Lisa Askey was married to the actor Donald Faison from 2001 to 2005 and is the mother of three of his six children. In everything written about that marriage since, she is quoted exactly twice, both times in the same 2002 interview and both times about her husband rather than herself. Faison is back playing the same role this year, in a new season of Scrubs that returned to ABC after a sixteen year gap.
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Lisa Askey, also known as Lisa Askey Faison |
| Known for | First wife of actor Donald Faison |
| Married | 2001 |
| Divorced | 2005 |
| Children | Dade, Kaya and Kobe Faison |
| Died | March 1, 2017 |
Meeting in 1997, and the interview that followed
Askey and Faison started dating in 1997. She was a nursing student. He was two years past his breakout supporting role in the film Clueless and, by his own account, not handling the money from it well.
“I spent money on stupid things. A motorcycle, a big-screen TV,” Faison told PEOPLE in a 2002 profile. “I was lazy and she straightened me out.”
That profile, published on June 17, 2002 under the headline “What’s Up, Doc?”, is built almost entirely around Faison and his early run on Scrubs. Askey appears in it twice. She describes him showing up to one of the kids’ birthday parties dressed as a dinosaur. “Everyone thought he was a hired clown,” she said. Then, more simply: “he’s just a big kid himself.” She was twenty six at the time.
Twins in 1999, marriage in 2001, divorce by 2005
Askey and Faison had twins, son Dade and daughter Kaya, in 1999, two years before they married. They married in 2001. Their third child, son Kobe, was born that October. That same year, the two of them were photographed together at the Los Angeles premiere of the film Evolution, one of only a handful of public appearances from the marriage that turned up in any coverage. The marriage lasted about four years. Askey and Faison divorced in 2005, and neither has ever gone into detail about why.
Lisa Askey died in 2017, five years after Faison remarried
Seven years after the divorce, Faison married CaCee Cobb, in December 2012. The couple went on to have two children of their own, Rocco and Wilder Frances.
Five years after that, on March 1, 2017, Askey died. Faison announced it on Instagram that evening, reposting a message their son, Dade Faison, had written first.
“My son Dade is very brave,” Faison wrote. “Today he and his brother Kobe and sister Kaya lost their mother. Lisa Askey Faison. She and I never really saw eye to eye but one thing we did share was our love for our children. RIP Lisa. You raised three beautiful children into fine adults and I am forever grateful for that.”
Dade’s original post, underneath it, read in part: “I just wanted to say thank you so much mom! You have been there for me when I needed you most… You worked so hard and never gave up no matter how hard times got.”
PEOPLE confirmed the death at the time and reported that the cause was unknown. It still is. No cause has been made public, by Faison, by her family, or by any official source, in the nine years since.
What came after for the three children
Dade, Kaya and Kobe moved in with Faison and Cobb in the aftermath. Days after the announcement, Faison posted a photo of the four of them at dinner in Los Angeles, captioned “Last night in LA.”
In a 2019 interview, Faison talked about raising all six of his children, three from his marriage to Askey, two with Cobb, and an older son from an earlier relationship. “I’m Disney Dad,” he said. “I’m the one that you can count on for the laughs and the fun times.” He added that it was rare for him to discipline, and that his proudest moment as a father had been watching one of his older children graduate college.
A 2024 piece tied to his show Extended Family listed Kobe as twenty two and the twins as twenty four.
Faison is currently back on Scrubs, playing Dr. Chris Turk. His son Rocco turned thirteen this August, an age nobody had to work out from an old magazine quote. Askey’s own birth date has never been published anywhere.
