Inside Melissa McCarthy's Marriage

We can all agree that Melissa McCarthy is a comedy legend. However, before she was sending the masses into fits of laughter in blockbuster hits like "Identity Thief" and "Spy," McCarthy ruled the small screen as the hysteria-inducing chef Sookie St. James in "Gilmore Girls." It was a long road for her to get to "Gilmore Girls," though, and from 1997 to 2000, McCarthy was busy hustling to make ends meet. She was taking acting classes and booking small gigs, including a guest episode on the sitcom "Jenny" and a small role in the crime comedy feature "Go," her debut film role.

In 2000, McCarthy got her big break when she joined the cast of Amy Sherman-Palladino's now-iconic comedy, taking over the role of Sookie from Alex Borstein (who pulled out because of her commitment to "Mad TV") shortly before filming began. From that moment on, the "Life of the Party" actor's career has gone from strength to strength, and she's now one of the world's highest-paid stars. However, while she's been in the public eye for more than two-decades, you might not know that she's married to fellow comedian, actor, and director, Ben Falcone. The pair were even dating and got married during her "Gilmore Girls" tenure.

The couple keeps their decades-long relationship pretty low key, however, there's still lots to know about this Hollywood couple. McCarthy and Falcone are the definition of "the couple who plays together stays together," so let's take a look inside their marriage.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone met at the legendary Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles back in 1998. They were both relatively new to Hollywood, and they found themselves performing and taking comedy writing classes together at the improv theater, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed. The pair hit it off the moment they met and they both remember that day like it was yesterday.

"The very first day we had to do, you know, monologues and she, in my opinion, did the funniest one and I, just right off the bat, I [thought] 'I hope we can hang out,'" Falcone recalled to NPR. McCarthy admitted she felt exactly the same way after seeing Falcone do his monologue, which she said was so different from anyone else's. "I immediately went, like, 'oh, he's strange. I like him,'" she said on "The Ellen Show." "We were friends from, like, day one," she added.

There's no denying this was an incredibly sweet meet-cute, but McCarthy and Falcone had actually run into each other once before. Ten years earlier they coincidentally attended the same house party when they were both living in Carbondale, Illinois, McCarthy revealed on an episode of "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen." However, the pair never actually spoke, perhaps because Falcone was a little afraid of her back then. "She struck terror in certain people ... because she was very, very goth," he admitted on "Late Night with Seth Meyers."

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone immediately hit it off at the Groundlings Theater, and that led to a very exciting comedic (and romantic) partnership between the pair. "We started writing and performing and bombing [together] almost right when we met." McCarthy revealed on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

The first sketch the pair wrote together involved them creating a new holiday, "All Seger's Eve," which, as you may have surmised, was a holiday dedicated to the American musician Bob Seger. However, the couple admitted that — despite loving the sketch and thinking it was gold dust at the time — it really was no good and it only got worse when they added Scottish accents, they revealed to Colbert. No wonder that sketch never made it to the stage!

Thankfully, McCarthy and Falcone didn't give up after their first failure and they went on to write plenty more sketches together. Their performances often involved some hilarious costumes and props, as McCarthy was almost always in a wig (she had accumulated over 50 of them by the time they left Groundlings, she revealed on NPR). And her love for the costume pieces hasn't seemed to wane, as evidenced in this snap Falcone posted on Instagram.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone started dating roughly a year after they first met, the "Mike & Molly" star confirmed to NPR. "We'd become, kind of, best friends and I think we were kind of, a little nervous to screw that up," she explained. 

But as her husband explained, they just decided to take the leap, and they never looked back. McCarthy and Falcone dated for six years until they tied the knot. During most of that time, McCarthy was playing Sookie St. James on "Gilmore Girls," while Falcone was just getting started on the small screen with an appearance in Season 3 of "Yes, Dear."

Any eagle-eyed "Gilmore Girls" fans out there will know that Falcone had a brief cameo on the show's third season. We're sure he got the part on his own merit, but it probably didn't hurt to be dating one of the lead actors. Falcone appeared in the episode "Say Goodnight, Gracie" as Mr. Brink and the real-life couple shared a scene. Falcone's character was the executor of Fran's will and the man who agreed to sell the Dragonfly Inn to Lorelai and Sookie, giving them their dream property to finally start their own business.

