Who Is Melissa McCarthy's Husband? Everything We Know About Ben Falcone

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s partnership — in both love and work — is one for the ages.

After meeting in passing as teenagers in their home state of Illinois, the two beloved comedic actors and filmmakers reconnected in the early aughts in Los Angeles. Their fast friendship quickly blossomed into a bona fide romance, and in 2005, they married. 

Falcone is best known for roles in Tammy and Enough Said. He has a close professional relationship with his wife: he starred in God's Favorite Idiot alongside McCarthy, and made cameos in some of her most well-known projects, including Gilmore Girls and Bridesmaids. Falcone co-wrote Tammy with McCarthy, and has directed, co-written, and produced several projects she's starred in, including The Boss and Life of the Party. The couple even launched a production company in 2013.

Here's a complete timeline of their relationship and a look back on their professional partnership.

1990s: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone meet as teenagers.

During a 2021 joint appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, McCarthy and Falcone revealed that they actually met in passing as teenagers in Illinois. She was a freshman in college; he was still in high school. 

Falcone shared that, as a teen, he was "afraid" of McCarthy. "She was very, very goth — all my friends at that age were like, 'I wish my mom would let me dress like her,’” he said. "It was probably the dead of summer and she had a very heavy cape and a nice shade of blue hair," he added. 

"And his eyes just went to hearts,” McCarthy quipped in response.

1998: They reconnect in Los Angeles.

Nearly a decade later, McCarthy and Falcone met again in Los Angeles, when they both attended a class at The Groundlings, an improv and sketch comedy school.

In a 2018 interview with Ellen Degeneres, McCarthy said that, on the first day of class, Falcone performed a skit about an inmate who “really liked” his new roommate. “He got up there and was so quiet and was just very peculiar,” she said.

"I immediately was like, 'Oh, he's strange. I like him.’ We were friends from day one," she said.

During a 2021 Late Night with Seth Meyers interview, McCarthy shared that, after they reconnected in L.A., it was Falcone who jogged her memory of their first meeting: “When we became friends…like a week into it, [Falcone] was like, 'Oh, my God. I know who you were,’” McCarthy said.

And that was it. In a June 2022 appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, the couple revealed that their romantic connection came naturally — and quickly. "I knew I was pretty sweet on him, for sure — like, from day one,” McCarthy said. “He was the only person I was like, 'I like you. That's it. I'm done. I'm done shopping.’”

May 6, 2003: Ben Falcone makes a cameo on Gilmore Girls.

McCarthy and Falcone first appeared together on an episode of Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino's cult-favorite dramedy series, during the show’s third season.

McCarthy played Sookie St. James: a chef, Lorelai Gilmore's best friend, and one of the series’ most beloved characters. Falcone made a cameo in the episode titled "Say Goodnight, Gracie” as Mr. Brinke, a lawyer attending Fran's funeral. The two shared a scene together.

October 8, 2005: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone get married.

About seven years into their relationship, McCarthy and Falcone wed in a private ceremony, though the couple later shared sweet throwback photos from the day on Instagram.

January 9, 2007: They announce they're expecting their first child.

In an interview with PEOPLE, McCarthy shared that she and Falcone were expecting their first child together. "We are so excited about the baby,” she said. "I'm hoping the baby has a lot of Ben's calm traits."

May 5, 2007: They welcome their first child.

On May 5, 2007, McCarthy and Falcone welcomed their first child, a girl they named Vivian.

Fun fact: McCarthy's pregnancy was also written into Gilmore Girls as Sookie St. James’ third pregnancy.

March 22, 2010: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone welcome their second child.

Three years after the birth of their first daughter, McCarthy and Falcone announced they had welcomed a second daughter named Georgette. Just four weeks after giving birth, McCarthy filmed the pilot for the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly.

At the time, in an interview with PEOPLE, McCarthy shared that she’s “not a great pregnant woman.”

“I have a baby-baby at home and a 3-year-old,” she said. “I’m not like the woman that’s like, ‘Isn’t this miraculous? Isn’t this amazing?’ I’m super round and super tired. My husband says it’s like he’s married to a 90-year-old because I just go out mid-sentence. He says, ‘You were in mid-thought, and then the next thing you stop talking. I turn around and you’re sound asleep on the couch.'”

