treated as an asset to be divided. Translation: keep your cash out of the boat until the papers are sorted.
Back to the Cornelia Marie
With the Titan Explorer situation tense, Jake steps in to run the Cornelia Marie, the late Phil Harris' old boat. It needs work. He has history there too; he first put time in on the CM when he was younger, brand-new with Jenna, getting barked at and grinding through the kind of seasons that age you fast. Coming back now feels different, but not easier.
Season 22 of Deadliest Catch premieres Friday, May 8, at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. The new season is also set to include a tribute to Todd Meadows.