Our fascination with celebrity relationships is nothing — but one particular breed of famous man in the spotlight is. Let’s call him the celebrity “wife guy,” a term widely brought to use in 2019 and defined in that same year by the New York Times as “a man who has risen to prominence online by posting content about his wife,” citing ‘Curvy Wife Guy’ Robbie Tripp as a prime example. The celebrity wife guy is a little different — they’re already prominent men, so they don’t exactly have to make a career out of fawning over their wives on the internet. But fawn they do: men like John Legend, Prince Harry, Alexis Ohanion, and Ryan Reynolds can barely make it through a public appearance without gushing over their wives in one form or another, and we love them for it. We also love the trend it represents.
One need only watch old episodes of Real Housewives to remember how recent it is that men weren’t exactly secure enough in their masculinity to openly gush over their wives’ abilities — especially when those abilities included things like building thriving careers outside the home, and even out-earning their partners. These men speaking up about how their ambitious, wildly successful wives impress and fulfill them every day represent a growing cultural acceptance that’s long overdue, and we tip our husbands leading the charge.
Read on for our favorite Hollywood “wife guys,” from George “I couldn’t be more proud to be your husband” Clooney to Ryan “there’s nothing else I’m looking for” Gosling and beyond.
Barack Obama
As former President Barack Obama introduced us to wife Michelle Obama, it became instantly clear to us why he would be a wife guy, and the nation grew to love her almost as much as he does. As Obama put it in his 2010 State of the Union address: “If you were going to list the 100 most popular things that I have done as president, being married to Michelle Obama is number one.”
In keeping, Obama not only raves about Michelle’s strengths but credits her with having enabled his own achievements.
“Obviously I couldn’t have done anything that I’ve done without Michelle. Not only has she been a great first lady, she is just my rock,” Obama told Oprah Winfrey in 2011. “I count on her in so many ways every single day.”
Ryan Reynolds
While Reynolds may tease his wife in public, it’s always been clear that he has near-reverence for her and what she’s brought to his life. Accepting an award at WSJ Magazine‘s Innovator Awards this November, Reynolds gave an impromptu speech thanking his wife since 2012, Blake Lively, for all that she brings to his life: “I want to thank my wife, Blake. She is a genius. She’s a renaissance woman. And she pushes me in ways I never imagined I’d be pushed.”
Just days later he told Entertainment Tonight that the secret to how well his relationship worked with Lively was how much they both “liked” each other: “Falling in love is great, but do you like each other? That’s kinda the question you gotta ask yourself, you know, going into it.”
“We’ve always liked each other. We grow together. We learn from each other,” he added.
Hugh Jackman
In a classic celebrity wife guy move, Hugh Jackman shouted out his wife Deborra-Lee Furness after winning an award at the 2018 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
“You believed in me when I couldn’t. You’ve loved me with a passion and a depth that I didn’t even know existed — and I don’t think I felt that I deserved,” Jackman said in his speech. “You have pushed and encouraged me when I was scared to venture out. You have smiled me into smiling. You have sung me into singing. You have loved me into loving and like everything I do in my life, I share this with you. I love you.”
Married to Furness since 1996, Jackman just gets more devoted every year.
Matt Damon
Not much is known about Luciana Barroso, the bartender who stole Matt Damon’s heart and married him in 2005, and according to Matt Damon, that’s because his life is just too happy and boring to dig into.
“I found the right person and it was like getting struck by lightning – literally, everything changed in my life,” Damon told The Telegraph in 2014. “Now I find the prospect of being single terrifying. My life is so much easier because of my wife and my marriage. Everything makes sense.”
That same year, he told YourTango that he doesn’t like to be away from his “soulmate” for more than two weeks: “I’m not away for more than two weeks. I think you need to be with the person you love as much as possible. My wife is my soul mate. I don’t like being apart from her.”
John Legend
John Legend’s many love songs about wife Chrissy Teigen alone would qualify him for wife guy-status, but his sweet quotes about their marriage beyond his music really cement how much she rocks his world.
“I don’t mind being known as somebody who’s devoted to their wife,” he told Cosmopolitan in 2017. “I am devoted to Chrissy. And when I write about [my commitment to her], it’s me being authentic.” We believe him!
