'Sex/Life' 's Sarah Shahi Talks 10 Years of 'Struggle' with Ex-Husband Steve Howey: 'Our Relationship Suffered'

Sarah Shahi filed for divorce from Shameless star Steve Howey in 2020 — and she credits part of that decision with reading Netflix's Sex/Life script

Sarah Shahi is revisiting her past marriage to Steve Howey.

The Sex/Life star opened up about what really led to her divorce from the Shameless actor, 45, after 11 years of marriage and 18 years as a couple. Shahi, 43, says it was actually the Netflix script for Sex/Life that gave her the confidence to look for something else.

"I was just questioning everything. As a wife and as a mom, you get told, 'Well, but you have it good. You have it good,'" she said on the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast Tuesday. "I just felt so unseen. … [Sex/Life] gave me the courage to say, 'I'm not happy. And I feel like we should as individuals have the right to be happy.'"

Related:Steve Howey and Sarah Shahi: Our Twins Brought Us Closer Together

Shahi also opened up about how welcoming kids William, 13, and twins Violet and Knox, 8, changed her marriage for good.

"From the time that our first child was born, our relationship suffered and it was hard to get back on track," she said. "We were together for a very long time. We were together for 18 years. That's not a failure. That was a long time. But the last 10 years we really did struggle."

Shahi added, "Any flaws you have in the relationship before you have kids, if you don't settle those things — that was my experience of, 'It gets worse,'" she continued. "It only gets worse. You have less time for each other, you have less patience, you have less desire because you're just so damn tired."

Related:Shameless Actor Steve Howey and L Word Star Sarah Shahi Split After 11 Years of Marriage

On Sex/Life, Shahi met her now-boyfriend Adam Demos. The pair play star-crossed exes with a taste for passion — despite the fact that Shahi has a "happy" home life as a suburban mom. In real life, their connection appeared to come on quickly.

Shahi clarified the timeline of her divorce and later connection with Demos, 37. After noting she divorced Howey three months before filming for Sex/Life began, Shahi said: "It was not instant. It was over time, it was getting to know him as a person and seeing how aligned our values were."

Shahi says she and Demos bonded organically as friends and costars before they became romantic.

"I also really respected how he talked about his mom and how he talked about women," she shared. "There was just so much that I started seeing over time that made me go, 'Oh, you're kind of everything I've ever wanted.' And that's when we started being together."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Sex/Life season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.