A Look At Zooey Deschanel's Relationship History
Zooey Deschanel has led a busy love life in the spotlight. Lately, the "New Girl" alum has been making headlines for her relationship with "Property Brothers" co-host Jonathan Scott. On August 14, they announced their engagement through a joint Instagram post. "Forever starts now!!!" they wrote underneath a picture featuring Deschanel's ring. Scott asked Deschanel to marry him during a trip to Scotland, his father's homeland. Their announcement picture seems to show a bit of a medieval castle in the background.
Scott also involved Deschanel's two kids in his proposal, according to People. Their engagement came four years after Deschanel and Scott met when they were featured in a February 2020 episode of Apple+'s "Carpool Karaoke: The Series," which had been filmed the previous August. This means that the couple's relationship blossomed mainly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deschanel and Scott quarantined together, even though they hadn't been dating for that long. But they both loved it. "Look at it this way, I'm stuck with someone who I'm madly in love with who's an amazing chef," Scott told People in 2021.
When Deschanel started dating Scott, she was still legally married to Jacob Pechenik. In fact, the "500 Days of Summer" actor's relationship with Scott took off before she announced her split from Jacob Pechenik in early September 2019. Every year, Deschanel celebrates their relationship anniversary on August 4. While it may seem like Deschanel moved on with Scott before ending things with Pechenik, the two had been apart for months.
Zooey Deschanel was married to Jacob Pechenik for four years
Zooey Deschanel was first linked to film producer Jacob Pechenik in the summer of 2014 when they were seen kissing on the set of "Rock the Kasbah." They became engaged in January 2015, a milestone that came after another big event. Just days before announcing their engagement, Deschanel and Pechenik shared they were expecting a baby. "Jacob and I are over the moon," Deschanel told People. Deschanel and Pechenik tied the knot on June 21, 2015, just a month before they welcomed Elsie Otter in July 2015.
The couple expanded their family in May 2017, adding added Charlie Wolf to the brood. But the marriage wouldn't last. Pechenik filed for divorce in October 2019, though he listed their separation date as January 8 of that year, People reported. "We have decided we are better off as friends, business partners and co-parents rather than life partners," Deschanel and Pechenik said about their split in their joint statement.
It wasn't just talk. Deschanel and Pechenik have stayed pretty close following their divorce, which was finalized in June 2020. Pechenik often comes along for Deschanel's family outings with Jonathan Scott, Elsie and Charlie. She wouldn't have it any other way. "As a mom in a co-parenting family, I am just so grateful for the dads in mine and my kids' lives! From Daddy(Jacob) to Bonus Daddy (big-dad jonathan), Papa(Caleb) and Grandpa Jim," she gushed in an Instagram post in honor of Father's Day.
Zooey Deschanel was married to Death Cab for Cutie's vocalist
Before getting together with Jacob Pechenik, Zooey Deschanel was with Jamie Linden, now Rachel McAdams' boyfriend, whom she dated until around mid-2014, not long before she found love again with Jacob Pechenik. Deschanel and Linden were first linked in mid-2012, just a few months after Deschanel filed for divorce from Ben Gibbard, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of "Death Cab for Cutie," in December 2011. Deschanel and Gibbard had been an item since 2008 thanks to music.
Deschanel, one-half of the alternative-pop duo She & Him, met through her manager, who also happened to be Gibbard's. "I was just awestruck that she was even talking to me," Gibbard told New York in 2011, explaining he'd been a fan of her movies. Deschanel and Gibbard became engaged in December 2008, making the dreams of every indie fan come true. Deschanel and Gibbard wed in September 2009, after only a year into their relationship.
But the union didn't last. Two years and a couple of months after their wedding, the pair announced they were going their separate ways in November 2011. "It was mutual and amicable," a source told Us Weekly. "There was no third party involved." A few Death Cab for Cutie's songs featured in "Kintsugi," the first album released following the divorce, suggest Gibbard took it hard. "How could something so fair / Be so cruel," reads the lyrics to "Black Sun."