Ricki Lake opened up about her ex-husband’s suicide while praising a reality star’s public grief.
The “Hairspray” actress, 58, appeared on Wednesday’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” alongside Mary Cosby, 53, star of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” During their conversation, Lake drew a direct line between her own experience and Cosby’s recent loss of her son Robert Jr., who died at age 23.
“I also am someone who is very accustomed to loss. I lost my husband almost ten years ago,” Lake told Cosby on the Bravo program.
Lake was referring to Christian Evans, the jewelry designer she married in 2012 after a two-year engagement. Evans, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, died by suicide in 2017 at age 45.
The pair had split in 2014 but remained close until his death. Lake marked the tragedy with a public statement on Instagram at the time.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share that my beloved soulmate, Christian Evans has passed,” she wrote on the platform.
“The world didn’t understand this man, but I did. He succumbed to his life long struggle with bipolar disorder,” she added in the post.
On Wednesday’s broadcast, Lake framed Cosby’s handling of her son’s death as a form of service to others. She told the Bravo star she’s “helping” and “really doing a service” for people dealing with loss, adding that Cosby was handling the tragedy “with such grace.”
“And having to rise in the public and go through this, it’s really a testament to you and your strength,” Lake continued.
Lake’s own public reckoning with Evans’ death has stretched across years. In 2024, she spoke about attempting to “save” him during his mental health struggles.
“I know he suffered from depression and had a lot of pain,” she said at an event that year. “We were together four years before he had his first psychotic break. It was almost more shocking seeing him turn into another person than his ultimate death.”
She detailed the efforts she made during their relationship. “I went to great lengths to save him; I did everything I could in my power to bring him to the doctor to get him help, and it was really challenging,” she said.
Lake met Evans in 2010 through a mutual friend. Their relationship moved quickly: engagement in August 2011, elopement the following year. Even after their 2014 separation, the bond persisted until his death three years later.
The talk show host has since remarried. She wed attorney Ross Burningham in January 2022. Still, she has continued to honor Evans publicly, including on the fifth anniversary of his death in February 2022.
“He was and continues to be my greatest teacher. I am a far better version of myself having been loved so deeply by him,” she wrote on Instagram alongside photos of the couple.
She added, “Missing Christian and honoring his memory today and everyday.”
Lake’s appearance on Cohen’s show placed her in the position of both mourner and witness, using her established loss to validate another public figure’s pain. The exchange capped a decade of her speaking about Evans in various forums, from immediate grief to retrospective reflection.
Her 2024 remarks about Evans’ “psychotic break” offered one of her most direct descriptions of his illness progression. The contrast she drew between the man she knew and the person he became under illness underscored the disorientation she described.
Lake’s Wednesday comments to Cosby carried the weight of that history. “It’s an honor to be here with you tonight,” she told her, closing the exchange.
Lake and Burningham remain married. She has not announced any upcoming projects tied to mental health advocacy, though her public comments on Evans have recurred across multiple platforms since 2017.