I love Greta Gerwig as an artist – an underrated actress, a gifted writer and a brilliant director. She’s funny, cool, artsy AND commercial. But her personal life… I won’t say she’s messy, because that implies that she’s been a whirling dervish of sexual shenanigans for years, and that’s not the case. What is the case is that Greta had an affair with Noah Baumbach, and the affair blew up his marriage to Jennifer Jason Leigh around the same time that JJL and Noah welcomed their son Rohmer in 2010. Greta and Noah have been together ever since, and Greta went on to have two sons with Noah, the youngest of whom was born in February of this year. It would have been a much, much bigger scandal but Greta wasn’t that big of a name in 2010 and Noah was just some art-house director. The whole situation with JJL still gets brought up, even if Jennifer barely engages with the story at this point. Why bring it up again? Well, Noah and Greta got married.
Greta Gerwig and her longtime partner, Noah Baumbach, are married, a representative for the Barbie director, 40, confirmed to PEOPLE. A source told PEOPLE that the two got married at New York City Hall. The couple first met while filming the 2010 movie Greenberg and began dating in 2011.
The news comes after a busy year for the couple who co-wrote the Barbie screenplay and announced that they quietly welcomed a second son in an interview with Elle UK published in July.
“The little guy is sleeping through the night. But I’m still doing that thing where I wake up, every hour to 90 minutes, and just hover. You just keep wanting to look at that baby. So I’m slightly in a twilight state,” the Lady Bird director told the outlet.
The new addition joined the couple’s first baby together, son Harold Ralph Gerwig Baumbach, whom they welcomed in March 2019.
No mention of JJL. I guess she’s been written out of the narrative completely, although I would have expected some first or second-paragraph mention of “this is Baumbach’s second marriage and he has an older son with his first wife.” Something else I saw on Twitter is the suggestion that co-authoring the Barbie script was possibly the biggest paycheck Baumbach has ever gotten, especially if he and Greta got a backend. So… is that what happened? The thing is, I’m sure they always would have tried to put a bow on this at some point, but it’s interesting that it happened now, 13 years and two children later.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Clooney Foundation For Justice’s 2nd Annual Albie Awards – Outside Arrivals Featuring: Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig Where: New York, United States When: 28 Sep 2023 Credit: Darla Khazei/INSTARimages
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- 2023 Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street Featuring: Greta Gerwig and her husband Noah Baumbach Where: New York, United States When: 27 Nov 2023 Credit: Darla Khazei/INSTARimages
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- Barbie cast, filmmakers and guests celebrate Gotham Global Icon and Creator Tribute Award at The Peninsula Hotel in New York City Featuring: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig, Dua Lipa Where: New York, New York, United States When: 28 Nov 2023 Credit: Marion Curtis/StarPix for Warner Bros./startraksphoto.com
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- New York special screening of ‘The Boys In The Boat’ at the Moma Featuring: Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig Where: New York, United States When: 13 Dec 2023 Credit: Darla Khazei/INSTARimages
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- New York special screening of ‘The Boys In The Boat’ at the Moma Featuring: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach Where: New York, United States When: 13 Dec 2023 Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/Startraksphoto.com
They didn’t even mention his oldest son! I love Noah as a filmmaker but he is the messy one with commitment issues. The fact that they have been together this long is impressive, and that she has become so much more famous as a director and he’s still with her. His ego wouldn’t have been able to handle that 10 or 15 years ago so I guess at 54 he’s finally growing up! I hope everyone, including JJL and her son, are happy and healthy.
Good luck to them! I think they should have acknowledged his first son with JJL but I guess they don’t want to remind people how their story started!
Wish them all well…
The article announcing their marriage wasn’t written by them.
Someone told me sometimes stories are written by a celebrity’s publicist and sent to the media outlets. I don’t know how true that is
Yeah this reeks of a publicist-planted story for sure.
Their PR person is the one who gave the story to People magazine.
