Jake Gyllenhaal: ‘That’s all I want is to be a good husband and a father’

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Here are some photos from last week’s premiere of The Lost Daughter, which Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed. Maggie’s husband Peter Saarsgard supported her on the red carpet, as did her brother Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake even brought his girlfriend of several years, Jeanne Cadieu. Jake is 40, Jeanne is 25. This was the first time they’ve ever been on a red carpet together. I bring this up because Jake was on the Howard Stern show this week to promote his movie, The Guilty, and Stern asked him about Cadieu. Stern also asked him about Jennifer Aniston. Some highlights:

Jake on the idea of getting married. “That’s all I want is to be a good husband and a father…That really is what I want… And now that I have fulfilled a lot of things in my career that I feel comfortable with, I can safely say that. I don’t know if I could have said that before.”

Whether Jeanne is the one: “I love her so much. She’s such a good person,” explaining that marriage is “a choice for both of us.”

Why Jake & Jeanne finally posed together on the carpet: “My sister grabbed her, pulled her on that red carpet, which I think neither of us are really inclined to, you know, go on – even me… And to be there to support my sister was what we’re there to do and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is family.’ ”

Filming love scenes with Jennifer Aniston nearly 20 years ago: “Oh, yeah,” he facetiously replied. “It was torture. Yes, yes it was…. Weirdly, love scenes are awkward because there are maybe 30, 50 people watching it… That doesn’t turn me on, so most of the time it’s oddly mechanical. It’s a dance—you’re choreographed for a camera. I do remember a pillow…the pillow technique was used. That was just pre-emptive and generally always used when actually in a horizontal place in that movie. Everything else was whatever it was…. I think that was actually Jennifer’s suggestion. I think she was actually very kind to suggest it before we began. She was like, ‘I’m putting a pillow here.’ That was all she said, I think I remember that.”

[From People & E! News]

I guess Stern asked about Jennifer Aniston because he’s friends with Aniston and maybe because Jake hasn’t had that many love scenes in his career? Still, he doesn’t get asked about Anne Hathaway in Love & Other Drugs? As for the stuff about his girlfriend…I’ve thought for a while now that Jake has fallen more into the Leonardo DiCaprio kind of habit. As in, a serial monogamist (ish) with women under a certain age. Jake doesn’t have that same Leo D reputation, but we’ll see. Jeanne is very pretty and they’ve been together since 2018. Maybe they will get married and have babies. Or maybe not.

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43 Responses to “Jake Gyllenhaal: ‘That’s all I want is to be a good husband and a father’”

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  1. Northerngirl says:

    He’s really hot, but I’m a bit disappointed in him, come on man, she’s 25 you’re 40..

    • jbyrdku says:

      Same, though I used to find him more attractive. He never seemed like he would follow Leo’s style of dating.

  2. M says:

    I don’t find her all that attractive. And why is she dressed like Friar Tuck??

  3. rawiya says:

    These old men wanting to saddle young women with babies and marriage…when they didn’t want that at the women’s age. Also, been together several years when she’s only 25 isn’t the flex he probably thinks it is. Nasty man.

    • Sigmund says:

      Exactly my thought. He claims to want marriage and children, so why is he dating a woman half his age? Sure, some young women want that, but he’s much more likely to find a similarly-minded woman in his age bracket who’s had a chance to live life and do what she wants.

      Seems hypocritical of him to me. He didn’t want children and marriage in his twenties, but he expects his wife to.

    • ChristineBRB says:

      This is very well put! Jake has said a few things now that are questionable. He was asked about settling down a few years ago and said, “well there are a lot of beautiful women” or something. Like WTF. Sleazy. I don’t get the impression that he’s looking for an equal.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        No, he doesn’t want an equal partner and I don’t buy his schtick of wanting to be a husband and father either. He will remain a bachelor dating women in their ‘20’s for the rest of his life.

    • SophieJara says:

      Right? Before my husband I only dated older guys. Looking back I wish I hadn’t, but at the time I thought I was super mature and there was no one telling me not to. When we got married my husband was 28 and now that we have two young kids I am *so* grateful not to be doing this with my previous boyfriend (in his 50s, three teenagers).

      No shade to people who have wonderful late in life second families!! But it takes a special person to do it well.

