Dax Shepard<\/a>\u2019s Armchair Expert podcast. <\/p>\nMolly had already worked on the ABC late-night show for about eight years when their friendship became romantic, with the couple initially keeping the relationship secret from colleagues before marrying in 2013. <\/p>\n
They now have two children, Jane, 12, and Billy, nine.<\/p>\n
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Molly recalled a writers\u2019 meeting in which staff members had been asked to name five favorite foods. She remembered listing \u201cpizza and gnocchi, crab claws, BLT and chocolate chip cookies\u201d \u2013 only for Jimmy to remember the choices months later and cook them for her at his home.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cTalk about a long play. I go to Jimmy\u2019s house, he asks me to come over after work\u2026 and he opens up the door and it smells delicious and he\u2019s like, \u2018I made some things,\u2019 and it was pizza and gnocchi, crab claws, chocolate chop cookies and BLT.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDax asked Molly whether she immediately understood the gesture to mean Jimmy was sexually interested in her.<\/p>\n
\nShe replied: \u201cYes! It made me very excited and very nervous. I remember thinking, \u2018Oh, no. This is a bad idea\u2019. He was my boss.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhen Jimmy said he \u201cdidn\u2019t have that thought at the time\u201d, Molly replied: \u201cThe person in power usually doesn\u2019t, but I was very nervous about it. I thought it was a terrible idea. I was very skittish.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nShe said her concern centred on what could happen to the career she had spent years building if the relationship failed.<\/p>\n
\nMolly said: \u201cI just kept thinking statistically this is not going to work out and your life isn\u2019t going to change but mine does. And that\u2019s what freaked me out. Because I had worked really really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe pair consequently spent the first months of their relationship keeping it away from their colleagues.<\/p>\n
\nMolly said: \u201cThe first few months, we were very very quiet. I was very nervous about it changing the work dynamic and I was in a room of mostly men and we had a great thing going on\u2026 and I didn\u2019t want it to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nTheir relationship eventually became public and the couple married in 2013. <\/p>\n
\nMolly has continued working alongside Jimmy and is now an executive producer as well as co-head writer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the ABC show Jimmy has fronted for more than 23 years.<\/p>\n
\nThe couple also revisited their first meeting on Armchair Expert, with Molly recalling being introduced to Jimmy a few weeks after joining the program.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cI met him a couple weeks into working at the show. I went into the office with the executive producer at the time. I don\u2019t think Jimmy even looked up from his desk (when I was introduced to him.)\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAfter the producer mentioned Molly competed in triathlons, Jimmy responded: \u201cHow stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMolly said: \u201cThat was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nShe said she did not initially view Jimmy romantically and had been intimidated by him before getting to know him and coming to see him as a \u201cgreat guy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nThe interview comes amid renewed attention on Jimmy\u2019s future in late-night television. <\/p>\n
\nDuring the same podcast appearance, Molly addressed the prospect of her husband eventually leaving Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying retirement \u201cdefinitely appeals to me for the nervous system of the household\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nShe added: \u201cI feel like Jimmy has a fly rod in one hand and a torch in the other right now. It\u2019s like he deserves to go out there and just be on the river and relax, but I also want him to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJimmy\u2019s show was temporarily suspended by ABC in September 2025 following controversy over comments he made after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. <\/p>\n
\nIt subsequently returned to the network, with Jimmy saying on his comeback broadcast that it had never been his intention to blame any particular group for the killing.<\/p>\n
\nMolly revealed on Armchair Expert that the suspension also affected their children, recalling how Jane reacted to the prospect of the show disappearing and the unusual circumstances of growing up while her father was involved in high-profile political disputes.<\/p>\n
\nDespite questions about Jimmy\u2019s long-term future on the program, Jimmy Kimmel Live! remains on ABC, with Molly continuing to serve as one of its executive producers. <\/p>\n
\nThe show has spent the summer using guest hosts including Rosie O\u2019Donnell, Anthony Anderson, Ike Barinholtz, Colman Domingo and Tiffany Haddish.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"25 August 2026 Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s former employee-turned wife Molly McNearney has recalled the elaborate home-cooked dinner which made her realise he wanted their relationship to become more than professional. Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s former employee-turned wife Molly McNearney has recalled the elaborate home-cooked dinner which made her realise he wanted their relationship to become more than professional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":259404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5785,8112,10846,4402,1985,15340,12603,28,5297,16602,4671,4663],"class_list":{"0":"post-259403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-anthony-anderson","9":"tag-billy-kimmel","10":"tag-charlie-kirk","11":"tag-colman-domingo","12":"tag-dax-shepard","13":"tag-ike-barinholtz","14":"tag-jane-kimmel","15":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","16":"tag-molly-mcnearney","17":"tag-monica-padman","18":"tag-rosie-odonnell","19":"tag-tiffany-haddish"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}