Jeanie Buss is engaged to be married to John Ferguson “Jay” Mohr, an actor and a comedian. The owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers has been seeing Mohr for a few years now and the two kept their relationship private in the first few years, although they have both publicly shared their love for each other recently.
Here’s what you need to know about Jeanie Buss’ fiancé, Jay Mohr:
1. Jeanie Buss & Jay Mohr Have Been Dating for Over 5 Years & Got Engaged in December 2022
Mohr and Buss began dating in 2017, according to TMZ. Though Mohr, 52, was often seen sitting at Lakers games with Buss, 61, the two kept their relationship private and only began posting photos together on Instagram in the last couple of years. In December 2022, they confirmed to The Los Angeles Times that they were engaged to be married but had not yet set a wedding date.
Buss began posting photos with Mohr in 2018 but didn’t indicate that they were more than friends. She also announced in 2019 that she helped produce his special, although she made no mention of their relationship at that time. “I’ve been blessed to be around the most TALENTED people in the world and Jay Mohr @jaymohr37 is one of the BEST,” she wrote on January 24, 2019. “I could not be more honored to co-produce his new special.”
On September 26, 2021, she publicly declared her love for her partner, posting on Instagram a photo of the two kissing and captioning it, “Happiness. Love. Joy. That’s what you have given me on my birthday and every day in between. This picture taken at our friend’s wedding in June tells the story, our story. I guess a girl can have it all. I love you @jaymohr37.”
2. Both Jeanie Buss & Jay Mohr Have Been Married Before & Mohr Has 2 Kids From His Past 2 Marriages
Both Buss and Mohr have been married before. Buss was married to two-time Olympic volleyball champion Steve Timmons from 1990 to 1993. She shared that they divorced because both wanted different things — she wanted children and Timmons didn’t, Buss told Sports Illustrated.
After her marriage to Timmons ended, Buss dated then-Lakers coach Phil Jackson for 16 years, and the two were engaged for several years as well. They broke up in 2016, citing the long-distance nature of their relationship as too difficult to maintain, but the two have remained close friends since then.
Mohr has been married twice. He was married for six years to Nicole Chamberlain and has a son named Jackson from that relationship. Mohr met his second wife, Nikki Cox, in 2004 when he appeared on her NBC show “Las Vegas” as a guest star. He proposed to her in February 2006 and they got married at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles in December 2006, People reported.
They welcomed a son together, Meredith Daniel Mohr, on May 5, 2011. In July 2016, Mohr filed for divorce from Cox but rescinded his filing six days later, telling Page Six, “We are very married, very in love and that’s really all there is.” However, in December 2016, Mohr filed for divorce once more and it was finalized in August 2018, People wrote.
3. Jay Mohr Is a Successful Stand-Up Comic & Has Appeared in Several TV Shows & Movies
Mohr is a multi-faceted entertainer, with experience in comedy, acting and writing. According to his bio, Mohr has been a stand-up comedian since age 16. From 1993 to 1995, he was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.”
Mohr then broke into the acting world when he was cast in “Jerry Maguire” in 1996 across from Tom Cruise. In 1997, he appeared in “Picture Perfect” with Jennifer Aniston.
Mohr has appeared in over 50 TV series episodes in dramas and comedies, his bio states, and starred in the CBS show “Gary Unmarried” from 2008 to 2010. Mohr was also the creator, executive producer and host of NBC’s reality show “Last Comic Standing” in 2003 and 2004. Mohr’s bio says that he was named by Comedy Central as “one of the 100 greatest stand-up comics of all time.”
4. Jay Mohr Hosted a Podcast & a Sports Radio Show in the Past & He’s Published 2 Books
In addition to acting and stand-up comedy, Mohr kept busy with his podcast, “Mohr Stories.” He also hosted “Jay Mohr Sports,” a daily talk show on Fox Sports Radio, until 2017. However, he had to end the show due to the difficulty of juggling all his projects.
“I’ve always loved radio, and having a national platform to share my brand of sports talk and comedy was an incredible experience. I loved interacting with the fans, athletes and sports figures over the past three years, but it’s become difficult to juggle the commitment of a three-hour weekday radio show with a film and TV career, stand-up comedy shows, as well as time with my family,” he announced in a press release shared by Inside Radio.
Mohr has also written two books. His first, “Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live,” was released in 2004 and chronicled his time on “Saturday Night Live.” In the book, Mohr revealed that he’d been struggling with panic attacks while on the show. He also shared behind-the-scenes stories of his time at SNL and his interactions with other cast members and famous guests.
Mohr’s second book, titled “No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad,” was released in 2011. The book is described as a “down and dirty tale of modern fatherhood, highlighting the ups and downs of being a parent. According to his bio, Mohr’s second book was optioned by ABC to develop a sitcom based on it.
5. Jay Mohr Has Opened Up About Being Sober & Praised Jeanie Buss for Staying By His Side During Harder Times
Mohr got candid about his relationship with Buss while speaking to Adam Carolla on his show “The Adam Carolla Show” in January 2023. He said Buss had been in a relationship with him for five years while he’d been with her for only two years because he wasn’t sober before that. In April 2022, Mohr confirmed that he’d been sober for one year and attended two different rehab facilities.
“I was a drug addict,” Mohr said candidly. “I was just out of my mind,” adding later on that he was “snorting Adderall.” He praised his fiancée, telling Carolla, “I’m very lucky. She was with me at my absolute worst and hung around and watched me get well.” He said it now felt like a big “victory” and described his bride-to-be as “the catch of all catches.”
In fact, Mohr’s been upfront about his sobriety journey in interviews in the past year. While speaking with Inlander in February 2022, Mohr said his stand-up material since coming out of rehab has been more personal. “I don’t know any other comedian talking about the desperation of being at their own intervention,” he shared. “And what it was like to be in detox, what it was like to be in an all-men’s Christian rehab right after detox with a roommate who did 19 years for murder.”
However, he said, he said he felt that he was funnier now as a sober comic than ever before because he was more present. “I never got that personal before,” he said. “That’s a big deal to walk out on stage and tell an audience, ‘Guess where I’ve been.'”
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Jay Mohr, Jeanie Buss’ Fiancé: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know