A new celebrity couple met at church, you say?
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: a new celebrity couple meets at church, an old celebrity couple vacations in Montana, and Hilary Duff finds out about cheugy.
Amidst of the great Bennifer renaissance, several other surprising celebrity couples have made themselves known to us. First, we learned that Porsha Williams, of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, is engaged to the estranged husband of another woman on the show. (To Bravo fans: I am happy to talk more about this anytime.) Next, the actress Kat Dennings revealed she is engaged to … Andrew W.K.? But the unexpected pairing that is getting the most attention this week is that of John Mulaney and Olivia Munn.
Mulaney, the 38-year-old comedian, has been in Page Six more than usual lately, because he is performing in New York for the first time since completing a 60-day rehab stay in February. At the top of the week, his reps confirmed to the outlet that he is also in the process of divorcing his wife of six years, the artist Anna Marie Tendler. And then, just three days later, someone leaked to People that he is now dating Munn, the 40-year-old actress and dog rescuer.
I don’t have any particular thoughts about the wisdom of these romantic decisions, but I am curious about whatever media rollout is happening here. Historically, Mulaney hasn’t been much of a tabloid character — he’s never publicly dated another big celebrity. Munn, meanwhile, seems to find herself in the tabloids more than you might expect. When I first read People’s report about this budding relationship, I was reminded of early 2018, when Entertainment Tonight reported that Chris Pratt, who had just filed for divorce from Anna Faris, was dating Munn.
Munn made a huge deal of the otherwise-not-very-interesting story. (ET only claimed that Pratt and Munn had dinner at Craig’s in LA one time.) She posted multiple statements denying the romance on Twitter and Instagram, and she also shared a screenshot of an apologetic text she sent to Faris about it. (Faris, for the record, handled the situation with casual grace.) Pratt never commented on the story, and it appears that he and Munn never dined together again.
So now, in 2021, Munn has been accused of dating another famous person who is going through a divorce. How did this happen? According to People’s source, “This is very new, they're taking it slowly. They met at church in Los Angeles.”
Hmm. They met at church in Los Angeles. Which one? Mulaney is famously Catholic. As a lapsed Catholic, I will go ahead and confidently say that we don’t really meet people at church. And Munn has never been publicly associated with any particular congregation. I don’t really see these two hooking up at, like, Hillsong or Zoe. (Incidentally Pratt did meet his second wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, through Zoe pastor Chad Veach.)
Page Six points out that Mulaney and Munn met at least once several years ago at Seth Meyers’s wedding, which was not in L.A. or at a church. Munn was there with her then-boyfriend Will Forte, and Mulaney was there with Tendler. Munn later remarked to HuffPost that she approached Mulaney as a fan and was “obsessed with hanging out and talking to him.”
So far, Munn has not taken to Twitter or Instagram to correct People’s story. She did, however, send Mulaney some support via Twitter in December, when it was reported that he had entered rehab.
By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the photos: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez went to freakin’ Montana together. It’s on. A source told People, “It’s all been quick and intense, but Jennifer is happy.” Another insider revealed to E! News that, “It’s natural between them and the chemistry is unreal.”
To break down this once-every-17-years event, I chatted with writer and Bennifer expert Hunter Harris. That interview went out to paid subscribers yesterday — you can subscribe and catch up right here, if you’d like. Of Affleck’s apparent obsession with taking women he dates to Montana, Harris offered this theory:
“Maybe it’s that Montana sucks? And it’s like a test: You have to have a very specific personality to have fun there. It’s his litmus test for if the relationship can work.”
Did J.Lo pass the test? I hope we will see new photos to confirm as much very soon.
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: On Instagram this week, Hilary Duff wondered if she is “cheugy.” What do you think?
Finally, I’ll leave you with this photo of Katie Holmes on the set of her new movie in NYC this week:
According to People, things are officially over with her and her restaurateur boyfriend of eight months, Emilio Vitolo Jr. A source revealed: "They split several weeks ago. There was no drama.”
I don’t know, I bet there was at least a little bit of drama. Either way, I will miss their lower Manhattan pap strolls. Which New York couple will take up the mantle now?
Thanks so much for opening this email. If you have a friend who likes celebrity gossip, why not forward it to them? And if you’d like to sign up for a paid subscription, you can do that in the box above. As always, feel free to send me all your thoughts and theories in the comments or by replying directly to this email.
I am so weirdly obsessed with the Mulaney gossip. I am embarrassed at how invested I am in the whole thing! I guess its because even though I know that most relationships don't last, I at least though that if/when his marriage ended, he'd have the grace not to announce another one 3 days after (with Olivia Munn no less). It really tarnishes my opinion of him :(
Did I spend significant time googling variations of “olivia munn” and “religious”? Yes. Nothing of note, harumph.