Jo Koy and Chelsea Handler’s Relationship and Breakup, Explained

Before he was tapped to host the Golden Globe Awards, Jo Koy was regularly in the press for his relationship with fellow comedian Chelsea Handler. The two had actually known each other for nearly 20 years before becoming romantically involved.

According to Handler on an episode of her Dear Chelsea podcast from October 2021, when Koy was a regular guest on her late-night talk show, Chelsea, Lately, which ran on E! from 2007 to 2014, she may have had feelings for him, but she “suppressed” them.

During the time they spent together on Chelsea Lately, Koy and the host had a very adversarial relationship. However, in hindsight, the standup comic now believes that she could not adequately express her feelings for the standup comic.

“In retrospect that was my version of flirting,” Handler told E! News in December 2021 at the People’s Choice Awards. 

“I think I was so out of touch with my own emotions that that was my currency.”

She added, “He keeps telling me that I’ve been in love this whole time and didn’t know it so I’m just choosing to believe that.”

Handler posted on Instagram in November 2021 how Koy had “renewed” her faith in men. Handler’s comment accompanied a series of photos of the couple, “Do you know how hot it is to have a man be turned on by my honesty, strength, and confidence? Someone who loves the fact that I’m not going to take anyone’s shit and isn’t intimidated or emasculated by my fierceness?”

“For everyone who is still looking for their person, do not adjust who you are or make yourself smaller to find them,” she added. “Be patient and never settle for anything less than you deserve. Your person is coming and sometimes — they’ve been standing in front of you the whole time.”

However, prior to their first anniversary in July 2022, Handler confirmed that the pair had put their romance on hold. She shared an Instagram video the duo made for their first anniversary, after which Handler revealed they had called it quits.

“It is with a heavy heart to announce that we have decided together that it is best for us to take a break from our relationship right now,” she explained on July 18. “I know many of you were invested in our love, and I wanted to express to you how much that meant to both of us. How much it still means. And how much I now believe in love for each of us.”

Handler continued by describing Koy’s impact on her “life forever.” “You blew my creativity open, my lust for working hard again, being on the road again, and you reminded me who I was and always have been, and my feet have never been more firmly planted on the ground,” she wrote. “This is not an ending but another beginning. It is a comfort to know that I am still in love and love this man the way the sun loves the moon and the moon loves the sun.”

In an interview with TMZ, Koy said he was still on good terms with Handler after their breakup. “Everything’s good. We’re taking a break,” Koy said. “We’re great friends, we’ve always been great friends. The love is still there.” In response to a question about whether they are still in touch, Koy replied, “Yeah … but all love. That’s all.”

In August 2022, Koy also told Entertainment Tonight, “We’re great friends and that’s how it will always be. I’ll always champion for her and she’ll always champion for me — and we’re gonna win, everyone wins,” he said, noting that the ex-couple was rekindling their friendship. “It’s great. It’s always been that way, so it’s the next chapter.”

Handler talked about her breakup with Koy on Brooke Shields’ Now What? podcast in December 2022. “I really believed that this was my guy. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I won.’ Like I got everything. I have my career, I have respect, I have my family, I have so many friends, I have all of these things. And then I thought this was gonna be the person I spend my life with,” she explained, adding that her views on marriage changed because of the relationship.

However, she noted that the pair had “some behaviors” they “couldn’t agree on.” “I am not going to change the way that I behave in order to make you feel more comfortable. I’m not doing that, and I had to walk away from something that I really believed was gonna be a forever relationship,” Handler continued. “So that was difficult.”

Handler explained her decision to stop mentioning Koy in January 2023 on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “I’m not promoting a breakup from six months ago,” she said. “I’m here to talk about all the other things I’m doing. And I understand people are interested but it’s just like, it’s run out of gas.” 

Meanwhile, Koy discussed his relationship status with PEOPLE at the She Ready Foundation’s 1st annual Prom Gala – A Night Under the Stars in May. “[I’m] single. Yes, yes, yes,” the comic said. “And our split was beautiful,” Koy said about dating Handler. “It really was.”

Previously, Handler dated TV executive Ted Harbert from 2006 to 2010 before moving on to hotelier André Balazs in 2011. Two years later, the two broke up. In 2010, she was also linked to rapper 50 Cent. Koy and ex-wife Angie King share a son, Joseph Herbert Jr.