I can’t help it, I still love Janeane Garofalo. I came of age in the 1990s when she was a big deal. One of my happiest moments as a West Wing fan was when she joined the series in the last two seasons as a brash communications expert/image-maker. It’s interesting to go back and watch some of Janeane’s movies from the 1990s – very few of them are “good movies” but she’s good in them, and I always think that she was a better actress and a much prettier woman than people claimed. Like, everyone was always like “She’s the normal-looking one, she’s the average one compared to [Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, etc].” But she was always really beautiful, I thought.
Anyway, when Janeane joined her friends in NYC over the weekend for a reunion of The Ben Stiller Show, Janeane confessed something kind of funny – she was married this whole time!
Janeane Garofalo was married for 20 years and didn’t even know it, until she needed to get divorced Saturday. She explained at a New York Comedy Festival reunion for “The Ben Stiller Show” that she married a writer on the series — Rob Cohen, who went on to produce “The Big Bang Theory” — in Las Vegas as a joke in the 1990s, and didn’t realize the nuptials had stuck.
“Rob and I got married, for real, which we had to have a notary dissolve not 30 minutes before we got here tonight,” Garofalo said. “We were married for 20 years until this evening.”
She added, “We got married drunk in Vegas . . . We dated for a year, and we got married at a drive-through chapel in a cab. [We thought] you have to go down to the courthouse and sign papers and stuff, so who knew? We were married, and apparently now that [Rob] is getting married for real, his lawyer dug up something.”
We’re told Cohen, whose credits include HBO’s “The Life & Times of Tim,” is engaged to Jill Leiderman, a producer on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” While Wikipedia had described Garofalo and Cohen as married, they apparently thought it was all part of the two-decade joke.
At the reunion, called “Oddly Familiar,” at the Paley Center for Media, director Judd Apatow asked the unwitting exes Garofalo and Cohen if either had benefitted financially from the split, which Garofalo said was notarized at a TD Bank in Midtown.
“I’m gonna get all of that ‘Reality Bites’ money!” Cohen joked, referring to Garofalo’s 1994 Ethan Hawke-Winona Ryder Generation X drama, which grossed $21 million.
Recalling their long-ago dating days, Garofalo quipped, “I’m sure I was terrible,” to which Cohen responded, “I will confirm that.” Garofalo added she no longer drinks.
Also at the reunion panel, sponsored by Svedka vodka, were Stiller, Andy Dick and “Breaking Bad” star Bob Odenkirk, who beamed in via video. Reps for Garofalo, Cohen and Leiderman didn’t get back to us.
I can understand getting drunk-married in Vegas. I can understand being like “OMFG, what did we do?” the next morning. What I don’t understand is never finding out if the marriage was legit FOR 20 YEARS. That’s so crazy! Also: I wonder why Janeane never got married (for real married, not drunk married)? These are some recent photos of her too – she looks exactly the same as she did in the 1990s. Hipster vampire!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I thought that she was gay, so that could explain why she never married anyone else. Weird that they never checked, though.
I have no idea of she is gay or not, but not being married doesn’t necessarily mean someone is gay in this day and age. Diane Keaton and Al Pacino are a few who come to mind that never married.
She strikes me as a very independent type of person, so maybe she prefers to keep the legal system out of her business.
except Diane Keaton is gay
Nope not gay, but I believe she’s a-sexual or at least not into being with anyone. I remember her talking about being with a boyfriend for a long time and they never had sex because they both felt it was kind of icky. Not that it’s my bidness, but since you brought it up! 🙂
I never thought she was gay but I could have sworn hearing that she was married and got divorced some time in the 90s
I think she looks really different than how I remember her, and I just watched “Reality Bites” on cable within the past two weeks. I can’t tell what she did to her face, but something is different.
She’s lost a lot of weight.
I understand that she lost some weight. That being said, I still would not have recognized her. And she was never obese to begin with.
She looks like a completely different person. I remember her being pissed off that she was told to lose weight a long time ago, and swore she wouldn’t bow to pressure – love me, love my look. I guess she caved.
That said, she looks really good. I hope she is healthy though, because there is a vast difference here.
She said she “quit drinking”, so if she were a heavy drinker in the past, that would explain a lot of excess weight that might have been easily lost/never gained otherwise. Excessive alcohol consumption will make you look puffy, bloated and older.
She is gorgeous – and the full package too, talanted, brilliant and funny. I always thought she outshines her supposedly more attractive co-stars in everything she does. Incidently she was only in Season 7 of The West Wing (I’m watching it right now!) but made such an impact that it does seem she was there the whole time (much like Lily Tomlin and Mary McCormack.) Sorry for the WW fan girl ranting but I love it! Still not over it being finished….
