Love is a many-splendored thing, especially when you’re gawking at it from the outside. In this column, we’ll be examining the celebrity couples that give us hope for our own romantic futures and trying to learn what we can from their well-documented bonds.
With the exception of the rare Oscars night out, John Mulaney and Olivia Munn don’t seem to spend a ton of time at red-carpet events—which made their appearance at Vogue World: Paris on Sunday (both in sleek Hermès) feel particularly special.
This, of course, is a couple that has long attracted public scrutiny: It made me deeply uncomfortable when Mulaney, my favorite comedian (white-cishet-male division, that is) and Munn, his partner of three-plus years now, were the target of weird, parasocial shaming for getting together and announcing they were expecting a baby in 2021, not long after Mulaney’s stint in rehab and split from his ex-wife Anna Marie Tendler.
Of course, for most couples divorce isn’t necessarily good news, and in an ideal world we’d all let the perfect amount of respectful grieving time elapse before embarking on new relationships. But in the actual world? People get together! They have babies! (They even spark marriage rumors!)
With Mulaney and Munn now raising a beautiful toddler named Malcolm—and navigating Munn’s recent breast cancer diagnosis—à deux, I feel justified in being obsessed with their relationship, especially because of how little I actually know about it. (We love a celeb-for-celeb pair that keeps things elegantly private!) It’s made what small glimpses Munn has offered into their private life, such as an adorable Instagram photo dump of the family to celebrate Mulaney’s Emmy win in January, feel distinctly sweet. And if I weren’t already a dyed-in-the-wool Mulaney/Munn stan, the following quote from Mulaney—provided to Vogue’s senior wellnes and beauty editor, Margaux Anbouba, in May—would have done me in: “Olivia and I have been through a lot of things together in the past couple years. Just side-by-side, supporting each other through anything. And as her guy, I felt both scared and protective. Even with Malcolm in her lap and me there holding her hand, she was going to be physically fighting this disease alone.”
It’s not that I’m bowled over by Mulaney’s support for and dedication to Munn, per se; that should be the bare minimum for anyone whose partner is dealing with something as difficult and potentially traumatic as cancer, though some people have been known to operate differently. What really has me plotzing is Mulaney’s description of himself as “her guy”; it’s so casual yet intensely romantic, like something you could see Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice saying if he happened to be a mid-40s Los Angeles comedian instead of a wealthy, aloof Regency bachelor.
Here’s hoping that Munn’s hard-won recovery will free them up for many more date nights post-Vogue World; but then again, if the happy couple prefers to avoid the spotlight and stay in, watching Netflix and FaceTiming Nick Kroll, who are we to argue?
See All of the Celebrity Looks From the Vogue World Paris 2024 Red Carpet:
Vogue World Paris 2024: See Every Celebrity Arrival, Read the Latest Stories, and Get Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Access Here