In 2005, after seven years of friendship and six years as a couple, Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone got married. As with all other aspects of their life together, planning their wedding was full of comedic moments, one of which was how they chose their wedding song.

They shared the entertaining story with ABC News after the fact. "We wanted it to be ['Bang the Drum All Day' by Todd Rundgren] ... and we were just going to kind of shake it up," Falcone revealed. But McCarthy admitted the couple was worried it might just be a little too out there for their guests, and they didn't want to offend anyone. So, instead "we went with 'At Last,' but in our hearts we kind of think our real song is 'I Don't Want To Work [Bang the Drum All Day],'" she added.

After almost two decades of marriage, the couple are still as in love now as they were on their wedding day. McCarthy shared with People that she found a true partner in Falcone. "It's [about] finding someone who you just absolutely are better with. He's nothing but supportive, and he's super smart," she told the outlet. "He makes me gut-laugh, like crazy gut-laugh, four or five times a day. I hit the jackpot!" she added.

After almost a decade of comedy sketches and one memorable "Gilmore Girls" television appearance, Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone finally appeared on the big screen together. In "Bridesmaids," the film that solidified McCarthy's status as both a comedy legend and leading lady material, the couple also shared one hilarious scene.

In the infamous airplane scene, their characters, Megan and Jon, are seated together, with McCarthy's character dropping some heavy flirting on the air marshal. Seth Meyers dubbed it "one of the funniest movie scenes that took place on an airplane" and we definitely don't think he's wrong. It's still one of their most popular roles together to date, and the couple dressed up as their characters from the 2011 movie to provide some light-hearted comedy entertainment during quarantine. "I know 2020 has been unsteady ... my advice? Get yourself an Air Marshall!!!!," McCarthy wrote on Instagram alongside the snap.

Although their scene together was brief, it has become iconic, and it started McCarthy and Falcone's long film career together. Since 2011, the couple has also provided fans with relationship Easter eggs through more big screen cameos. Falcone can be spotted in plenty more of his wife's projects, like "Identity Thief," which he says happened very spontaneously, because he and McCarthy always travel as a unit with their kids and he had to say yes when the opportunity presented itself.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone have been collaborating professionally longer than they have been together, and after they took their comedy stylings to the big screen in "Bridesmaids," they've made a habit of working together in the film industry.

The couple are a writing duo, with Falcone then focusing on directing the feature (although, he sometimes cameos, too) while McCarthy elicits laughter from in front of the camera. While working and living together could be too much for some couples, that's not the case for McCarthy and Falcone. "It's like, you know, you get to go to work with your best friend and it's exactly how we met and we became such good friends because we loved doing this together. So to get to do it on this kind of scale and still keep telling stories ... it's the dream," the "Gilmore Girls" alum gushed to E! News.

Their first big project together was the 2014 film "Tammy," which they wrote after Falcone came up with the concept in a dream, per ABC News. It was also Falcone's directorial debut, but since then, they have followed it up with four more features: "The Boss," "The Life of the Party," "Superintelligence," and "Thunder Force." "That collaboration with Ben is more fun than [with] anyone else," McCarthy explained. They also worked together on the Netflix documentary, "Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed," through their production company, On the Day.

In 2007, after two years of wedded bliss, Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone welcomed their first daughter, Vivian. In 2010, their family grew from three to four, with the addition of their youngest daughter, Georgette.

As you'd expect, the McCarthy-Falcone household's a funny place to be, with the couple putting on little skits and comedy acts to keep their kids entertained. According to McCarthy, when they were younger, Vivian and Georgette loved it when all four of them pretended to be bankers and act in a serious manner — but only for about 30 minutes, and then they'd return to all-out comedy again. Performing a few at-home skits isn't the only acting McCarthy and Falcone's daughters have undertaken, and it's safe to say they've inherited the acting gene. At the age of eight and six respectively, Vivian and Georgette made their acting debuts in "The Boss," which the couple co-wrote. Don't expect to see them in any more films anytime soon, though, because it seems to have been a one-off. "We said, 'You can do it again right after college,'" McCarthy told E! News.

However, it's not just fun and games (and acting) in the McCarthy-Falcone household. The couple, who are on the same page when it comes to parenting, wants to instill discipline in their kids, too. So, despite their daughters' early foray into acting, neither of them are spoiled and they do chores to earn their allowances, an insider revealed to Closer Weekly.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone have been together for over two decades, making them one of the stablest couples in Hollywood. They've built a life together, a career together, and a family home together.

