Who Is Molly McNearney? Meet Jimmy Kimmel’s Wife

Jimmy Kimmel had a big weekend at the 2023 Academy Awards, but even die-hard fans don’t know all the details of his personal life. Kimmel has a workplace love story for the ages with his wife Molly McNearney, though they don’t publicize it too often. Here’s a run-down on what fans know about McNearney and her romance with Kimmel.

McNearney is 45 years old, and most likely met Kimmel in 2006 when she first took a job as a writer on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live. That was McNearney’s first job in Hollywood according to her IMDb page, though she has since become a successful writer, producer and actress in her own right. In addition to writing and producing Kimmel’s late-night show with him, she was a writer on the Emmys in 2012, 2017 and 2020 as well as the Oscars in 2017, 2018 and 2023 – all with Kimmel as host.

McNearney is also credited for writing Kimmel’s speech at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and the 2008 TV special Big Night of Stars which Kimmel hosted. More recently, her acting credits are all her own. McNearney appeared in the 2017 comedy Fun Mom Dinner, 2018’s Dumplin‘, 2019’s Murder Mystery and a 2021 episode of The Morning Show.

According to a report by PEOPLE, McNearney and Kimmel began only as friends and collaborators. Both were dating other people when they first met. Kimmel, eight years older than his wife, had already been married for 14 years with two children before his divorce. However, when he met McNearney he was nearing the end of his seven-year-long relationship with comedian Sarah Silverman.

After two years as friends and colleagues, Kimmel and McNearney began dating in 2009 when both found themselves single. They got engaged in 2012 while on vacation in Africa, and they married in 2013 in Ojai, California at a star-studded event full of A-listers. They left immediately for a honeymoon in Italy, and in 2014 they welcomed their first child, Jane.

Fans are more likely to be familiar with the harrowing tale of McNearney’s second birth in 2017. Their son Billy was born with a rare congenital heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Kimmel covered the little-known condition on his show from a personal and medical standpoint, and referenced it in the years that followed as he condemned lawmakers for their stance on healthcare policies.

Those segments were obviously important to McNearney as well, but she hasn’t always stayed behind the camera. In one light-hearted segment, she took the stage to give away possessions of her husband’s that she finds tacky or distasteful. That now remains a regular feature on the show.

McNearney’s influence is all over Jimmy Kimmel Live and other works by Kimmel, even if fans don’t always see her on screen. The late-night show airs on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.