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Amy Schumer Majorly Hints at Martin Short and Meryl Streep Romance
Every time Meryl Streep and Martin Short go anywhere together, such as Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary concert, they beg the question: Are there only friends in the building?
A question Streep has apparently taken to answering with a good-natured middle finger.
The "very good friends, nothing more"—as Short's rep put it after their cozy-looking 2024 Golden Globes outing, nipping dating rumors in the bud—quickly became the Internet's favorite costars to ship, regardless of the lack of cold, hard proof that a romance was being committed.
No matter that Short reiterated as much soon after, and has continued in that vein whenever asked. "We're not a couple," he said on the Jan. 28, 2024, episode of Bill Maher's Club Random podcast. "We are just very close friends."
Their physical proximity in public since then—including a passionate kiss on a May day in New York—can at least in part be chalked up to the actors playing love interests: Self-absorbed theater director Oliver and actress-with-a-secret Loretta fell in love in season three and tied the knot in season four.
But they're also longtime admirers of each other who, protestations aside, have left just enough circumstantial evidence in their wake to keep fans swooning over the sheer possibility that the respectively iconic talents could be more than just pals.
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Make that longtime pals who go see Merrily We Roll Along together on Broadway in March 2024, and who held hands not just at the Only Murders season four premiere, but at the after-party, too, and sit next to each other at all the award shows, including the 2024 Emmys.
And who could blame Streep, who's turning 76 on June 22, if she's in it for the laughs?
"There’s really no one funnier to sit next to than Marty Short,” Amy Schumer, who sat next to the pair at the SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert taping Feb. 15, told People afterward. “I think that the tea is, I think Marty might be off the market. That’s what I’m seeing. I don’t know."
Stars, they're just like us: Hanging on Short and Streep's every glance.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Last October, however, they went to dinner at a Santa Monica restaurant so popular with celebrities that paparazzi automatically camp out as soon as the sun goes down, an extremely rare out-in-the-wild sighting for the famously private Streep.
So they could be fully aware of what their sightings have wrought and are having a little fun with it.
Even their costar Steve Martin got in on the buzz days later, posting an old photo of himself with Short and Streep, taken at the Feb. 9, 2023, opening night of Pictures From Home on Broadway, in which he put a "no" symbol over his own face.
The commenters had a field day, with one playfully chiding, "Steve is a gossip!"
Still, we got all the warm fuzzies when Short, 75, said in August of his bond with Streep, "It's been a friendship that always grows if you work with someone and love that person."
Though to be fair, the SCTV alum could almost have said the same thing about his decades-long comedic partnership with Martin. The Father of the Bride costars kicked off their renaissance à deux with their 2015 stage show An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, which became an Emmy-nominated 2018 Netflix special and obviously left audiences wanting more from the veteran entertainers.
But Short and Streep do go way back.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
In February 2015, Streep was among the theater aficionados who caught a performance of the Broadway show It's Only a Play after Short joined the production.
While the three-time Oscar winner posed for group shots with the whole cast, she and Short put their heads together for a close-up.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
They also shared a table with Martin and the lady of the hour at American Film Institute's 45th Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to Diane Keaton in 2017.
And they were spotted having a cute moment at the 2022 SAG Awards, where Short was nominated for both his own performance and as part of the Only Murders ensemble, while Streep—who had yet to join the series—was nominated as part of the cast of the film Don't Look Up.
Well, they were spotted in hindsight. At the time, they were just two actors, presumably friendly with each other from their years in show business, sharing a few laughs. (Not to mention, Streep was wearing what appeared to be her wedding rings, the world not yet wise to her years-long separation from husband Don Gummer.)
Christopher Polk/Shutterstock for SAG Awards
But despite moving in adjacent and sometimes concentric circles for years, Streep and Short had never worked together before Only Murders in the Building.
“The first day of shooting with her, I was going to work, and—you know, I'm not new to show business—and I thought, ‘I am nervous today. Why?' Oh yeah, I'm working with Meryl," Short told E! News in September. Hence how charmed he was when, after the two had set up a shot and were waiting in a holding area for cameras to roll, she admitted that she was a little nervous too.
