Melina Alves breaks silence on Joey Lawrence affair allegations

Melina Alves has broken her silence on allegations she and Joey Lawrence had an affair.

The actress's estranged husband accused her of a romance with her Socked in for Christmas co-star, weeks after Joey and his wife Samantha Cope filed for divorce.

On Thursday, Melina's estranged husband Edward Rider filed new divorce court documents accusing her of infidelity and that he first learned she and Joey, 48, were sleeping together in March.

Shortly afterwards, Melina, 40, took to her social media to deny the claims.

"It is with deep sadness and heavy heart that I must address the recent allegations about the relationship between myself and Joey Lawrence, which have unfortunately become a private matter," Melina wrote in a statement published on her Instagram account.

Adding the accusations were "deeply distressing", Melina said "there was no sexual relationship between" herself and Joey while they worked together on the Christmas movie, but they had developed a friendship based on their "common ground in our shared experiences".

Melina also specified she and Edward first separated in January 2023 and while they still share a house, they live separately.

Joey's estranged wife Samantha, 37, filed for divorce from him on 13 August after two years of marriage.

They share daughter Dylan, 19 months.