The Unconventional First Date Rachel Maddow Had With Her Partner

Celebrities often boast huge personalities, so it's no surprise when they have amazing first date stories. Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner ignited their flame at a London pub which Turner described to Elle as a "local sh**ty bar," that was "dirty, with great music and people throwing up everywhere. " Lovely! A less successful example, meanwhile, comes from pals Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, who were once set up on a phone date that ended after two awkward minutes. Another great — and more prosperous — tale comes from Rachel Maddow. 

Maddow has been in a relationship with her partner, artist Susan Mikula, for nearly two decades. The two met by pure chance in 1999, way before Maddow began The Rachel Maddow Show and became the media star she is today. "I was a waitress, bike messenger... handyman — I was very bad at that," she told The Guardian on her time pre-journalism. That's when Mikula hired her to do some yard work at her home in the Berkshires. "It was very Desperate Housewives," Maddow quipped to People. She told Us Weekly that she fell hard and it was love at first sight. Aw! 

It may not be a shock that Maddow, who once accidentally outed herself to her family via an interview published in her college newspaper, has a pretty hilarious first date story with partner Susan Mikula. It's a weird one, but it sounds like the reporter "hit the bullseye." Here's how Rachel Maddow and her partner spent their first date!

So what was Rachel Maddow and her partner's first date like? The media icon came out guns blazing —literally! Yup, they went to a gun range! Quite a stone's throw, or sporting clay's throw, from dinner and a movie. 

"My first date with Susan was at an NRA 'Ladies Day On The Range' event, and that is as close as I have ever gotten to the NRA," Maddow said in 2011, according to the Huffington Post. Maddow may be pro gun-control, politically speaking, but the journalist admitted the pair did enjoy the outing. "Susan has the hand-eye coordination," Maddow told Rolling Stone. "But I can't control my movements." The pair then went for a stroll in a Western Massachusetts cemetery. And there, "at a moment of nearly transcendent silence and beauty, while they were looking serenely at 19th-century gravestones," per Rolling Stone, they fell in love. Pretty adorable, in a morbidly sweet way!

In 2016, Maddow showed off her marksman skills yet again by taking CBS Sunday Morning to a firing range. "I'm a real liberal even on gun safety and gun control issues. That said, I think that shooting is fun," she told the outlet. "And I think shooting ranges are an excellent place to both learn ... and to freak your friends out." She then remarked on the Colt-45 she was holding was "a beautiful gun." Rachel Maddow sure loves guns ... and her life partner!