April 28, 2011: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone co-star in Bridesmaids.

While Gilmore Girls was McCarthy’s breakout role on the small screen, 2011’s Bridesmaids cemented her as a big-screen legend, too. In an iconic scene on a plane, McCarthy’s character, Megan, encounters — and eventually seduces — Falcone’s undercover “Air Marshal Jon.”

Years later, in 2020, McCarthy shared an on-set snap of the two in costume.

February 26, 2012: The couple hits the Oscars red carpet.

McCarthy’s Bridesmaids performance earned the actress her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Though she lost out in the category (to Octavia Spencer for her role in The Help) McCarthy and Falcone were all smiles on the red carpet together.

February 6, 2013: They launch their own production company.

In February 2013, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McCarthy and Falcone announced they had formed On the Day Productions together. The company has since produced many feature films, including Tammy, The Happytime Murders, Life of the Party, and The Boss.

"We've been writing together for longer than we've been married," McCarthy and Falcone told THR in a joint statement. "To be able to produce our own work and other people's work that we are so passionate about is really a dream come true."

June 2014: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone make Tammy together.

With the feature film Tammy, McCarthy and Falcone took their collaborative spirit to the next level. The two co-wrote the script, McCarthy starred in the titular lead role, and Falcone directed. The film was also produced via the couple’s company, On the Day.

May 19, 2015: Ben Falcone supports Melissa McCarthy as she receives a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In May 2015, in Los Angeles, Melissa McCarthy received a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame. Falcone was right by her side supporting her.

March 28, 2016: They make The Boss together.

McCarthy and Falcone teamed up again on the 2016 comedy feature film The Boss. As with Tammy, the duo co-wrote the screenplay, with McCarthy starring in the lead role and Falcone directing. (The couple’s daughters, Vivian and Georgette, made a cameo in the movie, too!)

May 16, 2017: Ben Falcone publishes a book about fatherhood, with a foreword written by McCarthy.

In 2017, Falcone published his first book: a collection of personal stories about fatherhood, aptly titled Being A Dad Is Weird: Lessons in Fatherhood from My Family to Yours. In the memoir, Falcone shares anecdotes about his own childhood as well as his experiences raising his two daughters with McCarthy — who also wrote the book’s funny, touching foreword.

October 8, 2018: They celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary.

McCarthy and Falcone celebrated 13 years of marriage — and 20 happy years as a couple — with an at-home celebration with friends, including Richard E. Grant, McCarthy’s costar in the 2018 biographical drama Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Falcone also had a supporting role in the film.)

On an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, McCarthy revealed that her 13th wedding anniversary gift for Falcone had a serious dash of humor: She gifted him a Jitterbug, an easy-to-use cell phone designed for seniors. “It has huge buttons. It’s fantastic,” she said. “My kids are horrified by it.” Falcone went for a more traditional gift: two rings, with one that said the word “love.”

"I need to work on my romance skills, I think," McCarthy joked.

February 24, 2019: They wear matching tracksuits to the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty.

 In 2019, McCarthy and Falcone again attended the Academy Awards together. That year, the actress earned her first Best Actress nomination for her role in Can You Ever Forgive Me? But even though McCarthy didn’t win her category, she and Falcone hands-down won the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty with their matching Adidas tracksuits. 

In InStyle’s April 2021 cover story, McCarthy explained that the wardrobe choice was actually a last-minute decision of hers.

“I'm sure it threw everybody into a tizzy because the idea came to me the day before the Oscars,” McCarthy said. “I asked, ‘Can we wear matching tracksuits?’ And someone was like, ‘For tomorrow? Like, that both fit?’ It's not that easy. I just wanted to be in tennies and tracksuits. It just seemed so funny to me and so comfortable. I have never been flipped off or told to f— off as much as at that party [laughs], and it was all done, uh, jokingly, but also with something real behind it. [After the ceremony], everyone put on a different dress and different heels. They just totally were like, ‘You go f— yourself [for wearing a tracksuit].’ My response was, ‘Oh, OK, I'm going to go dance pretty hard right now.’"

October 8, 2020: They celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary.

