Celebrity
Megan Mullally & Nick Offerman’s Relationship Includes Several Collaborations
Offerman credits his wife for his 2023 role in HBO’s The Last of Us.
After more than two decades together, Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman have learned a thing or two about what makes a successful relationship. “We have a two-week rule,” Mullally explained to GQ in 2017. “We’re never apart for more [than] two weeks. Just not being separated for Jurassic periods of time seems to help. And no children probably helps a lot.”
Their reason for not having children, the Will & Grace alum added, was partly strategic: “I never had a burning desire to have children,” she shared. “But then I met Nick, and I thought “This is the only person I’d do this with.” So we tried, but I was a little long in the tooth for that sort of thing. But we didn’t turn it into a soap opera. We tried for about a year or so, and it didn’t happen, and took that to mean it wasn’t meant to be.”
Offerman, for his part, chimed in, joking, “Our attempts may not have been great because we still haven’t had full-on sex.”
Instead, the funny couple has focused on creating comedy together, and have already been in so many projects together that shared titles on IMDb are in triple figures. As they continue to add to their portfolios, here's a rundown of the history of their relationship, aka The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.
2000: They Meet Doing The Play The Berlin Circle
As the couple has recounted many times, Mullally and Offerman first met when they were both in the play The Berlin Circle in Los Angeles. For the Sundance Channel's The Mortified Sessions in 2011, they spoke about how Mullally had just finished the second season of Will & Grace while Offerman was sleeping on a friend's couch. But even though they were at different places in their lives, Offerman noted that "Megan took a chance on me." You can watch the video of them discussing how they first met here.
2001: Offerman Stops By Will & Grace
Although Offerman hadn't seen Will & Grace before he started dating Mullally, he quickly became a fan. In an interview with IndieWire, Mullally said that Offerman only missed a couple tapings of the show from Season 3 on. He even had a small part as "Nick the plumber" who kissed Karen in Season 4's Thanksgiving episode, "Movable Feast."
As Mullally told IndieWire and Offerman discussed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he almost was offered the role of Grace's boyfriend Nathan, but Woody Harrelson took the part.
2002: They Get Engaged
Before she met Offerman, Mullally had already been married and divorced (to talent agent Michael Katcher). But she was willing to give marriage another shot with Offerman, who proposed in 2002. As the couple explained to Playboy, Offerman had previously faked engagements three times during a trip to Paris with disposable rings courtesy of the Will & Grace costume designer. But he did an official proposal in London as he discussed on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
2003: They Secretly Wed
Offerman and Mullally had a surprise wedding on Sept. 20, 2003 on the eve of the Emmys. People reported that Mullally told Entertainment Tonight that she and Offerman had their closest family and friends gather for a fake Emmys party at their home that turned out to be their wedding. As E! reported, the couple lived in Mullally's home in Hollywood's Sunset Strip district.
2006: They Celebrate Mullally's Second Emmy Win
Mullally was nominated for an Emmy for her role as Karen Walker every year from 2000 to 2006. While she didn't win an Emmy the year she got married, she did take home the prize for the second time for the final season of Will & Grace — and her husband was there to cheer her on. (That year was also when Mullally performed with Donald Trump, which is something she's not super proud of nowadays.)
2007: They Move To New York
Although the couple lives in Los Angeles, they briefly moved to New York City so that Mullally could star in Young Frankenstein on Broadway. "Sometimes when your wife says, 'Hey, can we move to New York so I can do this Mel Brooks musical?,' you take a deep breath and say, 'Yes, we can, honey,' and you pack a bag of chisels and hand planes," the woodworking actor told The New Yorker. He also saw his wife in the production 25 times.
2008: Offerman Writes His Wife A Birthday Song
Offerman and Mullally are both talented musicians and for her 50th birthday in 2008, he wrote his wife "The Rainbow Song." (Mullally is 11 years older than Offerman.) In 2015, Offerman released the above cleaned-up version for charity.
2009-2015: Mullally Visits Pawnee
Offerman's big break came in 2009 with his role as Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec. Mullally had an epic guest role throughout the series as Ron's second wife Tammy Two, who still managed to have a sexy hold on the serious Swanson. As previously mentioned, the pair have costarred together in many other projects, including Children's Hospital.
2018: They Write A Book
After 15 years of marriage, the couple released their New York Times' bestselling book, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told. The book features the pair photographed in iconic ways. Clearly, Mullally and Offerman know a thing or two about navigating fame and maintaining a committed relationship.
2018: Offerman Returns To Will & Grace
In Will & Grace Season 9’s “Friends and Lovers” episode in 2018, Offerman returned to play a different role in the NBC revival: Jackson Boudreaux, a celebrity chef who dated both Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing).
2019: They Give Clayton Relationship Advice On The Bachelor
During Colton Underwood’s Bachelor season in 2021, the couple, who are both fans of the series, shared some hilarious words of wisdom. As they revealed on Good Morning America, Offerman had Krystal Nielson and her fiancé Chris Randone record a message for Mullally for their 15th wedding anniversary (which has the traditional gift of crystal — get it).
2019-2020: They Launch A Relationship Podcast
Just as the title would suggest, their relationship podcast, In Bed With Nick and Megan, which premiered in November 2019, featured the couple inviting guests into their bed where they recorded the episodes. The podcast, which ran until September 2020, promised to give fans “a funny, revealing, and very candid look into their relationship and life at large.”
2021: They Join Forces For An Animated Sitcom
In Fox’s animated sitcom, The Great North, which premiered in 2021, Offerman leads the voice cast Beef, while his wife voices Judy’s boss, Alyson. During the pandemic, they recorded their parts in a makeshift studio in their home’s guest room. “They tend to write our characters flirting with each other spatially, but we never quite get together,” Offerman explained during a joint interview on The View in March 2021, prompting Mullally to add, “Not yet!”
2022: They Co-Host The Film Independent Spirit Awards
In March, the couple co-hosted the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards at the Santa Monica Pier, and their opening monologue was “as sexually charged as fans may have expected,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We hope to get a little rowdy, but it’ll mainly be legitimate cinematic discourse,” Mullally and Offerman joked in a joint statement before the broadcast, adding, “Although, with the two of us involved, it’s more likely to be intercourse. Either way it’ll be legit.”
2023: Offerman Credits Mullally For His The Last Of Us Role
After Offerman made his debut as survivalist Bill in HBO’s The Last of Us, he credited Mullally with convincing him to take on the critically acclaimed guest role. On the verge of bowing out due to scheduling conflicts, the actor showed his wife the script, and she talked him into making it work. “Megan wants to go on record as taking full credit for me doing this because in our household it was an impossibility and she said with the clarity of purpose of the Greek goddess Hera, ‘You have to do this,’” he explained to GQ.
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