Mark Consuelos
Mark Consuelos has been married to Kelly Ripa for over 20 years and he’s never stopped admiring the stunning, talented woman he gets to call his wife. In a 2021 birthday post on Instagram, he called her his “best friend, lover, confidant, dance partner in life,” and “forever girl” — and this photo posted by Ripa showing him slack-jawed staring at her bent over is worth a thousand wife-guy words.
Nick Jonas
In a 2018 Vogue interview with wife Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas opened up about falling hard for her the first time they met in person, at a Vanity Fair Oscar party the previous year.
“I put my drink down, get on one knee — this is in front of a bunch of people — and I say, ‘You’re real. Where have you been all my life?’ Like, loud,” he shared. Of their next date, he says: “She walks into the Chateau, and I feel an overwhelming sense of peace and understanding about this next chapter of my life.”
Like many a celebrity wife guy, Nick Jonas may have been famous before Chopra, but he found that his life took on new meaning and direction once Chopra was in it.
Alexis Ohanian
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanion is such a devoted wife guy for Serena Williams that he even put up billboards celebrating her. In 2018, Ohanion commissioned a series of billboards to be put up in Palm Springs where Williams would be driving to practice featuring photos of their baby, Alexis Olympia Ohanion Jr., and labeling Williams the “greatest momma of all time.”
Not only is a stunning display of devotion to his wife and support of her returning to work even as she struggles to leave her young child at home, it’s also the only way rich people should be spending their money. More of this, please!
George Clooney
When George Clooney married Amal in 2014, it was the end of what many had long thought would be Clooney’s permanent bachelor status — but he’s been clear ever since meeting Amal that she forever changed his fate.
Addressing his wife in a speech at the 2015 Golden Globes, Clooney said this: “Amal, whatever alchemy it is that brought us together, I couldn’t be more proud to be your husband.” A classic wife guy sentiment.
Keith Urban
“[It] wasn’t life-changing, it was life-beginning. It was literally, like, ‘OK, life starts,'” Keith Urban said on CBS Sunday Morning in 2016 of the feeling of meeting Nicole Kidman.
That same year, he gushed to People about feeling like “the luckiest guy on the planet” to be with her: “You know, she’s my best friend. I’ve never had anybody on the planet that knows me as well as she does. I would love to have been worthy of somebody like Nic, but I was a long way from it when we met, but somehow we just found there was love there, real love. I literally just feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.”
Prince Harry
In his series with Oprah, The Me You Can’t See, Prince Harry opened up about seeking therapy to process his feelings about Diana’s death, and how the thought of losing Meghan Markle prompted him to finally take that important step.
“It was meeting and being with Meghan — I knew that if I didn’t do therapy and fix myself, that I was going to lose this woman who I could see spending the rest of my life with,” he said.
In their very first interview in 2017, Harry says he knew she was “the one” from the first time they met, adding: “The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was a sort of confirmation to me that everything, all the stars were aligned. Everything was just perfect. It was this beautiful woman just sort of that — she tripped and fell into my life.”
Jason Momoa
Not only do we have a giant crush on how well Jason Momoa gets along with Lisa Bonet’s ex Lenny Kravitz, we also love just love Momoa’s marriage to Bonet in general. After revealing to Esquire in 2019 that Bonet was his “childhood crush,” Momoa admitted that being married to her now inspires him to think anything is possible.
“I’m like, ‘Listen here, I married Lisa Bonet. Anything is f*cking possible.'”
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox met wife Tracy Pollan in the ’80s filming Family Ties together, and 30-plus years later, he’s more in love than ever.
“She puts up with me. She doesn’t cut me any slack, which is great,” Fox told Entertainment Tonight in 2020. “She’s honest, affectionate, kind, smart and she’s just there in a pinch. She’s beautiful and I love her and she’s sexy and gorgeous.”
“She’s a great mother, great cook and great bodyboard surf junkie beach babe,” he added. “She’s just cool. She’s my best friend. And, she’s got a sense of humor!”
Any questions?
Ryan Gosling
While Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are notoriously private with their relationship, the odd quote they do share about one another makes it clear just how devoted he is to his wife.
“I know that I’m with the person I’m supposed to be with,” he told Hello in 2015, further clarifying that what he “looks for” in a woman is: “that she’s Eva Mendes. There’s nothing else I’m looking for.”
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