Jimmy Kimmel’s wife recalls their illicit romance while she was working on his show… as she reveals how she knew he wanted to sleep with her
Jimmy Kimmel’s second wife Molly McNearney has revealed the moment they first decided to sleep together and bring their hush-hush office romance into reality.
At 58, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host is a decade older than McNearney, who currently serves as co-head writer alongside Danny Ricker and Josh Halloway.
Kimmel originally hired McNearney as a writer’s assistant in 2004 but they didn’t begin dating until October 2009 – seven months after he ended his seven-year relationship with fellow comedian Sarah Silverman.
The Missouri-born blonde recalled how one time in a writer’s meeting the four-time Emmy winner’s cousin Sal Iacono asked everyone, ‘If you can only have five foods the rest of your life, what are they?’
‘I remember I said, “Pizza, crab claws, BLT, and chocolate chip cookies,”‘ McNearney told the Armchair Expert podcast on Monday.
‘And about six months later – talk about long play – six months later, I go to Jimmy’s house. He asks me to come over after work. I just got back from Africa, I think. And he was going to help me build a classroom over there.
Jimmy Kimmel’s second wife Molly McNearney has revealed the moment they first decided to sleep together and bring their hush-hush office romance into reality (pictured May 31)
At 58, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host is a decade older than the Emmy winner (L, pictured in 2024), who currently serves as co-head writer alongside Danny Ricker and Josh Halloway
‘I went over to his house and he opens up the door and it smells delicious. And he’s like, “I’ve made some things.” And it was pizza, crab claws, chocolate chip cookies, and BLT. He had remembered what my favorite foods were and he made them all!’
Armchair Expert host Dax Shepard then asked whether she ‘immediately register[ed] that as, “Oh, he wants to f***.”‘
‘Yes, yes! It made me very excited and very nervous!’ McNearney recalled.
‘But I remember thinking, “Oh, no. This is a bad idea.”‘
Kimmel interrupted: ‘I didn’t have that thought.’
‘Yeah, no, very clearly. No, no. The person in power usually doesn’t. But I was very nervous about it,’ she scoffed.
‘I thought it was a terrible idea and I was very skittish and I kept telling him, “I think this is a bad idea.” And he kept saying, “It’s not a bad idea.”‘
For the first few months, McNearney and her now ‘husboss’ kept their new relationship ‘very, very quiet’ because she was nervous about it changing the mostly male work dynamic.
‘I just kept thinking, statistically this is not going to work out, and [his] life isn’t going to change but mine will,’ she recalled.
‘And that’s what freaked me out. But I was really freaked out about it because I had worked really, really hard.’
Kimmel originally hired McNearney as a writer’s assistant in 2004 but they didn’t begin dating until October 2009 – seven months after he ended his seven-year relationship with fellow comedian Sarah Silverman (R, pictured in 2009)
The Missouri-born blonde told the Armchair Expert podcast on Monday about how the four-time Emmy winner secretly discovered her five favorite foods and, six months later, he surprised her by cooking all of them for her at his home
Armchair Expert host Dax Shepard then asked whether she ‘immediately register[ed] that as, “Oh, he wants to f***”‘
‘Yes, yes! It made me very excited and very nervous!’ McNearney recalled. ‘But I remember thinking, “Oh, no. This is a bad idea”‘
Kimmel interrupted: ‘I didn’t have that thought’
‘Yeah, no, very clearly. No, no. The person in power usually doesn’t. But I was very nervous about it,’ she scoffed
‘I just kept thinking, statistically this is not going to work out, and [his] life isn’t going to change but mine will,’ McNearney recalled. ‘And that’s what freaked me out. But I was really freaked out about it because I had worked really, really hard’
The married couple of 13 years are proud parents of 12-year-old daughter Jane and nine-year-old son Billy, whose open heart surgery due to a rare congenital heart defect made national headlines in 2017 (pictured February 1)
McNearney is also stepmother to Kimmel’s two adult children – daughter Katie, nearly 35, and son Kevin (L, pictured in 2022), 32 – from his 15-year marriage to his ASU college sweetheart Gina Maddy (R), which ended in 2003
The Brooklyn-born presenter – who hasn’t hosted his late-night show since June 18 – will remain on his annual summer vacation until he returns to the El Capitan Entertainment Centre on September 8 (pictured in 2025)
Slimmed-down singer Jelly Roll (pictured June 4) will serve guest-hosting duties this week with guests like Glen Powell and Jay Shetty appearing Monday night
The Daily Mail has reached out to the inseparable pair’s reps for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The married couple of 13 years are proud parents of 12-year-old daughter Jane and nine-year-old son Billy, whose open heart surgery due to a rare congenital heart defect made national headlines in 2017.
McNearney is also stepmother to Kimmel’s two adult children – daughter Katie, nearly 35, and son Kevin, 32 – from his 15-year marriage to his ASU college sweetheart Gina Maddy, which ended in 2003.
The Brooklyn-born presenter, who hasn’t hosted his late-night show since June 18, will remain on his annual summer vacation until he returns to the El Capitan Entertainment Centre on September 8.
Slimmed-down singer Jelly Roll will serve guest-hosting duties this week with guests like Glen Powell and Jay Shetty appearing Monday night.
It’s been nearly a year since ABC blindsided Kimmel by suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live for three episodes over his remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.