Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher filed for divorce last year, ending a two-decade relationship that has taken them all over the world. The saga has a lot of fans struggling to catch up, and some of the details can be hard to dig up or connect. Here’s a breakdown of their relationship and what the public knows for sure.
Cohen is best known for going deep into character and improvising uncomfortable comedic scenes with people who may not know exactly what they signed up for – from Borat to Who is America. As for Fisher, she is best known for her roles in movies like Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic. She grew up in Australia, and she reportedly met Cohen at a party in Sydney in 2002. They became engaged in 2004, married in 2010 and had three children – one in 2007, one in 2011, and one in 2016.
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Cohen was born in London, England, and raised there in a tight-knit Jewish community. Meanwhile, Fisher was born in Muscat, Oman, though both of her parents were from Scotland. Her family stayed there for a few years while her father worked as a banker for the United Nations, but they moved when she was young — first back to Scotland and then to Perth, Australia.
In Australia, Fisher grew up and made her way into the entertainment industry, mostly through soap operas. She took a break to study acting for a while before breaking out in Hollywood. Her first major role was in the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo adaptation, where she played Mary Jane, the love interest for Shaggy (Matthew Lillard).
The same year that movie came out, Fisher met Cohen, and she never looked back. The couple became so close so quickly that Fisher converted to Judaism to make their marriage legitimate for Cohen’s family. She told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph at the time: “I will definitely have a Jewish wedding just to be with Sacha. I would do anything – move into any religion – to be united in marriage with him. We have a future together, and religion comes second to love as far as we are concerned.”
Fisher reportedly studied the faith for three years, took a Hebrew name, and observed the Sabbath. Cohen himself has said that he is not “a religious Jew,” but is “proud of my Jewish identity and there are certain things I do and customs I keep.”
Fisher and Cohen’s children are named Olive, Elula, and Montgomery, and they generally live private lives as well. Fisher told the Telegraph: “I’m not really comfortable talking about my private life and Sacha and I are probably very similar in that we hide our feelings behind humor.”
The family split their time between a home in London and another in Los Angeles, California, where both Fisher and Cohen continue to work in the entertainment industry. Both have big projects coming up, but it’s not clear where they will settle the children now that they are divorcing.
Cohen and Fisher announced their divorce last week in a joint statement posted on Instagram. They said: “After a long tennis match lasting over twenty years, we are finally putting our racquets down. In 2023 we jointly filed to end our marriage. We have always prioritized our privacy, and have been quietly working through this change. We forever share in our devotion and love for our children. We sincerely appreciate your respecting our family’s wish for privacy.”