"She said, ‘Okay, my nerves are to half,'" Short recalled. "I went, Oh, okay, that's pretty cool. Maybe that's why you're the greatest actress, because you've never taken anything for granted."
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And while Short and Streep were charming the scarves off of everyone in the room, "they just delighted in each other on-screen, off-screen in every way," OMITB co-creator John Hoffman told Decider ahead of the Oct. 29 season four finale.
Describing what it was like capturing Oliver and Loretta's burgeoning romance on the show, Hoffman recalled Streep tearing up after they spent half the night shooting the characters' unexpected date night aboard the Staten Island Ferry in season three.
"She said, 'I just got to play a scene I really thought that the likes of which I wouldn’t have a chance to do,'" Hoffman said. "'To play romantic scenes at this age with this band in this way, it’s just the greatest thing ever.'”
Hoffman added, "I kept on thinking like, I hope the world falls in love with this couple the way we all are. And that is so due to the magic that they create together."
Plus, heading into such tender scenes, both actors bring their own personal experiences with love and loss.
In March 1978, when she was 28, Streep's fiancé, The Godfather actor John Cazale, died of lung cancer at 42. She married Gummer nine months later and she and the sculptor went on to have four kids together: musician son Henry Wolfe and actress daughters Mamie Gummer, Grace Gummer and Louisa Jacobson Gummer.
And in a testament to the remarkably private world she's carved out for herself despite being one of the most celebrated actresses in the world: Streep and Gummer separated more than six years before the public got wind in October 2023, her rep telling E! News, "While they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart."
Short, meanwhile, is dad to daughter Katherine and sons Oliver and Henry from his 30-year marriage to Nancy Dolman, who died of ovarian cancer in 2010 when she was 58.
He's still asked to this day about the touching way he wrote about Dolman in his 2014 memoir I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend.
"We were together for 36 years," Short told The Hollywood Reporter last August. "I didn’t want to forget Nancy."
Losing his wife "was absolutely horrible, obviously, and as sad as anything," he said, "but I will tell you what I said to my kids at the time: 'I believe Mom has zoomed into our souls.'"
And, for the record, he told the publication that he and Streep were friends.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for FIJI Water
Streep, meanwhile, has been the silent player amid all this heartfelt rumormongering, the actress relied upon to bring eyeballs to the screen and award nominations to the tally, but not one to run a press gauntlet.
But even if Streep does at some point say that they're friends and that's all, her bond with Short is still one to savor.
And we'll always have Oliver and Loretta's crackling chemistry.
“It’s pretty unexpected to imagine a pairing of Meryl Streep with Martin Short and watch them find this incredible connection together and, as Meryl said, to not have it be twee or about the age or about any of that," Hoffman told The Wrap in 2023. "It's just a beautiful romance that you buy."
While we await Only Murders in the Building season five and more clues, check out the cast's real-life loves that are more easily detectable:
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Selena Gomez
When it comes to her romance with record producer and fiancé Benny Blanco, Selena is the first to admit she has trouble keeping her hands to herself. After all, the duo have had a penchant for showing off their relationship since confirming it over social media last year.
As she wrote to a fan of Benny in a December 2023 Instagram comment, “He is my everything in my heart.”
At the time, Selena revealed the duo had been dating for six months, and Benny later opened up on how their friendship blossomed into something more.
“I was the last one to know,” he told the Wall Street Journal of developing feelings for Selena in April 2024. “It’s crazy how your partner could just be sitting there the whole time, right in front of your eyes, and you don’t even notice, and then you have that Clueless moment where you’re like, Wait, I’m in love.”
And while many of the Wizards of Waverly Place alum’s fans reminisce on her previous relationships with Justin Bieber, whom she dated on-and-off until 2018, and The Weeknd, whom she dated in 2017, Selena assures that Benny is not her same old love.
“I'd have to say overall it's the safest that I feel,” she told Zane Lowe in February 2024. “It's been really lovely and I've only grown through it, so it's awesome.”
Indeed, it has been awesome. After all, Benny proposed to Selena in December 2024 after one year of dating. With a series of photos of her marquise-cut diamond ring, she wrote on Instagram, "Forever begins now..."
