Major Differences Between Zooey Deschanel's Exes & HGTV'S Jonathan Scott

Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott might seem like a strange match on paper, but the actor with adorkable quirks and the contractor known for his home renovation work have proved it's possible to successfully meld shabby chic boho and rustic industrial aesthetics. Still, many "New Girl" fans were probably asking the question "Who's that guy?" when Jonathan entered the picture because the "Property Brothers" star is so unlike Deschanel's exes.

Jonathan and Deschanel first met when they were asked to film an episode of "Carpool Karaoke" together. While it's Deschanel who fans are more likely to associate with singing, thanks to her career as one half of the folk duo She & Him, Jonathan also has a musical side. However, he never achieved his teenage dream of forming a country music boy band with his twin Drew Scott and their other brother, J.D. Scott. In addition to sharing a love of music, Deschanel told People that she and Jonathan connected early on over their enthusiasm for environmental causes. "I remember actually when we first met, he sent me his documentary and I was like, wow, we are so aligned on this level," she said.

While Deschanel's dating history made her seem like a manic pixie dream muse for indie artists before she fell for an HGTV personality, maybe it's the many ways Jonathan is different from her exes that will make him a forever home rather than temporary housing. 

Zooey Deschanel dated "Legally Blonde" star Matthew Davis during her blonde era in 2000 and 2001. While the pair wasn't big on making public declarations of love for one another, Davis later shared all the deets about his 2018 proposal and marriage to fellow actor Kiley Casciano. "When you ask your lover if they want to get married while shopping in the produce section of Erewhon, and 3 hours later you're married on Christmas Eve Eve," he wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post (via Extra). Casciano revealed that their wedding took place at a strip-mall chapel. Their eagerness to get hitched didn't translate into a long and happy marriage, as they got divorced in 2023.

Jonathan Scott's approach to creating romantic moments is more thoughtful and deliberate. Instead of springing a spontaneous supermarket proposal on Deschanel, he planned their 2023 engagement out as if it were the most important home renovation project of his life. During a trip to Scotland, he popped the question on the grounds of Edinburgh Castle. "This pipe band is playing," he recalled to Page Six. "And then all of a sudden, a guitar steps forward and started playing Neil Young, our song, 'Harvest Moon.'"

For Scott, a quickie wedding was also out of the question; he even told People he and Deschanel wanted to have two celebrations. "We know that the most important thing for us is to be surrounded by our loved ones," he added.

There are quite a few glaring differences between Jonathan Scott and "Asteroid City" star Jason Schwartzman. For one thing, Schwarzman is a big-time nepo baby — his mother is "Rocky" star Talia Shire (née Coppola) and his father is producer Jack Schwartzman. While Jason seemed destined to join the glamorous family business, Jonathan Scott has told The Hollywood Reporter that he once cleaned toilets at a refinery for a paycheck.

There's also a substantial height difference between Jason and Scott, who is six-foot-five. In an Instagram video, the contractor demonstrated how his tall stature is a problem when he gets in the car after his five-foot-five girlfriend has driven it. At five-foot-six, Jason never had that issue when he dated Deschanel from 2003 to 2005. "Sometimes I stand on a ladder, and I'll be 6'2", and I think, 'How would I be if I was 6'2" all the time?'" he once said in a Bad Day magazine interview (via Sight Unseen).

Jason married someone who could probably be an HGTV star like Scott if she wished, interior designer Brady Cunningham. However, it sounds like the "Rushmore" actor couldn't be his wife's sidekick unless he was solely there to suggest terrible ideas. When the couple was decorating their house, Cunningham told Vogue that she had to veto Jason's plan to install a climbing wall on the chimney. "She's keeping this from descending into Pee-wee's Playhouse territory," Jason quipped.

Jonathan Scott is enthusiastic about decorating with wood elements, while singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard once retreated to the woods to pen some of his woeful lyrics. And that's just the tip of the drill bit when it comes to the differences between the jocular interior designer and the Death Cab for Cutie frontman.

While Gibbard and Deschanel liked each other well enough to get married in 2009, they had no interest in having a professional partnership. "I don't want to be in She and Him and she doesn't want to be in Death Cab," Gibbard told Spinner. Jonathan felt differently about working with Deschanel. They appeared together in a 2020 "Celebrity IOU" episode, and they did a photoshoot for Jonathan and Drew Scott's Drew + Jonathan Reveal magazine after they finished renovating their new home. The couple's fixer-upper was located in Los Angeles, which is not Gibbard's favorite place. "When I lived there, I had this general feeling of malaise," he told Vulture. [archived link] He was willing to reside there while married to Deschanel but decided that he much prefers living in Seattle.

While speaking to People about putting down roots with Deschanel in Los Angeles, Jonathan said, "Nothing's more important than home." Gibbard has different priorities. He recalled to Paste, "An ex-girlfriend once got upset when I told her that music is the most important thing in my life. It's more important than anyone else could ever be."

Seven months after her 2011 split from Ben Gibbard, Zooey Deschanel began stepping out with Jamie Linden, a screenwriter whose credits include "We Are Marshall" and "Dear John," both of which he also produced. In 2011, he decided to give directing a shot for another movie he penned the screenplay for, the high school reunion dramedy "10 Years." It's the only movie he's directed as of this writing.

Linden explained why he was one-and-done after his first directing experience in a Collider interview. "I'm inherently a lazy human being, and doing something like this requires a lot of work and time and effort," he admitted. He also pointed out that one perk of being a screenwriter is not having to stick to a strict schedule.

Unlike Linden, Jonathan Scott spends a lot of time on set when he's working on his projects. In addition to "Property Brothers," he's appeared on the HGTV series "Celebrity IOU" and "Backed by the Bros." He and his brother even played themselves in an episode of the Peacock comedy "Girls5eva." His job requires him to regularly interact with homeowners and do some hard labor to improve their properties, so "lazy" is definitely not a word that could be used to describe him. Of how overwhelming his schedule can be, he told The Hollywood Reporter, "I only had six days off in all of 2014. In 2015, I had 13 days off. ... It was affecting my health."

When Zooey Deschanel married producer Jacob Pechenik in 2015, the couple hadn't been gushing about one another nonstop in interviews. Deschanel also didn't share a post-engagement photo on Instagram like she did after she and Jonathan Scott got engaged in August 2023. It's unclear whether Deschanel and her ex were so private because it was Pechenik's preference or a joint decision, but the difference between how he and Scott tackled being in a relationship with someone so famous was night and day.

After his divorce from Deschanel, Pechenik assured Us Weekly, "Everything is amicable." He proved this by continuing to work with Deschanel on the company they co-founded, Lettuce Grow. On Father's Day in 2022, Deschanel even posted a photo of her ex and Scott celebrating the occasion together with the two children that she and Pechenik share, Elsie and Charlie. "So thankful my kids have these two awesome guys in their lives," she captioned the pic.

Scott didn't seem to feel quite as hospitable toward his ex-wife, Jacinta Kuznetsov. On the "You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes" podcast, he called her out for shooting down one of his wedding requests: bagpipe music. "It should have been a red flag for me," he said. Scott also shared his thoughts about his ex-girlfriend Jacinta Kuznetsov getting engaged eight months after their split. "I was upset, I won't lie," he told People. So, Pechenik might handle breakups a bit better than the Property Bro.