  4. Oh_Hey says:

    Yeah. No.
    He goes in the Chris Evans bucket – mature but still youngish rich man with a trail of younger women behind him claiming his deepest desire is to be a husband and father.
    Bro – if you wanted that you would be going out and trying to get it not get a new model (literally and figuratively) every couple years. This is marketing. Bad, transparent marketing, but marketing nonetheless.

    • notasugarhere says:

      37 year old hooks up with 22 lingerie model, very Leo. JG’s PR around this has always been, ‘oh she’s so smart, she’s much older than her age, he isn’t in it for her looks’. Desperate to convince, what, the female moving-going public that he isn’t as sleazy as DiCaprio? Seems like he’s following Leo’s lead.

      • cassandra says:

        Honestly, I don’t even find Leo all that sleazy. Is his age range icky? Absolutely. But he’s honest about what he wants and I don’t think any of his gf’s are all that surprised by the 25th birthday breakup.

  5. Abby says:

    I love Jake but…. this feels like something he’s saying because he played a father in The Guilty, that movie that just came out. The whole reason he did all the things he did as a 911 dispatcher in that movie were because a little girl the same age as his daughter (in the movie) was involved. I am not trying to be cynical… but I’ve literally never heard him say anything about wanting to be a husband and father before…

    • Robyn says:

      I thought The Guilty was terrible. He was good but the rest was…not great.

      • Northerngirl says:

        You know why it’s bad.. because it’s a remake!!! I watch the original a few years ago, it’s from Sweden: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6742252/ And it was so much better! I started the american version last week and I was like.. wait, I’ve seen this movie before.. it’s the exact same thing!

    • Claudia says:

      Oh, I remember he even said he wanted to get married and have kids when he was in his twenties but funnily enough he never followed up on his words….I don’ t believe him anymore.

  6. Miranda says:

    How much of an age difference warrants a side-eye, though? (I may or may not have a vested interest in this.)

    • Soni says:

      They’ve been together for almost four years so they started dating when she was 21 and he was in this late 30s. Come on. She was in college (at Columbia)!

      • Miranda says:

        Oh damn, I missed the part about how long they’d been together! And she was in college? Yeah, no. Part of me was tempted to defend them, because my fiancé and I are 11 years apart (I’m 29, he’s 40) and I don’t think anyone who knows us would say that our relationship is strange or unhealthy, but he refused to ask me out until I’d finished grad school and started a career of my own. A man in his late thirties dating an undergrad is just…what would they even talk about?

  7. Merricat says:

    She looks like Princess Leia in this photo. I doubt his story about just wanting to be a husband and father, however.

  8. BlueSky says:

    I can smell this picture 😂

  9. Soni says:

    So basically “I’m 40 and have had lots of good times so I’m ready to settle down and tie-down my much younger girlfriend who has not had a chance to live much yet”

    Jake is gross.

  10. Milygu says:

    I had the hugest crush on him like fifteen years ago. He’s proven to be pretty disappointing. Oh well, a good reminder that none of these folks are who they appear to be.

  11. Norman Bates' Mother says:

    His longest relationships before that were with Kirsten Dunst – his age and Reese Witherspoon – a few years older than him, so I wouldn’t say he’s Leonardo’s or Chris Evans’ territory. I’m not gonna lie – I’m a bit dissapointed he went there with such a young girl – she was 22 when they started dating, but since both were adults and it really doesn’t seem like a habit, I want to give him a benefit of a doubt that he loves her for her, not because she’s young and a model.

    • notasugarhere says:

      He ran from Reese because she meant commitment. Not sure he’s earned your benefit of the doubt.

      • Ann says:

        Did he run from her for that reason? I didn’t know why it ended. I don’t know, she is really young for him but it’s true that he doesn’t seem to have made this a habit. She’s an adult and was when they met, she’s a model so she knows something about how the industry works, I assume. It’s not ideal but I wouldn’t say I find it gross.

      • Persephone says:

        @Ann I remember reading somewhere that Reese was a PR relationship. Reese met her (now) husband and wanted to pursue that relationship, so they “broke up”. It seemed like that relationship was never real.

      • notasugarhere says:

        They started dating when she was 21 and he was 36/7. Hid her for at least the first year because he knew it looked bad. I find it icky on both their parts actually.

  12. #facts says:

    His love scenes with Anne H was all the fire. Jen… I digress. I still am in awe of why people wanted to put her on levels she is not on!