Benjamin Lozovsky/BFA/Shutterstock
Steve Martin
Steve’s character Charles may not have the best luck when it comes to romance, but the comedian is doing just fine. After all, the Cheaper by the Dozen alum has been happily married to his wife Anne Stringfield since 2007.
The pair’s meet cute actually happened over the phone while Anne was working as a fact checker for The New Yorker during the aughts. At the time, Steve was writing comedy blurbs for the publication, and told AARP in 2017 that he and his wife “talked on the phone for a year” before they ever met.
And while Steve described Anne as “shy” on their first introduction, the pair’s romance quickly heated up. In fact, they ended up tying the knot in a ceremony that was a surprise even to their guests—which included Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, Eugene Levy, Tom Hanks and Diane Keaton.
Steve was married to ex wife Victoria Tennant from 1986 to 1994, but he welcomed his first child, Mary, with Anna in 2012.
He later told AARP that becoming a dad at nearly 70 was “fantastic.”
“I think if I'd had a child earlier, I would have been a lousy father because I would have misplaced my attention on my career,” he told the publication. “She’s giving me way more than I’m giving her.”
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Martin Short
Long before he was on Only Murders, Martin met his only one—late wife Nancy Dolman—on the set of Godspell in 1972. The couple—who share kids Katherine, Oliver and Henry—was married from 1980 until Nancy died after a battle with cancer in 2010.
And while Martin has more recently sparked romance rumors with costar and longtime friend Meryl Streep, he has spoken before about communicating with Nancy “all the time.”
“Our marriage was a triumph," he gushed to AARP in 2019. “It's 'Hey Nan,' you know? How would she react to this decision or that, especially regarding our three kids.”
Still, Martin noted that after his wife’s untimely death he has been able to ascertain what he holds most dear in life.
As he put it to AARP, “To me, life is a practical experience each day, with a coating of 'Be as happy as you can be' on top.”
At the moment, Meryl appears to be making Martin quite happy—as the duo arrived to their Only Murders season 4 premiere together, holding hands. Still, they may have been playing into their characters, as sources close to the Santa Clause alum assured to E! News in Jan. 2024 that the pair are just “very good friends.”
“It's been a friendship that always grows,” Martin told Extra of Meryl in Aug. 2024. “If you work with someone and love that person.”
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Meryl Streep
Prior to stirring romance rumors with her on-screen Only Murders love interest, Meryl was married to ex husband Don Gummer for nearly 40 years. The couple—who share adult children Henry, Mamie, Grace and Louisa—separated in 2017, but kept their break up private until 2023.
“Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than six years," a spokesperson for the Mamma Mia! actress told E! News in 2023. “And while they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart.”
The couple’s last public appearance together was at the 2018 Academy Awards. And at an early Oscars ceremony in 2012, the three-time award winner didn’t hold back from gushing over her then-husband.
“First, I am going to thank Don,” she said during her Best Actress acceptance speech for her role in The Iron Lady. “Because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music, and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives, you've given me.”
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Paul Rudd
Paul may no longer be a resident of the Arconia, but his role as Ben Glenroy will forever be infamous of Only Murders lore, and the Ant-Man star’s love life is just as notable.
After all, Paul met his wife Julie Yaeger, a screenwriter and producer, in the late ‘90s. And, the actor described, Julie was the first person Paul ever met in New York—literally. He met her in a publicist’s office on the heels of his Clueless breakout role. As if it could get any cuter!
“We started talking and there was a maturity with her—she had experienced some tragedy in her life, I had too,” he explained of Julie to Marie Claire UK in 2018. “The impression I got was, ‘Wow, this is a woman. This isn't a girl.'”
Shortly after their office meet-cute, Paul took Julie to lunch—a short few years later, they tied the knot in 2003. Afterward, the couple welcomed son Jack in 2006, who was followed by younger sister Darby in 2010. And while Paul has made quite the name for himself as a comedian and actor, it’s the life he’s created with his family that he cherishes the most.
“When I think about myself, I think of myself as a husband and a father, like I'm that," he told People in 2021. "I just hang out with my family when I'm not working. That's what I kind of like the most.”
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Eva Longoria
It’s important to be familiar with Eva Longoria’s love life—as the Desperate Housewives star plays herself in the newest season of Only Murders. Indeed, along with Eugene Levy and Zach Galifiankis, the trio makes up the movie versions of Mabel, Charles and Oliver.
