All About Dylan and Cole Sprouse's Parents, Melanie Wright and Matthew Sprouse

Matthew Sprouse kept Dylan and Cole Sprouse grounded throughout childhood fame and a tough custody battle with Melanie Wright

Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse are no strangers to the spotlight.

Born to Matthew Sprouse and Melanie Wright in Tuscany, Italy, where the former couple were teaching English at the time, the twins got their start in acting when they were less than one year old.

After landing roles in Friends and movies like Big Daddy, Dylan and Cole earned their own show on the Disney Channel, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

While the brothers' careers were taking off, their family life was struggling behind closed doors. Melanie and Matthew had divorced by the time the boys were 2 years old, and Melanie went on to allegedly spend nearly all of their earnings from their early acting roles, resulting in Matthew being granted sole custody of the twins when they were about 10 years old.

"My mother was an incredibly wonderful and artistic woman, but she was financially the most irresponsible woman ever," Cole shared in a March 2023 interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

Today, neither Cole nor Dylan maintains a relationship with Melanie. "I think it was the consequence of some weird alchemy of addiction and mental instability, and it's probably the greatest wound in my life, and also the greatest driving force for my continuing in this industry," the Riverdale actor said of his mom. "She really believed that I could be the best and I think I still do it for her ... to kind of keep her dream alive."

The twins are, however, very close with their dad, whom Cole credited for shaping him into the person that he is today (Dylan has not spoken publicly about his parents or upbringing).

So, who are Dylan and Cole Sprouse's parents? Here's everything to know about Matthew Sprouse and Melanie Wright.

They taught at an English language school in Tuscany, Italy

Matthew and Melanie taught at an English language school in Tuscany, Italy, when Dylan and Cole were born, as Cole told Call Her Daddy's Alex Cooper. He recalled that his parents were part of "this school slash cult" there.

"My father was teaching physical education, and my mother was an art teacher," the actor said, joking, "And we were just born out there 'cause it was romantic and sexy." The family briefly moved to Switzerland just before Melanie took the twins to Los Angeles.

They split when Dylan and Cole were babies

Melanie and Matthew got married in 1990, but they split when the twins were less than a year old. Melanie later lost custody to Matthew when they were about 10 years old.

On Sept. 18, 2020, Melanie posted an Instagram photo of her and Matthew smiling at their wedding and captioned it simply, "Our wedding day."

Melanie pushed Dylan and Cole to act for financial reasons

Melanie put the twins into acting when they were babies to help pay the bills. "I think there's two types of kids within the child acting business. There's, like, the thespian children who choose to do it and then there's the working-class kids that, in our case, at least…I mean, it started, really, as a means to put bread on the table," Cole said during the podcast. "My parents did not come from too much."

He noted that while he didn't have a choice in the matter, he doesn't resent his parents or "regret" his child acting days. He continued, "I have now been granted a life of primarily financial stability—and surplus in very many cases—that is the byproduct of working for 30 years and trading my childhood."

They were on very different pages about Dylan and Cole's acting careers

According to Cole, Melanie was always more "fascinated" by the entertainment business than Matthew was. An automotive repairman, the twins' father approached his sons' acting careers from a different perspective.

"He had a very blue collar approach to understanding our business," Cole said on Call Her Daddy. "I'm very thankful for my father's philosophy of life, because it allowed me to take none of this too seriously, which is great."

The former Disney star added that his father understood the industry in terms of its financial benefits. He explained, "It was like, 'This is a gold rush, man. You gotta strike this vein while it's hot.' "

Matthew got sole custody of Dylan and Cole

During his Call Her Daddy appearance, Cole shared that Melanie struggled with mental health and addiction and spent all of his and his brothers' earnings prior to their work on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. When the twins were 10, she was deemed unfit to parent, and the court granted Matthew sole custody; Cole described the process as "a lengthy court battle."

"When my father was given forced custody, we had pretty much lost everything from the youngest parts of our career," he recalled. "That would be Friends and Big Daddy. My mother was an incredibly wonderful and artistic woman, but she was financially the most irresponsible woman ever."

Despite the hard times throughout his childhood, Cole noted that he doesn't blame Melanie. "She's human," he said.

Matthew kept Dylan and Cole grounded

Matthew did his best to keep the twins grounded and made their lives as ordinary as possible. "He desperately wanted us to be normal kids," Cole recalled to Cooper. The Riverdale star added that his father guided him and Dylan with "a very gentle, but firm hand towards a sort of moral compass."

"My father's like my best friend. He's a really, really solid dude," he added.

Matthew has been featured in several posts on Cole's Instagram. In January 2021, the actor posted a throwback photo of his parents together, and in November 2019, he shared a birthday tribute for Matthew. "Everyone say happy birthday to pops," the actor captioned the photo of him and his father.

Melanie shares throwback photos of her sons on Instagram

While Dylan and Cole may not keep in constant contact with Melanie, as Cole shared on Call Her Daddy, Melanie shares the occasional throwback photo of the twins on her Instagram.

In April 2021, she posted a photo of her, Matthew and the twins smiling in a jacuzzi together. "New parents Matt and Mel at my folks house jacuzzi time. We just moved home from Italy," she wrote in the caption. Alongside a Feb. 5, 2021, throwback photo of the twins as toddlers, she wrote: "Best friends."

"Every once in a while she'll reach out to me ... some weird hieroglyphic text ... that I try to decipher and pinpoint where she is," Cole said of their current relationship. "We have a very very challenged relationship."

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