On their 15th wedding anniversary, McCarthy and Falcone both shared touching, funny messages for one another on Instagram.

Falcone chose a photo of his wife wearing a blonde wig holding two bunny rabbits. He wrote in the caption: "Was scrolling through my phone and came across this photo. Can't remember seeing it before. Two things: A) I'm so lucky and grateful to be married to such a lovely, smart, kind, and wonderful person B) why is there a skunk in the picture? Happy fifteenth Anniversary, Mooch! Here's to 500 more (I am assuming we will kinda be robots for 400 of those years)."

McCarthy, on the other hand, shared a sweet throwback photo of the two kissing on their wedding day. "15 years ago today I married the kindest, funniest and weirdest human I've ever met,” she wrote in the caption. “Grateful every single day!!!"

October 8, 2021: They celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary.

Another wedding anniversary, another sweet Instagram tribute. On the couple’s 16th anniversary, Falcone shared another throwback photo of the two dancing at their wedding reception.

“Sixteen years ago today, I was lucky enough to marry to the most wonderful person in the world,” Falcone wrote in the caption. “Happy Anniversary Mooch! Love you, here’s to 400 more (for a few of those I am assuming we shall need to be at least partially robotic beeeeeep!)”

June 15, 2022: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone Star in the Netflix comedy God’s Favorite Idiot.

In 2022, McCarthy and Falcone once again shared the screen, this time in God’s Favorite Idiot, an apocalyptic workplace comedy series on Netflix. 

In the show, which ran for one eight-episode season, Falcone plays Clark, a man who gains the ability to glow after he's struck by a mysterious bolt of lightning. His colleagues, including his friend Amily (McCarthy), believe that the event may somehow be related to God. Hijinks and hilarity ensue.

November 2, 2022: They invest in a whiskey company.

In 2022, McCarthy and Falcone embarked on a new venture: they became investors and partners in Big Nose Kate, a whiskey brand named after Maria Izabella Magdolna Horony, a Hungarian-American outlaw who, according to the brand, was “feared and revered throughout the rough-and-tumble Old West.” 

In a joint interview with PEOPLE, McCarthy and Falcone said that investing in the company — co-founded by veteran distiller Melissa “Mel” Heim in 2022 — was an easy decision.

"I was immediately drawn to Big Nose Kate's story," McCarthy said. "She was an independent badass who more than held her own in the Wild West, and this whiskey does her proud. It's delicious, and I always feel a little bit cooler when we raise a glass to Kate."

Falcone echoed his wife: "We'd have to say what drew us to the whiskey was the story of Big Nose Kate herself,” he said. “Then we realized that the whiskey was a real yummy factory.”

May 8, 2023: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone attend The Little Mermaid premiere.

The couple walked the blue carpet with their daughter, Vivan.

August 25, 2023: Melissa McCarthy celebrates Ben Falcone's 50th birthday.

When Falcone turned 50, McCarthy gave her husband a sweet shoutout on Instagram. This time, it was a throwback photo of the actor as a teenager.

"Nifty nifty look whose FIFTY!! Happy 50th @benjyfalcone," she wrote in the caption. "When this picture was taken 50 seemed like 100 years away. I’d marry this guy all over again, acid washed denim and U2 lapel button and all!"

March 10, 2024: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone attend the 2024 Academy Awards.

In 2024, McCarthy and Falcone again attended the Academy Awards — McCarthy presented alongside Octavia Spencer — looking as chic as ever. 

Although the couple didn’t reprise their matching tracksuits for the Vanity Fair Oscars party after the ceremony, McCarthy did carry the sweetest accessory: a crystal-covered Kinza Winza purse in the shape of a cannoli.

April 30, 2024: Ben Falcone supports Melissa McCarthy at the premiere of Unfrosted.

Falcone supported McCarthy at the Los Angeles premiere of Unfrosted, a comedy film directed by Jerry Seinfeld (in his feature directorial debut) based loosely on the true story of the creation of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries. In the movie, McCarthy stars as Donna Stankowski, a NASA food scientist who joins the Kellogg's team. 

McCarthy wore a pink-and-green floral dress and matching headband at the premiere, while Falcone wore a green suit. The two complimented each other perfectly.

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