Agree with all. I love her. I always thought she was beautiful. She dresses like that on purpose!
she was hysterical in Reality Bites!!!!
I’ve always had a massive girl crush on her. I’ve appreciated how brash she can be, but one of my favorite movies of hers is The Matchmaker-she is a surprisingly good romantic lead.
The Matchmaker! I agree!
The Matchmaker is one of my favorite movie of hers, along with Romy & Michele? and The truth about cats and dogs.
Yes, the Matchmaker and Romy and Michelle are very good, I loved her in both of them.
I don’t like her politics, but I have a HUGE soft spot in my black heart for JG.
That’s funny! I could see myself making a mistake like that. I thought you had to apply for a license and do blood tests and all that? (But I’m realizing that this must be why everyone says getting married in Vegas is the “quickie” way to do it – I guess they skip all that?)
I got married in Vegas and we had to go get the license first. Got divorced there, too (sadly, that was a much happier occasion!).
Ha! My husband did that. He could NOT convince me enough that it was legally over before we got married. We got married in Iceland so I was paranoid that when we returned, the marriage would be somehow deemed illegitimate by some random kink in the red tape somewhere down the line.
I always thought she was pretty too, esp. in that movie with Uma.
I always liked Janeane too and thought she was better lookg than Uma in “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”.
Me too. Could not understand at all, why she was considered the ugly one.
I love this article because I’ve been trying to figure out what to call my style for the longest time. My kids call me emo. I like hipster vampire better. Janeane G. is an excellent actress and really likeable. Wonder why she stopped making movies? WTH?!
Wait a minute – unless she had something huge done to her face, the top picture is definitely NOT Janeane Garofalo. Anyone know who this is or if she had a facelift or something?
Of course it is her. She did something to her face, but nothing too drastic. LOL 🙂
Looks as if she lost a little weight. Didn’t she go Vegan? Maybe her restricted diet?
Kat Dennings reminds me a little of a young Jeanane
She definitely did something to her face. She’s two years older than me and her skin is TIGHT. I just checked Google images. There’s a period of time where it still looks like her, then bam! there’s this different looking Janeane.
Love, respect and admire Janeane. I’m sure she would have become a much bigger star as an actress if she fit the Hollywood beauty stereotype. Since she didn’t she got relegated to the few movie sidekick roles available to women. Always thought that she was, and still is, very pretty. Her consistently bizarre style choices, though, make me think that she is one of those people who deliberately play down their attractiveness.
I really like her too. Back in the 90’s when I was still a kid/tween, she was always one of those actresses who I couldn’t really remeber by name but I’ve watched a lot of her work and found her very talented, likeable and pretty. I don’t get how people can call her the average one and Uma Thurman the beautiful one. But I have always found Thurman to be overrated. As for her marriage. I don’t know how it worked for them but it’s not the first time I hear about people who got drunk-married and than found out years later it was legally binding. What happens it Vegas…
Whaaaat? The fact that you’re a WW fan just makes me love this site all the more now! She rocked as an addition to the Jimmy Smits campaign. Also, I always loved Janeane in Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion and Mystery Men. Bad, but enjoyable movies where she was the highlight.
Agre, She was great in ‘Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion’, one of my all time fav’s
I loved that movie, she was the first character I ever saw in a film that made me feel there were actually other people out there like me.
Everytime I look a picture above the fold of Janeane I’m like “wow,she’s so pretty!” and then I scroll down and see her clothes and “ACKKKKKKKK”
Ha ha..exactly! She really is so pretty and aging so well too but the outfits are just horrendous. However, I still love her 🙂
Co-sign on looking lovely and dressing insane.
She identifies as asexual/aromantic with no interest in sex, marriage, or any sort of romantic relationship.
Wow. That must be very…freeing…
Not gonna lie, ‘The Truth About Cats & Dogs’ is 1 of my favorite rom comes ever. Loved her in that!
She’s not gay, she has self professed “intimacy issues.”
Secretly married? I don’t think so — it’s been listed on her wikipedia page for years and she’s spoken of it before in interviews. As to plastic surgery: she’s had her breasts reduced for sure. Also maybe the same face-fat suckin’ thing as Bristol Palin.
I liked Garofalo when she was an actress, but her style of political punditry is so base I now can’t stand her. She personally insults those with opposing views, is overly emotional in defending her opinions and talks in sound bites.
Well said!!
Totally agree!
