Peter Zurkuhlen likely has some reasons why he’s filing for divorce from ’13 Reasons Why’ star Tommy Dufren.
13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman’s husband Peter Zurkhlen has officially filed for divorce, as per TMZ. Peter visited an LA courthouse on Tuesday, Feb. 1 to file divorce documents. He and the Netflix star — who goes by she/her pronouns — had been married for five years. They had met way back in 2005 after they were introduced by a friend. They got engaged in 2015 and ended up tying the knot in November 2016.
Peter doesn’t work in the entertainment industry like his ex. He is the Chief of Staff at Get Help and also founded and is the CEO of ChipChop Holdings, Inc., as per LinkedIn. Before that, he graduated from Centre College in 2010 and worked as a real estate agent. His profile also states that he’s an advocate for the LGTBQ+ community, homelessness and mental health awareness.
Their divorce may have been in the works as Tommy discussed that she and her husband have had to “redefine their relationship” since she came out as a trans woman. “I was in a nine-year relationship in which I was thought of as a more male-bodied person, with a gay man,” she told Time. “I love him so much, but we’ve been learning that as a trans woman, what I’m interested in is not necessarily reflected in a gay man. So we’ve had incredible conversations to redefine our relationship as friends.”
Tommy came out as a transgender woman and announced her new pronouns in July 2021. “I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically,” she told the outlet. “Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.” She explained that she won’t be changing her name as it has a family significance as it was the name of her uncle who passed just before she was born.
Tommy played Ryan Shaver in 13 Reasons Why. Ryan was a recurring character who showed up in Seasons 1, 2, and 4. Those who watched the series will know that “Ryan’s Mistake” was the eighth reason why Hannah killed herself. In his spotlight episode, he was a member of the poetry club with Hannah. After convincing her to write an extremely private poem, he published it anonymously in the school’s paper without her permission.
