Brian Austin Green is looking back at a previous chapter in his life.
Six months after the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum called his romantic relationship with ex-fiancée Vanessa Marcil "toxic," leading to a contentious online back-and-forth, he revealed what he learned from their 2003 breakup.
"It was a very tumultuous separation because you have this thing in your head of like, you want to win," Brian—who shares son Kassius, 23, with the General Hospital actress—explained on the Nov. 25 episode of the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast. "You want to be the smarter of the two. You want to be acknowledged for that. So you've got these unrealistic expectations and both of us did. So it was extremely tumultuous."
When he began dating Megan Fox in 2004, Brian knew he and his ex had to try to mend their dynamic.
"We really made a decision at the point when we separated, we can't keep this from affecting our kids, but it's up to us how it affects our kids," he shared. "It's going to no matter what. It sucks for kids when the parents separate and all that."
However, Brian, 52, emphasized that either he and Vanessa, 57—who were together from 1999 to 2003—could either be a positive experience for everyone or "you make it like each side talking s--t about the other parent."
The Knots Landing actor—who also shares sons Noah, 12, Bodhi, 11, and Journey, 9, with ex Megan, as well as 3-year-old Zane with fiancée Sharna Burgess—always tries to prioritize his kids' experience. And part of that is knowing when a relationship is dead on arrival.
"Kass is 23 now and so the last thing I want to do is have him deal with any sort of s--t," he said. "So, I just stay as far away from that situation as I can with his mom and go, 'We started something poorly that I don't think will ever fix itself. Let's just chalk it up to it was a learning lesson.'"
E! News has reached out to Vanessa's reps for comment and has not yet heard back.
Although Brian and Vanessa don't have the best relationship, he and Megan—who is also mom to her and ex-fiancé Machine Gun Kelly's daughter Saga, 7 months—have found their footing.
"Megan and I are great," Brian confirmed. "Megan gets along with my fiancée now, Sharna, amazingly. We just co-parent well. We stay out of each other's way. I realized early on people separate for a reason."
But that doesn't mean it was easy to transform their romantic relationship into a platonic one.
"We're not going to all of a sudden just be great friends as we're co-parenting," he noted. "We stopped being together because we didn't get along as well as we did when we first did, so let's take that expectation out of it and resign to the fact that, listen, I only care about the health and wellness of my kids."
When it came to his relationship with Vanessa, however, Brian didn't mince his words. In fact, he admitted that his bond with his mom led him to date The Rock actress.
"If I'm looking for a woman I want the complete opposite of that," he shared on his Oldish podcast in May. "But it took me—I had some major missteps because of that. I mean, the relationship that I had with Vanessa was very, it was very toxic in that way. Like it wasn't a loving, caring relationship."
"My mom was almost to the point of smothering, like she just loved me so much," he continued. "Just everything was about me. And then with Vanessa, it was not that at all, but it was masked in this is a relationship where that absolutely exists."
For Vanessa's part, although she didn't directly respond to ex's comments, she did share alleged texts with Brian that seemed to show the pair getting along as they celebrated Kass' college graduation.
For a closer look at Brian's blended family, keep reading.
Breakfast In Bed
Brian Austin Green enjoyed a lazy morning snuggled up with kids Noah, born in 2012, Bodhi, born in 2014, and Journey, born in 2016, who he shares with ex Megan Fox.
Swimming In Smiles
After Brian and Megan split in 2020, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum found love with his Dancing with the Stars pro partner Sharna Burgess. The two welcomed son Zane in 2022, and announced their engagement the following year.
Cuddle Corral
Sharna sharing a tender moment with Zane and his older siblings.
Girl Dad
Meanwhile, Machine Gun Kelly—whose real name is Colson Baker—welcomed daughter Casie with ex Emma Cannon in 2009. He went on to get engaged to Megan in 2023.
