‘New Girl’ Actress Zoe Lister-Jones Comes out as Queer

Zoe Lister-Jones is living her truth. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the Spirit Awards on Feb. 25, the New Girl star, 41, came out as queer as she debuted her new romance with filmmaker Sammi Cohen.

“I’m here, I’m queer, I have some fear but I’m working through it,” Lister-Jones said when asked about her plus-one, who she called “an amazing filmmaker in their own right.” Cohen directed the 2023 film You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, as well as Hulu’s Crush. Cohen previously opened up about their coming out journey during an appearance on the Yenta podcast in September 2023, sharing that “it took me a long time to come out, and then it took me a little bit longer to come out again as nonbinary. It’s been a long, very, very slow, chill process. … I only through standup, like a year and a half ago, came out as nonbinary out loud to people.”

Lister-Jones, who was previously married to artist and filmmaker Daryl Wein from 2013 to 2022, attended the Spirit Awards for her series Slip, which she created, co-executive produced, and starred in as Mae Cannon. The series was nominated for an award at the event. Speaking with THR about the nomination, the actress said “the Independent Spirit Awards is about independence of spirit. It’s about defying categorization. It’s about defying formula. It’s also where I’ve been recognized for my work this awards season, and so I’m really proud to be here on many fronts, in terms of my work and also where I’m at in my life.”

Speaking to THR, Lister also praised the event’s gender-neutral acting categories, saying that she was “so grateful to Film Independent for really being pioneers in that area. All award shows should follow in their footsteps and make categories genderless.” Lister-Jones noted, “I’m dating a nonbinary person. I’m friends with so many nonbinary people. And I think that without really shifting the paradigm in a larger way, it’s closing a lot of doors for really important voices.”

Since debuting their romance in late February, Lister-Jones has shared one more post to social media featuring Cohen. After attending the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 32nd Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party last month, the actress took to Instagram to share a photo from the red carpet showing her and Cohen holding hands. She wrote in the caption, “thank you to the best date ever [Sammi Cohen].”