I love her…..she’s the epitome of sarcastic humour.
wow, she definitely had a nose job at the very least then. her entire face is different. that’s really too bad, i always appreciated her attitude. 🙁
She said in a rolling stone article in 98/99 that she got married to someone in Vegas yrs ago, didn’t know if it stuck, so this news isn’t surprising. I love JG and I love her even more with Henry Rollins. They seem like a great intellectual match.
Yes! I was just going to say– I think she must have been joking when she claimed to be asexual, because what about Janeane and Henry Rollins??
The fact that Janeane Garofalo considered him worthy to date totally raised my opinion of Henry. And I already liked him.
As somebody who actually got married in Las Vegas, I can tell you that you’re not married unless you went to the Clark County courthouse and applied for a marriage license. If you did that and then went through a ceremony, regardless of how hokey, then you’re married and I’m not sure why you wouldn’t realize it. They send you a copy of your actual license a couple of weeks later.
This ‘we didn’t know we were really married’ stuff is ridiculous. I think they think it’s just a cute story so they’re playing it up, but it just isn’t believable at all.
And I really preferred her old face. I wouldn’t have even recognized her.
She’s a raging bitch in person.
She’s pretty. She used to talk about how she was fat, at least by Hollywood standards. I saw her one time in the subway in Boston, and let me tell you – she was tiny, slender and small boned. Impossibly tiny, the kind of person who catches your eye because she’s so much smaller than everyone else. Seeing her made me think most normal-weight people would look absolutely enormous on camera.
I just met her a few months ago and she’s shorter than me (I’m 5 foot 3 inches tall) and very slim- I thought she said she’s had work done on her face, in some interview a few years ago? She was so incredibly nice to me!
You can’t watch “Bye Bye Love” & not love Janeane! (sorry about all the negatives!) Everyone ought to see her in that—it’s hysterical. (Poor Randy Quaid.) It’s a little gem of a performance.
I have always thought she was pretty too. Is she still doing radio?
I love her! Reality Bites was such a big deal when I was 16 🙂
She was fab in Romy & Michelle’s HS Reunion but most of all I loved her as “The Bowler” in Mystery Men.
I can’t help but love her although she has kind of lost her mind. Saw her a few years ago and she was ranting and raving about politics, I thought she’s going to have a heart attack. Nobody thought it was funny which is sad because she can be brilliant. The politics she takes way too far though.
LOVE her! Her movies sum up my entire late teens/early 20s experience.
Ahhhhh-Doc Martens, Baby doll dresses, flannels and LOTS of eyeliner. #goodtimes
I <3 Janeane
I remember when Jeanne used to be so cool – now she confuses bath towels for skirts… sigh.
Really? Because I’m pretty sure she talked about this 10-15 years ago but danced around the identity of the groom. This sounds really familiar.
She hosted an Air America radio show with Sam Seder back a few years when there was an Air America. As others have stated above; very, very strong opinions; but extremely bright. And talented. And insecure. Sam used to tease her to tears on their show, which I found mean spirited. But she could give as good as she got.
Yes she’s very insecure. So if she is threatened by you in any way, she treats you like shit. It wasn’t me she was horrible to, but my best friend. She’s strange.
….my favorite film with her, definitely, is “200 cigarettes”….
Mine is Clay Pigeons! It’s also my favorite Vince Vaughn movie. And my favorite Joaquin Phoenix movie. 🙂
Clay Pigeons is SO good! Love that movie.
I love the Truth About Cats and Dogs because I always identified with J’s character. It’s like I always had super beautiful friends and felt like the ugly duckling so I hid behind my wit and intellect; not that I’m saying I’m a genius but you know…
Anyway, seeing that movie was all kinds of awesome and I loved the chem she had with Ben Chaplin.
Love her, intelligent, funny, beautifully. What’s not to love?
I have a very neutral opinion of her, don’t hate her or love her, like her in a few movies I’ve seen but wasn’t majorly impressed. I’m baffled by what she’s wearing though … it’s something I’d expect a senile grandmother to wear.
Thank you for listing her name in the heading. I never would have guessed it was Jeanane. Always loved her stand up comedy best of all. Was concerned for her during the white hair bleached blonde period when she seemed barely coherent. So sad she is turning her face into the main stream Barbie look she so hated, when her unique beauty had set her apart. She looks healthy and I hope this is a happy part of her life.
Loved her on Larry Sanders more than anything she’s ever done. She looks weird so thin and with the tatts…almost methy.
I find her beautiful. There was a movie starring her and Uma Thurman where she’s supposed to be the insecure, plain looking one. I thought she was more attractive than Uma.
Oh well, she will always be Daria to me.
An asexual, cute raging bitch.
There you go.