I learned this a few years ago and lost respect for her as a person. I mean, we gave Ariana sh*t for getting with a guy with a wife and newborn. Greta did the same thing, but she was mostly unknown at the time, so she didn’t get serious pushback. Also, I don’t think, Jennifer said a bad word about the situation and he made Marriage Story movie allegedly based on his affair with Greta and going through divorce. What I remember, he made the affair partner in the movie a talentless nobody he was just messing with. So, he sounds like a nice guy! I hope everything works out for them for their babies’ sake. We all know what usually happens when a guy marries his affair partner.
@Sevenblue, with respect to “we all know what usually happens when a guy marries his affair partner” – to be fair, they’ve now been together 13 years, much longer than his marriage to JJL, and they have two kids together, so I think it’s fair to stop referring to her as his “affair partner” by this point.
I’m not saying it was a shady start, and I agree everyone gave Ariana sh*t – although that was almost the opposite case (SHE is the huge globally famous name and the vibe from their whole rollout was that she kind of preyed on him, a relative unknown, at least in comparison to her. And tried to bully the ex via publicity. But who knows?! Maybe in a decade we will realize we were spectacularly unfair to them too, as with today’s reflection on Bennifer 1.0 and the broader realization of how unhealthy celebrity gossip was in the early aughts.)
Ahh didn’t catch this before the edit time ran out:
*I’m not saying it wasN’T a shady start…
My bad!
Greta befriended a heavily pregnant JJL while having an affair with Noah Baumbach, all three working on the same set, then they ran off together while JJL gave birth to their first child ALONE. What kind of people DO that? How could another woman – at 30 years old! – be that cruel to another woman? And when feminism is part of Greta’s schtick, too.
Shame on those dismissing this…
absolutely insane how some of you are waving that off because it’s ’been a long time’ and ‘they’re still together’
” Maybe in a decade we will realize we were spectacularly unfair to them too”
@DK, I don’t think in a decade, any affair gets a bright side especially when there is a baby involved. A woman’s most vulnerable time is pregnancy and first year with the baby. Jennifer had to go through this time without a partner as a new mom. I don’t think she will ever forget that. The most guilty party is of course the married man, however Greta presented herself as a feminist, telling inner stories of women, young women. Her actions don’t match with that. She also knew Jennifer since Jennifer worked on the project with her husband during the affair. Just like how Ariana met her affair partner’s wife and held their baby.
It is evil behaviour meeting the pregnant wife and not seeing anything wrong with sleeping with the married man. They can be married for 50 years, she is still the mistress turned into wife. Now, we will see if he learned his lesson or with a wife and babies at home, he is gonna search for more like he did the last time.
I’m surprised the news in People doesn’t mention his older son. That does seem odd to me.
The story I read announcing it mentioned him as well as how they met but that was in The Cut. They’ve been engaged for years and pretty chill about an actual wedding so I wonder why now? I think probably due to Barbie’s success but also because they had a second baby at the same time and seem to be in a good place.
i think they are wonderfully, complimentary collaborators but I do wonder if Greta becoming more famous then him, especially as a director will bite this relationship some day.
I feel like her becoming more successful than him is the reason he’s signing up for the long term commitment. But I don’t think that much of him.
+1
I hope that Jennifer Jason Leigh is incredibly happy and enjoyed her time filming Fargo.
Me too. I hope she’s no contact except for the kid and living her best cheater free life.
Same. Been there….These two may be “talented,” but they’re also a classic, narcissistic cheater + affair partner pair.
It’s the end of the year and at City Hall, so it may be a tax thing. Knew someone who had a “secret” courthouse wedding the year before their fancy summer wedding for just that reason.
On the messy beginnings, my very sensible grandmother once said that you won’t know for a decade whether people in that situation made the right decisions. Always kinda shocked me because my mother is the easily horrified type. I’ve taken Grandma’s attitude. Greta and Noah seem to be a solid couple. Hope they have a happy marriage.
Your grandma is right mostly. But “right” doesn’t seem to be pertinent to this situation. They cheated and basically “have” to stay together so they can show “it was worth it” to the world. Face saving, not necessarily true love. Talent doesn’t mean they have character
I doubt they had two children together and stayed together for 12 years to “save face.”
