Getty James Gunn pictured with girlfriend Jennifer Holland in October 2017.
Jennifer Holland is the long-term girlfriend of director James Gunn. In July 2018, Gunn was removed from his directing role of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after controversial tweets emerged from the director’s past. Disney chairman Alan Horn said that Gunn’s tweets represented “offensives attitudes and statements.” The tweets, which were from 2008 and 2009, saw Gunn make jokes about rape and pedophilia. In an apology, Gunn said that he was “very, very different than I was a few years ago.”
Gunn was previously married to The Office star Jenna Fischer between September 2000 and September 2007, the couple finalized their divorce in 2008. Fischer was a friend of Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, which led to their relationship.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Gunn Described Meeting Holland as ‘Seeing a Color I Had Never Seen Before’
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In a November 2015 Facebook post, Gunn described that first meeting Holland, 31, “was like seeing a color I had never seen before.” He added, “I didn’t know they made people like this: her wisdom, strength, integrity and kindness, all in one human being, were foreign to me. Every moment with Jenn is a reminder that, if I’m open, life always offers discoveries around the corner, and no matter how much I think I know, my knowledge is only a ray of light on a star in the cosmos of what there is to be known. Happy birthday, Jenn. I know you’re not perfect, but you’re perfect to me. I’m lucky to be your guy.” Gunn made another Facebook post about Holland in February 2017 when he described a car accident she had been in on the Pacific Coast Highway. Gunn wrote in part, “A tow truck slammed into the back of her Audi, shoving her car COMPLETELY UNDER a truck, which then hit another car which veered into the other side of the road, demolishing that car as well.” Gunn went on to say that Holland hadn’t been seriously injured and turned the message into a plea to his followers to drive carefully.
Holland has sent similar loving messages to Gunn on her Facebook page. She posted on his birthday in August 2017, “James has changed so many people’s lives all around the world with the stories he tells, but there’s no one in the world who’s life has been affected more, or who is happier that James Gunn was born, than me. Happy Birthday, you beautiful man. I love you.”
2. Holland Says She Has Never Drank Alcohol or Done Drugs in Her Life
According to her IMDb page, Holland, a native of Chicago, is a working actress in Hollywood. Holland has made appearances in the TV shows, Drake & Josh, CSI: Miami, Bones and Rizzoli & Isles. Holland told Maxim in April 2017 about how she got the acting bug saying, “I suppose my love of performing started at a young age when I was in gymnastics. I got a taste for the instant gratification you get when you perform. I ended up pursuing an acting career when I was 16 and moved out to Los Angeles.”
Holland’s most recent appearance is a recurring role in the CMT drama Sun Records, a series about the seminal record label. Holland plays Becky Phillips, wife of rock and roll pioneer Sam Phillips, who is portrayed by Chad Michael Murray in the show.
In an interview with the website, Talk Nerdy With Us, Holland explained the similarities between her and her character, Becky Phillips, saying, “I think she’s really similar to me in that I became very independent at a very young age. I grew up in a family where there was a lot of alcoholism and I went in a completely different direction than that, because I didn’t want to see myself have the same struggles that I saw in my family a lot. So I’ve never drank or done drugs or anything like that in my entire life. I didn’t really make a conscious decision to do that. I think it just never became attractive to me, because I saw how badly it was in my family life.”
3. Holland Describes Herself as a Nerd About Roleplaying Video Games
Facebook/Jennifer Holland
During her interview with Talk Nerdy With Us, Holland talked about her love of roleplaying video games saying they brought out her “inner nerd.” Holland told the website, “As a kid I really got into this computer video game. I’m not so much into shooter video games, or anything like that, but I like things where you sort of have to figure out what’s going on, sort of like a mystery-suspense sort of thing.” Holland also spoke about her love of astronomy and astrophysics. The actress said, “I get really into theoretical physics and the different theories people have about what’s out there and how we came about and all of those sorts of things. I just get really excited when I learn, and talk about, the different possibilities about the things we don’t know about our universe and where we live, because we live on this planet which is so small in the scheme of where we are in this universe that we know nothing about.” Holland went on to describe that is she had taken a different route in life, she would have gone into astronomy or theoretical physics.
4. Holland Once Said that ‘Humor & Chemistry, That’s Foreplay to Me’
Facebook/Jennifer Holland
In an April 2017 feature in Maxim, Holland said that “humor and chemistry, that’s foreplay to me.” When asked what turned her on in a potential partner, Holland said, “Sorry I’m boring, but I am really turned on by intelligence and wittiness. That’s so freaking attractive to me. And it never gets old or boring.” If out on a date, Holland said that her suitor should not “put me down or treat service staff with disrespect. There’s nothing less attractive to me.” The final question saw the website ask, “What is your favorite thing to do in the bathroom?” Holland responded by saying, “Have sex. What other kind of answer is there for this question?”
5. Gunn’s Chief Accuser Once Tweeted that He Didn’t Believe Date Rape Existed
Gunn’s chief accuser was conservative political activist Mike Cernovich. Cernovich, apparently took exception to Gunn’s anti-Donald Trump messages on Twitter. He told the Huffington Post in the aftermath of Gunn’s firing, “I couldn’t sleep. I was up until 3 a.m. That’s a lot of real sick stuff. I’ve been a very good boy since Pizzagate.” Pizzagate was a fake story purported by Cernovich and others in the alt-right that alleged the Democratic party was involved in a child sex ring that ran out of a Washington D.C. pizza restaurant. In December 2017, Cernovich threatened his rivals by saying that he would find “fireable tweets” in their accounts. Cernovich has tweeted in the past that he does not believe in date rape and that joked that Trayvon Martin “got got” before he could “rape anyone.”
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Jennifer Holland, James Gunn’s Girlfriend: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know