While Eva was previously married to the late Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004, and Tony Parker from 2007 to 2011, she found her forever in José “Pepe” Bastón, whom she married in 2016. And the Young and Restless star—who now shares son Santiago with the producer—has said the wait was worth it.
"I learned to be content on my own," she told People in 2016. “I think I needed that to be ready for what I have with Pepe.”
Of course, Eva’s other true love is her son.
“Laying in bed, falling asleep—those are my favorite moments,” she gushed of Santiago to E! News in 2024. “My heart melts. That's my favorite—when he just wants to be with me.”
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Eugene Levy
The Schitt’s Creek star’s love story is simple. He met his wife Deborah Divine—with whom he shares kids Sarah Levy and Dan Levy—in the 1970s, before the couple tied the knot in 1977.
Unlike the rest of her family, Deborah prefers to stay behind the camera and has worked as a producer and screenwriter on various productions over the years.
But the American Pie star assures that without her, his family—nor he—would be where they are today.
"You can't have your name put on a star on Hollywood Boulevard without someone having your back, and Deb’s had mine for 47 years,” the actor explained during his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in March 2024. “There would be no star today without you.”
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Zach Galifianakis
Zach rounds out season four’s Hollywood faces in Only Murders by playing Oliver’s celebrity counterpart. The Hangover star has been married to Canadian businesswoman Quinn Lundberg since 2012.
Together, the couple share son Rufus Emmanuel Lundberg, whom they welcomed in 2016, E! News exclusively confirmed at the time. They also share another son, born in 2013.
"I think fatherhood is just the greatest thing,” Zach told Jimmy Fallon on a 2014 appearance of The Tonight Show. “It really, really is.”
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Ashley Park
As fellow aspiring actress Kimber, Ashley got to witness Oliver (Martin) and Loretta (Meryl) on-screen romance blossom up-close, but her own love story occurred on the set of another show.
Indeed, Ashley is currently dating her Emily in Paris costar Paul Forman. In fact, she hard-launched their relationship after months of speculation in a heartfelt Jan. 2024 Instagram post amid a health scare.
“You calmed my fears and held me through ambulances, three foreign hospitals, a week in the ICU, scary ERs, countless scans and tests and injections, excruciating pain, and so much confusion all while we were alone on the other side of the world far from those we know,” Ashley wrote. “I love you Paul. More than I can ever say.”
To which Paul—who also plays Ashley’s love interest in the Netflix series—wrote back with a red heart emoji, “My love.”
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Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch’s Sazz is at the forefront of season 4 as Charles, Mabel and Oliver attempt to find out who killed her.
Behind the scenes though, Jane’s life is a lot sweeter with wife Jennifer Cheyne, whom she married in 2021. And despite their happily ever after, it wasn’t exactly a fairytale proposal.
“Jennifer and I have been together forever and we were shopping for insurance for her and I said, ‘Let’s just get married.’” Jane recalled to Today in 2022. “So that’s how romantic it went."
In fact, the wedding itself, only included Jane, Jennifer and a minister in the courtyard of a courthouse.
As Jane recalled, “It was lovely.”
Previously, Jane married Lara Embry in 2010, before separating three years later.
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Jesse Williams
Jesse may have confirmed his time on Only Murders is done, but his relationship with girlfriend Ciarra Pardo—whom he started dating in 2022—is still going strong.
The couple tend to keep things lowkey, but they have shared updates here and there, including Ciarra—who works in the fashion industry and is the founder of N4XT Experiences—sharing a selfie of the duo in her birthday celebration photo dump in April 2024.
She captioned the post, which included a snap of her cuddling into Jesse’s shoulder, “Italian BDay Archives.”
Before igniting a romance with Ciarra, Jesse married ex-wife Aryn Drake-Lee in 2012. The couple welcomed kids Sadie in 2013 and Maceo in 2015, before Jesse filed for divorce in 2017. (The couple finalized their divorce in 2020).
After their split, he was also linked to actresses Minka Kelly and Taylour Paige.
(Originally published Oct. 27, 2024, at 7 a.m. PT)
English (US)