While John Mulaney and Olivia Munn have hit some big milestones in their relationship — like welcoming their son, Malcolm Hiệp, in November 2021 — it took a little longer for this one: their official red carpet debut.
The comedian, 41, and the Magic Mike actress, 43, did the ol’ “step and repeat” together for the first time at Tuesday’s 14th Annual Governors Awards held at the the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. Mulaney had on a black tux, and Munn wore a Toni Maticevski strapless top and skirt in a crushed fabric. (Critics: It was supposed to be crinkly, the designer said.)
But the real details were in the PDA. The pair — whose coupling drew a lot of attention and opinions at the outset, rendering them a bit press-shy — held hands; he smooched her paw, he tried to make her laugh, and some loving looks were cast back and forth. Verdict: success!
It’s a bit surprising that they waited this long — now three years(ish) since they got together. Let’s look at their road to becoming red carpet official…
2013: Boy meets girl at Seth Meyers’s Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., wedding
Mulaney was otherwise engaged, literally — to artist Anna Marie Tendler, whom he had been in a relationship with since 2010 — but Munn, who was there with another Saturday Night Live alum, Will Forte, recalled being “obsessed” with befriending him at the wedding.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, do you and your fiancée want to go have dinner or something and go hang out?'” the Newsroom actress told HuffPost in 2015. “At first it was cool, and then I kept going up to him at the wedding like, ‘So you having fun?’ I was just so obsessed with hanging out with and talking with him.'” She later emailed him, and he never wrote back. “I might’ve got the wrong email — probably. That’s what I tell myself.”
Mulaney wrote an article about the wedding for Vogue, which featured a photo of Munn with bride Alexi Ashe.
Mulaney went on to marry Tendler the next year, while Munn began a relationship with NFL star Aaron Rodgers.
2017: Munn and Rodgers split. She tries to get Mulaney’s attention during a TV special.
While taping Jon Stewart’s Night of Too Many Stars for HBO, the former Daily Show correspondent tried to get Mulaney to stop and talk to her on camera as he exited the stage. “Hi, John,” she said in the clip, clearly trying to woo him, and he completely ignored her.
2020: Mulaney goes to rehab. Munn publicly expresses support in now-viral tweet.
Mulaney had an addiction relapse and went to rehab in September. He had a sobriety slip right after, returning to rehab in December for 60 more days of treatment.
When news broke he was in treatment the second time, Munn was among the celebrities who publicly expressed support. “Sending SO MUCH love and support to John Mulaney,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in December. “You got this.”
After it was reported that they were dating, her resurfaced tweet went viral and became a meme (see: “Sending SO MUCH Love And Support”). It has since been deleted.
2021: Mulaney separates from Tendler, confirms Munn relationship and welcomes a baby with Munn (whew!)
Mulaney completed 60 days of treatment and left rehab in February. He lived in a sober house for a month and a half. On May 10, he filed for divorce from Tendler, who issued a statement describing herself as “heartbroken.” Three days later, it was reported he was dating Munn.
In late May, a rumor surfaced on TikTok that Munn was pregnant. It’s crickets from their camps as they kept things low-key. They’re photographed for the first time in June.
In September, Munn was photographed looking visibly pregnant. Days later, Mulaney appeared on Meyers’s late night talk show and confirmed they’re dating and expecting a child. He went deep into outlining his version of their relationship timeline to clarify speculation it overlapped with his marriage. He claimed he moved out of the home he shared with Tendler in October 2020, moved to L.A. after rehab and started dating Munn in the spring of 2021.
Mulaney, who previously said while married to Tendler he didn’t want kids, credited Munn and their unborn child for turning his life around: “Olivia and this baby have helped save me from myself in this early journey out of recovery,” he said.
There were breakup rumors surrounding the couple in October. The next month, Munn addressed the interest in their relationship (which was still on track), telling the Los Angeles Times, “It’s definitely not foreign for me to have people speculate incorrectly about things and to have rumors run rampant in one way. They think they know our relationship so well. When in reality, they don’t. There’s no way anyone could know what any of his relationships were or what our relationship is.”
Baby Malcolm Hiệp was born on Nov. 24, 2021. They announced the news a month later on Christmas Eve.
2022: They open up about their private romance
When Mulaney hosted SNL in February, he gushed that his “life is a lot better and happier now” with his family.
They started popping up on each other’s Instagram’s feeds with adorable pics of baby Malcolm. They marked their first Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. She wore his clothes. He celebrated turning 40 “with my little family.” She shared that baby’s first word was “Daddy/Dada.” They also celebrated Malcolm’s first birthday.
2023: They inch closer to a public debut
For Father’s Day, he paid tribute in a very public way to his partner, writing, “You made me a dad, Olivia. I love you forever for doing that.” She posted her own declaration of love, writing, “We love you Dada.”
Their openness about the relationship grew from there. In September, they were photographed at an event together for the first time. There was no red carpet pic at the Chanel dinner, but they allowed a photographer to capture a cozy moment.
2024: They finally make their red carpet debut
On Jan. 7, they attended the Creative Arts Emmys together, at which he won for his Netflix comedy special Baby J. They shared a behind-the-scenes photo of their event prep, but there was no red carpet moment together.
Then on Jan. 9 — about three years after first getting together (the timeline remains a bit murky) — they finally went for it, making their official red carpet debut at the Governors Awards. She later captioned a photo of them together heading to the event hand in hand as “mom + dad.”
That’s where we are — for now.
