Fred Armisen Got Secretly Married to His Third Wife
Elisabeth Moss said being married to Fred Armisen was "extremely traumatic and awful and horrible."
Published July 18 2024, 7:01 p.m. ET
Comedian and actor Fred Armisen has dated plenty of women in Hollywood throughout his rise to fame. Throughout his time in the spotlight, he's been married three separate times, with one long relationship in between. Fred has gone on the record before admitting to cheating on some of these partners, and this has resulted in the dissolution of at least one marriage.
For those who are curious, here's a breakdown of his relationship history.
Fred Armisen was married to Sally Timms for a few years.
Fred's first wife was Sally Timms, a singer and lyricist who was part of the British band The Mekons. Though they made various red carpet appearances together, little is known about their relationship or their decision to split.
Fred Armisen was briefly married to Elisabeth Moss.
Fred and Elisabeth Moss married in 2009 and made the decision to divorce just one year later, and the actress has publicly stated that the relationship was "extremely traumatic and awful and horrible." A lot of this seems to be attributed to Fred's own handling of the relationship, as he admitted on an episode of WTF with Marc Maron, he got with Elisabeth because he was infatuated with the idea of dating someone from Mad Max.
"I was very heartbroken at myself," he said. "I gave myself a hard time. I felt very bad. At how little true work I would put into something. That I got so caught up in the beginning. The beginning is so intoxicating."
"I have a problem with intimacy, where all of a sudden, there's a real person there. It's not the girl on Mad Men," Fred continued, noting that a similar thing happened with his first wife. "It's almost like an amnesia. It's almost like waking up and going, 'Where am I? Who is this person? Why is this person looking at me directly in the eye and having a conversation with me?'"
Fred Armisen was in a relationship with Natasha Lyonne for seven years, though they never married.
Natasha Lyonne, known for her various roles in Orange is the New Black and Russian Doll, dated Fred for seven years, from 2014 to sometime in 2021, only confirming a year later that they'd broken up during the pandemic. Though their relationship seemed to be going great, with the pair cohabitating during lockdown, despite typically living on separate costs. The two are still friendly, despite the split.
“I honestly think we broke up because I wanted a swimming pool," Natasha joked in her interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "We love each other just about as much as two people can love each other and we’re still talking all the time, but Freddy doesn’t like a swimming pool. It might seem like a mundane reason for a breakup, but during that pandemic, you’ve got to get your laps — I’m like Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer. So, I got myself a house with a pool out in Los Angeles."
Fred Armisen and Riki Lindhome secretly married in 2022.
Despite Fred's split with Natasha not being confirmed until April 2022, Fred seemed to have already moved on with actress Riki Lindhome. In an interview with People, she confirmed that their dynamic changed in 2020.
“I could tell I was having feelings, but then I was like, ‘Well, I can’t say anything because I’m about to have a baby,” she told the outlet.
She welcomed her son via surrogacy in March 2022, and she and Fred had only been dating for a couple of weeks.
“We were friends for so long that it just happened fast," she said. "We had one dinner and then it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, let's see where this goes.’ It was surprising. I would say it was more of a shock to him. He did not see it coming at all.”
Three months later, they secretly wed, and the news about it didn't break until July 2024.