Jerry Seinfeld's Wife Jessica Met in a Pretty Controversial Way
Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, have been married for almost 20 years. Together, they have three kids: Sascha, Julian, and Shepherd.
The couple came under scrutiny for tying the knot just over one year after meeting in 1998. Jessica had only been married to her first husband, Eric Nederlander, for two months when she and Jerry met at the gym.
Jerry is the star of Netflix's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Season 11 of the series premiered Friday, July 19.
Jerry Seinfeld is a lot of things — a world-famous comedian, former star of the ever-popular sitcom Seinfeld, film producer, and creator of the Netflix series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
But outside of his wildly successful career, Jerry is also a husband to his wife of almost 20 years, Jessica Seinfeld (she was born Nina Sklar, but changed her name in 1995).
Jerry and Jessica first met at a Reebok gym on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City on August 7, 1998, according to Jessica's account in The New York Times. Two months prior, Jessica had married her first husband, theatrical producer Eric Nederlander.
Even though they recently had said "I do," Jessica, who worked as a Tommy Hilfiger fashion publicist at the time, claimed that she and Eric were struggling in their relationship before walking down the aisle. She went as far as to call her marriage "irreparably broken," despite attempts to repair the relationship in couples therapy. Her sister said that Jessica had already started to move possessions from Eric's apartment over to her grandmother's by early July.
But Jerry didn't know any of this when he approached Jessica at the gym. At first, she brushed him and his jokes off, but then “he came around again and said something funny, and I actually had to laugh.”
From there, the couple began dating. Months later, Eater reports that while Jerry and Jessica were shopping at Zabar's, a famous Jewish grocery store in New York City, Jerry turned to his now-wife and said, "This is the perfect time to tell you that I love you."
This whirlwind romance did not sit well with Eric. The New York Post reported that Eric called paparazzi shots of Jerry and Jessica kissing "appalling."
“I was manipulated, misled, and completely caught off guard by Jessica’s infidelity,” he told The Post's Page Six in 1998.“Jerry and Jessica have no respect for decent values. They deserve each other.”
Their controversial relationship became even more of a tabloid fixation when Jerry and Jessica announced that they were engaged, just over a year after they first met. According to People, the news came as a shock, since reports had surfaced just one month prior that Jessica had begun dating NBC Today producer David Friedman.
Given all of the media attention, it's no wonder Jerry and Jessica kept their nuptials private, quietly tying the knot in New York City on December 25, 1999.
But fast forward to 2019, and the dust has seemingly settled. The couple now have three kids together: Sascha, 18, Julian, 16, and Shepherd, 13. Jerry continues to work on his Netflix show and tour the country performing standup. Meanwhile, Jessica is plenty busy running Good+Foundation (formerly Baby Buggy), a charity that aims to fight poverty.
When asked about their nearly 20-year marriage, the former Seinfeld star says the secret to the couple's happiness is all in their ability to laugh at everything.
A post shared by Jessica Seinfeld (@jessseinfeld) on Jun 5, 2019 at 7:38pm PDT
“From the day I met her, that was really our connection,” Jerry told Closer Weekly. “We always have fun and we laugh and she’s got a great sense of humor. She’s very quick and sarcastic and all the qualities that I like. She’s very sharp. She catches all the wrongness.”
As for Jessica, she gushed to People that she credits Jerry's openness to their strong bond. "He’s the most incredible communicator and so he’s better at this relationship than I am."
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