During the early years of their marriage, they lived in a three-bedroom house in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. But, by 2012, the house was feeling too cramped for them and their two kids, so they purchased a bigger property in the same neighborhood for $3.53 million, Hello! reported. After four years and an extensive renovation, they moved into their new home. The additions of a screen room, elevator, and tennis court increased the value of the property to $5 million, the Daily Mail revealed. The couple shared plenty of videos to keep their fans entertained throughout quarantine, each time showing off the stunning interior of their home — like this marble-top kitchen.

This Toluca Lake house remains the permanent family home for McCarthy, Falcone, and their daughters. However, the foursome always stay together when one or both of the actors have to relocate for work. They lived it up in style in a $35,000 per week Byron Bay beach house when the family temporarily moved to the land down under for McCarthy to shoot "Nine Perfect Strangers" in 2020, per the Daily Mail.

Melissa McCarthy knows she and her husband, Ben Falcone, were lucky to find each other and create a life where they could share all aspects of their work and personal lives together. "I got hit with the lucky stick with Ben," McCarthy gushed to More (via Us Weekly). 

But Falcone told the outlet she wasn't the only one who was lucky, while waxing lyrical about his wife in a similar manner. "We got hit with the same lucky stick. From the very first time we spoke, we were on the same page. We love each other, respect each other and try not to sweat the small stuff. And we really make each other laugh," he said.

The pair credit their strong friendship, which they developed immediately, as the foundation for their relationship. McCarthy told E! News that the reason the couple became so close back at the Groundlings Theater was not only because they loved comedy, acting, performing, and telling stories, but because they loved doing all of it together. Their friendship blossomed into both a relationship spanning more than two decades and a lucrative professional career. It sounds like they both hit the jackpot!

It's been pretty well established that Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone are perfect for each other. Separately, they're comedic gold, but together, they are comedy royalty. While they did enjoy some quiet time together during the pandemic, it was pretty much business as usual for McCarthy and Falcone in terms of work — whether that was creating comedy skits for social media or working on their documentary, "Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed."

However, one thing that was not business as usual was the 2021 Vanity Fair Oscars After Party. "I'm sure it threw everybody into a tizzy because the idea came to me the day before the Oscars. I asked, 'Can we wear matching tracksuits?'" McCarthy revealed to InStyle. "And someone was like, 'For tomorrow? Like, that both fit?' ... I just wanted to be in tennies and tracksuits. It just seemed so funny to me and so comfortable," she added.

Although it wasn't the typical Oscars after party attire, McCarthy and Falcone sporting matching black and white Adidas tracksuits at the event proved once and for all that the pair are the ultimate couple goals.

To date, Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone have been together for 23 years and have spent 17 of them as a married couple. 

On October 8, 2005, the pair tied the knot and each year on that date, one or both of them takes to social media to celebrate their relationship. "I married the kindest, funniest and weirdest human I've ever met. Grateful every single day!!!" McCarthy wrote on Instagram when the couple celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary. The following year, Falcone shared a similar sentiment. "Melissa makes everything fun — just by being herself. I'm such a lucky fella to be married to someone so smart, kind, beautiful, and crazy funny," he gushed on Instagram.

So, what's the secret to their deliriously happy marriage? Well, according to McCarthy, it's endless love and respect for one another and also giving each other lots of breaks. Sharing a passion for creating and performing comedy and wearing wigs helps, too, she noted on Instagram.

Entertainment industry staples Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone have some pretty deep pockets. Together, they have a combined net worth of $110 million, although most of that comes from McCarthy's $90 million, while Falcone has amassed a cool $20 million, per Celebrity Net Worth.

With McCarthy being one of the highest paid actors in the world, as reported by Forbes in 2018, it makes sense that the majority of the couple's net worth comes from acting, writing, directing, and producing. However, they have done a few things to diversify their income, too. Namely, investing in property.

The duo retained their original Toluca Lake property (after moving into their current home, which they purchased from Alan Thicke in 2012) and put it on the rental market. According to Dirt, the property is listed as a short-term rental and appears on the market from time to time at $10,000 per month, making the couple a pretty hefty chunk of change. In 2020, McCarthy and Falcone added to their property portfolio again, purchasing a four-bed San Fernando home for $2.4 million, per Dirt.