WillForte is married – and has been for some time! On Wednesday, he and his wife Olivia Modling announced their marriage in an article by PEOPLE Magazine. Their wedding is closely connected to Forte’s new MacGruber sequel, which premieres next week on Peacock.
Forte and Modling met in 2018 at a party, and things got serious fast. They got engaged near the end of 2019, and they had a daughter, Zoe, in February of 2021. Forte told PEOPLE that he and Modling were willing to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic to have a proper wedding, but as time went on, they saw less and less point in it. With their family suddenly growing, they decided to take the plunge in July while shooting MacGruber.
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“We were in New Mexico, making MacGruber,” Forte recalled. “We had gotten engaged right before the first COVID lockdown. And so when we were just starting to talk to planners, people were having to shut down their weddings. At the time, we said, ‘We’re in no rush. We can figure it out later.’ So then COVID goes by and we’re quarantining for a long time. And then the baby is this wonderful news. We find out we’re having a kid. And so we were in no rush, but every once in a while we would think about, ‘Let’s just do it.’”
They went for it on July 31, 2021, and they managed to get much of their guest list there after all. They had a big family visit planned for that date anyway, and they decided to surprise their loved ones with an impromptu ceremony.
“We realized, ‘Oh, all the people that we would want to be here are going to be here,’” Forte said. “Most of them, because a lot of my closest friends work on MacGruber with me. They were already in Albuquerque, so we just decided very last minute, ‘Let’s just have this wedding, surprise my parents.’ They didn’t even know until they pulled into the parking lot. And we just had this really fun, delightful wedding, pretty small, in the back of Jorma Taccone’s house.”
“It was just a delightful day,” the actor went on. “My parents were totally surprised. It was so stressful, the two weeks where we were planning. I can’t imagine having a year or more to stew over wedding plans.”
So far, Forte said his favorite part is getting used to saying the word “wife.” He said: “It’s fun to say ‘wife.’ I’ve never worn any jewelry in my life and it’s fun to wear a wedding ring. It already felt like we were married before. It doesn’t feel a lot different, but it’s still fun and exciting to say, ‘Wife.’ She’s great. I needed to find somebody who was a very patient person and she’s the most patient, understanding woman in the world. I’m feeling very happy and very lucky these days.”
The long-awaited MacGruber sequel premieres on Thursday, Dec. 16 on Peacock. The original 2010 movie is streaming now on Peacock.