  13. Case says:

    If that’s “all he wants” maybe he should date and marry someone closer to his age? Just an idea. These actors say this stuff all the time to make women swoon, meanwhile they’re dating people significantly younger than them who they have no intention of marrying. It’s so transparent.

  14. ib says:

    This strikes me as him REALLY wanting to finally get his Oscar this year so he is playing the Oscar campaign “game” more than he did in years past. This is part of him saying all the “right” things to round out his image for Oscar voters. And early Oscar campaigning is why he just started inviting her onto the red carpet with him.
    Man child.
    ETA: actually maybe he doesn’t have any roles in the running for Oscar this year….seems like The Guilty is not? Maybe this is his reaction to not getting a Tony a few weeks ago. He is changing up his image for future campaigns. I don’t know. I just find that this type of thing (in the case of people like him) is generally about rebranding for awards etc. when George Clooney changed things up it was with someone much closer to his own age…not someone in the LDC girlfriend age and job bracket (21-25yo models…)
    See also: Brad Pitt last year with that joke of a “young model GF rollout-as-distraction/rebrand”

  15. Lemons says:

    I could care less about the age, but these women are never very accomplished in their own right…Jeanne who? Does Jeanne work outside of modeling? Does she have any ambitions to get her Master’s or Doctorate in a particular field? Is she travelling the world for philanthropy or even getting heavily involved in her own backyard? No…they are always models.

  16. Ariel says:

    I find it irksome when a man talks about his commitment and desire to be a husband and father- when it is in theory only. He is not actually doing either, he has made no commitment.
    He likes the idea of it all- the good parts.
    The reality is a whole different and serious thing.
    And yeah, he seems to be sliding into- eww he’s gross- territory.

    • Anne Call says:

      Yeah, he can talk for the next decade about wanting kids and when he finally has one we’ll get lots of stories about what a great dad he is at 55 or whatever. Meanwhile for women his age the biological clock is closing. It’s the Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Steve Martin (sorry Steve) way of being a man child playboy for as long as possible and then finally accepting fatherhood.

  17. AmelieOriginal says:

    I saw him in REI a few years ago sometime in December in NYC with Jeanne. No idea who she was at the time so I had to look her up to see who he was dating. I didn’t notice Jake at first, my sister did because she overheard the sales associate saying he was a fan of his work and my sister works in the art/museum world so she thought maybe it was an artist (like sculptures, paintings). I did notice his huge German Shepherd that he brought into the store though and was irritated (this was before I realized it was Jake). I love dogs and I don’t mind seeing them in stores usually but this was December, so peak holiday Christmas rush shopping. REI was a madhouse and his dog had no business being in there taking up room so much room (not to mention, all that frantic activity had to be somewhat stressful for the dog). Ever since, I’ve been put off by him. I know it seems stupid but it just seemed like rich, entitled behavior.

    • Emma says:

      Most stores don’t allow dogs in. Not sure why REI would do that. I’m a little surprised he was allowed to do that but maybe they were all big fans. I love dogs but you really shouldn’t bring them in to stores for a variety of reasons… safety, allergies, sanitation, and certainly the animal’s own comfort. Most dogs are very sensitive to noise idk.

  18. Joanna says:

    I can’t stand guys with this attitude that they want a family and kids but with their 20ish partner. Like seriously dude? Why can’t you do that with someone your own age? Then he’ll be crying about she’s so immature blah blah. I was watching 90 day fiancé with a 30 yr old lawyer saying this but dating a 22yr old. Gets on my mf nerves! So this 22yr old girl told him she was going to Miami to work on her career! I was laughing so hard on the inside!

  19. grabbyhands says:

    Let me guess, she’s an “old soul”?

  20. Margo says:

    I saw a neighbor acquaintance the other day and she mentioned that her husband, 15 years her senior, was ‘challenging’ to live with. A big age gap over time can be a real drag. When Jake is 50, she will be 35! When she is 50, he will be 65! But, money, fame and personal trainers can make all the difference, so I guess if they are happy, go for it! I love Jake – he seems very sweet.

  21. Kaykay says:

    I had a crush on him during my Donnie Darko-phase.
    Then I thought he was gay for some reason.
    That’s all I got.

  22. Anna says:

    Awwwww…. but you had a family, Toothy?!

  23. Kelsea says:

    Saw him in a coffee shop in TriBeCa a bunch back in 2015-15 always with vapid-eyed young models. A shame, makes such a beautiful man look deeply insecure. But the beard was hot.