My guess is taxes too — especially if he’s making less than she is. My partner is a now-retired contractor with a small vacation rental who can write off most of his income. Our mutual accountant keeps encouraging me to marry him because it would do a world of good for my taxes, and wouldn’t affect his at all.
But I’m still nope. Not because of him, but because we’re both not into it and what we have works.
good luck to these cheaters. when he cheats on her with a younger actress and makes a film about it…
I hope she insisted on a pre-nup.
I don’t have that many insider stories but I’ve mentioned before that a very good friend of mine who’s worked a lot in the business described one set as the absolute worst experience of her life. And she’d seen a lot of things already. She said it was due to the director and the demands he put on crew. Idk maybe it was a rough shoot and he’s better on the next set.
When I see them, all I can think about is how abandoned Jennifer Jason Leigh must have felt, snuggling her newborn baby and wondering what her louse of a spouse was up to with the “sweet young thing.”. So sad. I don’t care if they are talented, cheaters just plain suck. Always.
Both Greta & Noah should be thankful that Jennifer Jason Leigh WAS/IS a decent person who did not sent her PR, manager or friends to bad mouth them during the affair. Unlike the other Jennifer, has her girlfriend (who does not have a high moral ground) attacks/ed the other woman constantly but the same girlfriend was mute when this Jennifer got together with her 2nd husband while he was in a long term relationship.
Hollywood is not a fair place. Julia R taunted her current husband’s then wife openly to force her to divorce; and she’s still a huge star now. Mary-Louise Parker was cheating on during her pregnancy, and her then fiance Billy Crudup & the other woman Claire Dance both still have huge careers. 🤷
First of all, I want to say that I’m not pro-cheating. 🙂 Also, at what point do we just say whatever, let’s assume these two are happy and solid and a good fit for each other and wish them well? Brad and Angelina 100% cheated and (even while they were together) no one constantly brought it up. Lot’s of people cheat, and especially in industries where there are long stretches apart from each other like this one. If JJL isn’t out here discussing her feelings on the matter, I think that 13 years later it’s okay to think that two people who may have gotten together under messy circumstances are maybe the people who are supposed to be together.
Psychotherapist Esther Perel has an interesting take on cheating and affairs if anyone is up for some nuance and gray area. Again I’m not pro-cheating. I just feel like sometimes these things aren’t so black and white and it’s okay to acknowledge that.
I agree. Well said. And as someone who was cheated on in her marriage, which scarred me for my next relationships for almost 20 years, it’s a crappy, selfish thing to do but I have grown (read: AGED lol) and realize that they weren’t the person for me. They were obviously not happy and we all deserve someone who WANTS to be with us. It sucks, but we’re all just human. Nobody is perfect. I did forgive my husband, but I told him I’d never forget and we divorced. I am in a relationship now for the last 25 years where we both love each other and want to be together. I wish them luck.
Oh I know all about Esther Perel and her cheating apologist “nuance”. She is highly overrated and gives people word salad to spew to their partners justifying their “quest for aliveness’” (by cheating). Lots of fodder for self justification. She’s full of it.
Still doesn’t change the awfulness of what cheating is and does to the traumatized betrayed partner
And. There is no excuse for cheating. If you think you can’t stay faithful during a long time apart or an illness you should negotiate that at the start.
Cheaters do not cheat because they are unhappy. They cheat because they can. And because they have a major character flaw. They are unhappy typically AFTER someone catches their eye and they have to then retroactively find things to be mad about to justify their actions. They are full of it too
I’ve always side eyed them after seeing the Anniversary party which is the night of an anniversary party hosted by a writer and actress. Written by Jjl and Alan Cummings with gwyneth Paltrow as the the young hot actress – it came out before the affair –
I could have sworn it came out right before his movie and the affair but in looking it up – it was years before! Now it makes me wonder if Noah was such a shit that he had been cheating on JJL for years and with multiple women.
I could have sworn it
So, after 12 years, when she’s at her career peak, he decided to say I do? Interesting.
Psychologically let alone ethically cheating is a type of abuse, no matter how cheating people try to rationalize it. I don’t like hanging out with abusive people. Next!