Special Occasions
Despite her commitment to co-parenting, Megan has said it's not always a walk in the park. “It’s hard to not feel obligated to be with them all the time or to constantly feel like I’m not doing a good enough job,” she admitted to Glamour UK in 2022, “but I’m also separated from their father. So, I can only have them half of the time. That just is what it is.”
Christmas Card
Brian's blended family includes his adult son Kassius, whom he shares with ex Vanessa Marcil. The actor posed with Sharna and all five of his kids for a festive family photo in December 2023.
The Look of Love
For Megan, motherhood keeps her grounded. "When I step back, I know how connected I am and I’ve always been and how present I’ve always been,” she told Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in 2023. “I see the reflection of the type of mother that I am in their eyes and in their behavior."
Three's Company
In 2022, the Jennifer's Body star posted a rare photo alongside the "Emo Girl" singer and his daughter, taken at his 27 Club Coffee shop in Ohio.
Musical Prodigy
The hitmaker turns to his daughter for advice on his music. "I trust her opinion more than I trust my own now," he said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2021. "Like, she has her finger on the pulse of what's hot, or if I'm doing a song and it's the right one, she'll confirm it."
Mama Bear
In honor of Mother's Day 2024, Brian paid a loving tribute to Sharna. "You are an incredible mother and fiancée," he wrote on Instagram, "and we all love you to death."
Bookworm
Megan rarely features her kids on social media—for one very good reason. "I knew when they were very young, I wanted to try to protect them however I could, especially limiting their exposure to the internet," she told Glamour UK in 2022. "So far, we’ve done a really good job and we maintain their innocence in a lot of ways, but I know I can’t protect them forever."
Co-Parenting Pros
Brian's golden rule for co-parenting? Picking his battles. "People make a mistake of thinking that they're gonna do things so the separation doesn't affect the kids," he told E! News in 2024. "Of course it's gonna affect the kids. The only choice you have is how it affects the kids."
Keeping the Peace
Likewise, Megan makes a point not to speak ill of her kids' father around them. "I don't let anything in my energy like that when I'm around my kids," she said on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2023, "because if I don't accept and love their father, I'm rejecting a part of them, because he's a part of who they are always.
Pool Day
Brian snapped a pic of his brood having some fun in the sun in Malibu, captioning the Instagram post, "Great day!!"
Kicking the Habit
MGK—pictured with Casie at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2019—credited his daughter with helping him get clean after she told him she knew when he was high. "That was step one for me," the musician, who has been sober since August 2023, said on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast. "As a father and as a man, to be the father I wish my dad would have been, I have to break this generational curse for my kid."
Stepmom Supreme
Sharna has thanked Brian's kids for preparing her to be a mom. "I got to test out motherhood with these guys," she said on the Quite Frankly podcast in 2023. "I got to learn things and grow with them, about parenting and understanding kids ... and knowing, 'Oh my God, I think I can be really good at that.'"
Past Their Bedtime
In 2020, Brian was a celebrity contestant on The Masked Singer. "I was super excited for my kids to watch it with me," he wrote on Instagram, but "they fell asleep after 15 min."
Helping Hand
No job is too big for the TV star and his mini-mes.
More to Come?
While Brian revealed he got a vasectomy eight weeks after Zane was born, that doesn't mean he couldn't have it reversed down the road. "If we have the space and the ability to, would we love to? I certainly would," Sharna said on the Oldish podcast in January. "But we do have four young kids in the home and life is very, very busy."
The Family Grows Again
On March 27, 2025, Megan and MGK welcomed the newest member of their blended family: a baby girl, who arrived into the world with her own original score composed by the rocker and his musical pals including Travis Barker.
"She’s finally here," MGK exclaimed in a post on Instagram, "our little celestial seed."
They Scream for Ice Cream
Brian and Sharna enjoyed a sweet treat and some sweet laughs with Zion, Noah, Bodhi and Journey in April 2025.
Just Hanging
MGK spent quality time with his oldest daughter Casie shortly after announcing the birth of his and Megan's baby girl.