Peter Facinelli is finding his on-going divorce "very painful".

The actor filed legal papers to end his marriage to Jennie Garth last month, citing irreconcilable differences. The pair had been married for 11 years and have three children together.

Peter co-hosted Live! With Kelly this morning and spoke about the split.

"It's very painful to break up with somebody, especially after you've been together for 17 years and have kids. I've tried to stay really quiet about it for the sake of my kids," he said.

Peter and Jennie are determined to maintain a close relationship so they can co-parent Luca, 14, Lola, nine, and five-year-old Fiona.

"[We] are doing really well. She'll always be in my life. I love her, we're just going to have a different relationship," he explained. "We're very dedicated to being great parents."

Jennie recently admitted she struggled when she first realised she was splitting from Peter. Initially she blamed the separation on her 38-year-old partner, but soon realised that was unfair.

"At first, I wanted to say that [our marriage] is not working for him and he's the one that's not happy," she said.

"But when I really looked into how I was feeling, I could see it was the best thing for both of us. I didn't want to admit it, because I didn't want to let him go."