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Ricki Lake mourns the death of her ex-husband: 'His spirit is free'

The pair finalized their divorce in 2015, but she still considered him her "soulmate."
/ Source: TODAY

Ricki Lake, who rose to fame in 1988's original "Hairspray" film," announced on Instagram Tuesday that her former husband Chris Evans had died at the age of 53.

She posted a touching tribute that provided few specifics (other than that his bipolar disorder was a factor), but illuminated their relationship, which was close even though they finalized their divorce in 2015.

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Evans was a jewelry designer and met Lake in 2010. They eloped in 2012, but she filed for divorce two years later. After a short pause where it seemed they might reconcile, they finalized the split. Evans was Lake's second husband; she was married to Rob Sussman from 1994-2004 and has two sons with him.

"We met through my best friend. He's a nobody but he's somebody to me," she told People magazine at the time. "He's everything to me ... We just clicked. It just feels like he was the right one all along."

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