I definitely wasn’t expecting a potential SNL scandal involving Kenan Thompson of all people, but here we are. Kenan and his wife Christina Evangeline were married for 11 years and have two children together. Kenan filed for divorce earlier this year, around May. Christina has moved on and is now dating… Chris Redd. Yep, that Chris Redd, Kenan’s co-star on SNL and his recently-canceled sitcom, Kenan.
No, this isn’t an SNL sketch.
Nearly six months after reports emerged of Kenan Thompson and wife Christina Evangeline’s quiet separation, ET can confirm she has a new man in her life — and he’s someone Thompson knows well.
According to a source, Evangeline is dating Chris Redd, Thompson’s longtime Saturday Night Live co-star, who also played his brother on his canceled sitcom, Kenan.
“Chris and Christina Evangeline are dating. The two know each other through SNL since Chris worked with her ex, Kenan Thompson,” a source tells ET. “They started dating after Kenan and Christina split.”
As for how the new romance is going, the source notes, “They are having a lot of fun and really get along well.” TMZ was first to report the news of them dating.
Mere days ago, Redd announced his exit from SNL after five years on the show. As for Thompson and Evangeline, they tied the knot in 2011 and share two daughters — Georgia, 8, and Gianna, 4. According to TMZ, which broke the news of their split in April, the couple had already been separated for more than a year. ET reached out to both for comment at the time.
The following month, Thompson filed for divorce, TMZ reported, citing online records.
Incidentally, I once saw Kenan and his wife walking around in the East Village, probably about 10-12 years ago. Even if there are no hard feelings involved and everyone is okay with it, this is super awkward, right? Kenan and Chris were not only SNL co-stars for the past five years, but they played brothers on Kenan’s sitcom. That sitcom had two seasons over the past two years. They must have been pretty close if Kenan pulled Chris from SNL to join him, as his brother, in his own sitcom. And the article is pretty clear that Christina met Chris through SNL aka Kenan. (Also, Chris and Christina, cutesy). Not saying there was any overlap, after all, Kenan was the one to file for divorce, but this just seems so awkward! But I wonder if it has anything to do with Chris’ SNL departure. As in, is it too awkward to keep working together and one of them had to go?
Photos credit: Avalon.red, Cover Images and Getty
Messy.
Messy. And how.
Messy messy messy
Chile
Super super messy. Kenan works all the time so I’m sure that took its toll on his marriage. He seemed like he really took Chris under his wing and they were very close. I wonder if he was “like family” and was there to give her attention when Kenan wasn’t.
I had a friend who left her husband for his best friend. He didn’t think anything of it if he was at the house before he got there etc…Totally ruined that friendship of course. So messy.
😱
Oy.
It’s just weird
This is so awkward…also I’m not so sure I believe the “no overlap” stuff.
I do like her gown in that photo.
At the risk of sounding judgy…I’m a big boundaries person. There are certain lines you just don’t cross. You don’t date your ex’s coworker or friend. Don’t date married people, former in laws, family, etc. Is it me? Why is it so hard for people? It’s like they enjoy the shock value and love the attention that comes from making shitty choices and defending them. This is so tacky – it’s an incredibly selfish choice considering they have kids together, and there’s a bunch of other people she could date who aren’t friends with her ex. Also, Chris is tacky for not looking out for the person who has, at least professionally, looked out for him.
Ugh. This is why I prefer dogs to people. People are just so endlessly disappointing. They kill the oxygen with their me me me ness and suffocate everyone around them with their selfishness.
Very few Keanus in the world. Dogs please.
I couldn’t agree more with ALL OF THIS.
@Persephone my people! (insert smiling face emojis)
I agree with that, generally. I remember in college there was a couple that had been dating for about six months. She went on a semester abroad and they were still together as of the time she left. Then while she was away, he started dating her roommate.
I don’t know what happened there but I thought it was a pretty shitty thing for both him and the roommate to do. Maybe they broke up over the phone or something while she was overseas, but still, it feels wrong. She came back to school to find the guy who had been her boyfriend when she left with her freaking roommate.
Some of my friends (my male friends) told me she was apparently fine with it and it just didn’t work out, was meant to be, yada yada. I called BS on that. You don’t always just go for what you want. Not if it hurts someone else. Have some self restraint and boundaries.
Everything you just said @AnneL! Omg how awful for for that young lady and then she had to put up with that ex in her apartment. So inappropriate. I feel so bad for Keenan that this happened.
Grimey AF. What a d-bag!
I wonder if that’s why Redd left SNL. He seemed like he was just getting his footing as a senior cast member. Then he leaves to no fanfare saying he wants to concentrate on his stand up.
It did seem kind of sudden, and not announced with the others.
Yeah, now it makes sense why he left.
When news of Redd leaving hit, there was a submission on Deumoix claiming Thompson had Redd fired after he found out that Redd was with his wife.
Remember a coworker saying he realized something was up when his wife knew how his best friend took his coffee.
Ouch
I heard that Kenan and his wife always fudged the details on when they first started dating because she was a teen (and Kenan… was not… a teen). It sounds like she never learned healthy boundaries and didn’t know how else to escape her marriage except by blowing it up, by asking to be “rescued” by her husband’s friend. A learned helplessness thing.
The person I actually worry about most here is Chris Redd, whom it seems is already paying career consequences for getting involved in their whole mess. To me that comes off as naive behavior, rather than shady. Good luck to them all.
I would for the most part agree except that naïveté does not preclude choosing to NOT have an affair with your friend/coworker’s wife. We can always choose to pull away when things seem to be going in an a wrong direction. He DID NOT do that.
Le Grand mess.
If you think people own each other you deserve to only have dogs in your life petty b!tches lol