How Paul Rudd Met Wife Julie Yaeger

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Actor Paul Rudd met his wife, Julie Yaeger, in 1995, shortly after his break out role as “Josh” in the movie Clueless. When reflecting on the movie that kicked his career into gear, IMDb reported that Rudd said, “When we were shooting [Clueless] we all hoped that would fall into that kind of pantheon of movies like John Hughes made, or that really struck a chord with us when we were teenagers. It actually had achieved that status for a lot of people. What a cool thing it is to be involved in something that attains that level of importance in a lot of kids’ lives. So keeping that in mind, I certainly don’t tire talking about that if people want to hear about it. It isn’t one of those things where it’s like ‘I’ve moved past that! I’ve done other things!’”

In any event, after Clueless, Rudd had just moved to New York City and he got a new publicist named Luke Crissell. The day he arrived in the city, loaded up with luggage, Rudd went to his new publicist’s office, according to Good Housekeeping, and his future wife was working there at the time. She offered to hold onto and deliver his luggage to him while he went on an audition. A few days after the exchange, Rudd reportedly asked Yaeger to have lunch and the two ended up dating.

The couple dated for about eight years before actually getting married in 2003. And, they went on to have two kids together – Jack Sullivan and Darby.

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The couple has even worked together on occasion, as Yaeger transitioned from publicity to screenwriting. Yaeger even helped with some of the dialogue in the movies Knocked Up and This Is 40. In an interview with The Jewish Journal, Rudd revealed, “Actually, there were more specifics in Knocked Up. When Judd was writing that movie, my wife once said, ‘I’m so sick of looking at your back,’ because I was just on the computer all day, checking my fantasy football scores.”

Rudd also talked about a scene in This Is 40 where he and his on-screen wife hoked about the ways they’d imagine killing each other if they could. Rudd said, “Not that I would ever fantasize about my wife’s death, but I think everyone has those moments where you play out the death of your spouse. You could create laughs about how attractive you would look to someone if you were in mourning (laughs). I know that sounds horrible.”

In 2011, Rudd spoke with Elle about his family values and being married to his wife. Rudd said, “I don’t think I’m going to sell a lot of tabloids. My wife [Julie Yaeger, a former publicist] and I have been together for 16 years. My parents were married my whole life until my father passed away a few years ago.”

Rudd comes from a Jewish family and said that his wife is Jewish as well. While he keeps his family life more private, his wife and children were at his side when he was honored with his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star on July 1, 2015, according to Entity Mag.