--- title: Ricki Lake Reveals Ex-Husband Christian Evans Has Died description: Find out what Ricki Lake wrote in an emotional Instagram post about the death of her ex-husband Ricki Lake. canonical: https://time.com/4671975/ricki-lake-ex-husband-christian-evans/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-15T17:10:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:49.773Z og:title: Ricki Lake Reveals Her Ex-Husband Has Died After Struggle With Bipolar Disorder og:description: 'The world didn’t understand this man, but I did' og:url: https://time.com/4671975/ricki-lake-ex-husband-christian-evans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt815c21ac33b2852a/6988ba75656a3fb26bbcecae/ricki-lake-ex-husband-dead1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1936 og:image:height: 1089 og:image:alt: "More Business Of Being Born" - Los Angeles Premiere og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ricki Lake Reveals Her Ex-Husband Has Died After Struggle With Bipolar Disorder twitter:description: 'The world didn’t understand this man, but I did' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt815c21ac33b2852a/6988ba75656a3fb26bbcecae/ricki-lake-ex-husband-dead1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ricki Lake Reveals Her Ex-Husband Has Died After Struggle With Bipolar Disorder > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Natalie Stone / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Natalie Stone / People Contributor Feb 15, 2017 5:10 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 09: Actress Ricki Lake (R) and her fiance Christian Evans arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "More Business of Being Born" at Laemmle's Royal Theatre on November 9, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/FilmMagic) LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 09: Actress Ricki Lake (R) and her fiance Christian Evans arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "More Business of Being Born" at Laemmle's Royal Theatre on November 9, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/FilmMagic) Amanda Edwards—FilmMagic by [Natalie Stone / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Natalie Stone / People Contributor Feb 15, 2017 5:10 PM UTC [Ricki Lake](http://people.com/tag/ricki-lake/)‘s ex-husband Christian Evans has died. In an emotional Instagram and [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/msrickilake/photos/a.866750523365976.1073741829.840305629343799/1404604552913901/?type=3&theater) on Tuesday, the actress revealed that Evans, who battled bipolar disorder, has passed away. “It is with a heavy heart that I share that my beloved soulmate, Christian Evans has passed,” Lake, who was married to Evans from 2012-15, began the post. “The world didn’t understand this man, but I did. He succumbed to his life long struggle with bipolar disorder.” “For anyone who has ever lost a family member or friend to mental illness, my heart goes out to you. I am a greater person for having known him and spent the past 6 and a half years of my life with him,” she continued. “He was a man of love and what mends my broken heart today is knowing that he is finally at peace and his spirit is free.” She ended the post with, “Rest in peace, my love.” The couple [got engaged](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20517644,00.html) in August of 2011 and [eloped on April 8](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20585052,00.html) the following year. Lake separated from Evans on Oct. 9, 2014 and [filed for divorce](http://people.com/celebrity/ricki-lake-files-for-divorce/) a week later, citing irreconcilable differences. Lake told [PEOPLE in 2011](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20489028,00.html) that she began dating Evans, a jewelry designer, during the summer of 2010\. At the time, she described him as a “normal guy. We met through my best friend. He’s a nobody but he’s somebody to me. He’s everything to me.” “We just clicked,” she [told PEOPLE](http://people.com/celebrity/ricki-lake-files-for-divorce/) in 2012\. “It just feels like he was the right one all along.” _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/celebrity/ricki-lake-reveals-ex-husband-christian-evans-has-died-struggle-bipolar-disorder/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4671975/ricki-lake-ex-husband-christian-evans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4671975/ricki-lake-ex-husband-christian-evans/"},"headline":"Ricki Lake Reveals Her Ex-Husband Has Died After Struggle With Bipolar Disorder","datePublished":"2017-02-15T17:10:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:49.773Z","description":"'The world didn’t understand this man, but I did'","url":"https://time.com/4671975/ricki-lake-ex-husband-christian-evans/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt815c21ac33b2852a/6988ba75656a3fb26bbcecae/ricki-lake-ex-husband-dead1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Natalie Stone / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt815c21ac33b2852a/6988ba75656a3fb26bbcecae/ricki-lake-ex-husband-dead1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"More Business Of Being Born\" - Los Angeles Premiere","caption":"\"More Business Of Being Born\" - Los Angeles Premiere","creditText":"Amanda Edwards—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4671975/ricki-lake-ex-husband-christian-evans/","name":"Ricki Lake Reveals Her Ex-Husband Has Died After Struggle With Bipolar Disorder"}}]}] ```