When it comes to enviable Hollywood relationships,
Steve Carell and his wife Nancy definitely have a love story for the books.
Nobody knew that an improv class would bring a decade-long marriage. Yes, it’s safe to
say they know a thing or two about making a relationship work. Welcome to Rumour Juice!
Today, we’ll look into an extraordinary love story that makes our hearts tremble.
Love can be found in unexpected places. In the early ’90s, Nancy Walls enrolled in an improv
class at the Second City theater in Chicago, one of the most popular locations for improvisational
and comedic theater in the country. Guess what? Steve Carell was the teacher in that class.
Although Carell did eventually muster up enough courage to take a risk and ask Nancy on a date,
the Despicable Me actor almost missed his chance at love because of his incorrect assumptions. At
first, he thought she wasn’t that interested. “I was immediately attracted to my wife.
She’s beautiful, intelligent and really funny. She kind of checked all the boxes in my head,
but I thought she hated me because she was very quiet around me,” the legendary actor confessed.
The couple spent a lot of time together outside of school — albeit awkwardly. In an interview,
Steve admitted that when he found out Nancy worked at a bar across the street from the comedy center,
he instantly decided to stop by from time to time and flirt with her.
It’s difficult to imagine the confident actor, who has played a multitude of characters, to feel
nervous approaching the woman of his dreams. But Carell had a terrible fear of rejection.
Steve admitted that this hesitation went on for weeks. Steve was stopping by to talk with Nancy
in the bar, but he still lacked the courage to ask her out. He described it, "The conversation would
go something like, 'Hey, you know, if I were ever to ask a woman out, it would be someone
like you. Exactly like you. And she'd say, 'If a guy like you were ever to ask a
woman like me out, I would definitely do that.'" Steve just was too scared of rejection. He
suggested, “Other people at the bar must have been like, ‘Just do it! Put us all out of our misery.’”
And when he finally asked her out, his life changed beyond all recognition.
It turned out that Nancy’s quietness was a sign of shyness. She was also attracted to Steve,
but they were both too reserved to show more signs of commitment.
As Steve and Nancy started dating, it didn’t take him long to know that she was the one.
"I'll never forget standing at the altar and I saw her coming down the aisle – immediately a sense of
calm came over me. There was an ethereal sense of how right it all was and more than anything
it was very empowering knowing that person was going to be my partner and have my back.”
Marrying somebody so special made him strong. Carell will never forget that precious moment.
Steve also shared that their ceremony was an extremely stressful event.
It was over 100 degrees and humid, and the church didn’t have air conditioning. So
everything was quite messed up. However, when he saw her in a wedding dress,
he couldn't believe how beautiful she looked. Such love stories are few and far in between.
But, when we come upon such couples it fills our hearts with joy.
Seeing two people committed to each other through thick and thin is an unforgettable experience.
When asked about the couple’s secret to making it work,
Steve didn’t have an actionable answer. He called it fate,
or really, luck. “There’s no secret,” he told The Guardian. “I think you get lucky.”
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Having shared passions is important for any couple,
but sharing plenty of laughs is perhaps the biggest relationship booster of all.
In the case of Steve and Nancy, there’s no lack of either.
“We make each other laugh. We always have,” Carell shared in the interview. “Whereas with
my brothers and my parents, our senses of humor were all very different. But Nancy and I share
a sense of humor. We must have a thousand inside jokes, between the two of us,” the actor revealed.
As a creative couple, they always worked together to improve their performances. And while spending
so much time together and collaborating on the set could spell disaster for many couples,
it’s the opposite for Steve and Nancy. “We tend to get along very well,” she opened up when asked
about their secret to success. Steve agreed, adding, “She makes me laugh more than anybody.”
In fact, Steve credits Nancy with being even more hilarious than he is.
He shared that his wife makes the most hilarious jokes.
For her part, Nancy doesn't hesitate to brag about her husband's talent. At the 2015 Oscars,
she proudly said in an interview, "I thought he was amazing in his role in Foxcatcher.”
Steve, who was nominated for Best Actor for the movie, was
clearly moved by this display of affection. You can remember him as the 40-year-old virgin
or Michael Scott from The Office. Whenever the role we’re having in mind, Carell has always run
into tough luck when it comes to love. But in real life, his fate was completely different.
It seems as if everything great manifested itself in his marriage with Nancy.
Carell is best known for playing an eccentric office manager – Michael Scott.
If you're a fan of the show, you’ve probably seen Nancy in it.
Nancy Carell was cast in The Office as a real estate agent who first appears on the
show in season 2. Carol sold Michael Scott his condo, and soon, the two began dating.
The character appeared several more times throughout the show, with Michael once
proposing to her after only a few dates. The two fictional characters eventually broke up.
On an episode of the Earwolf podcast "Office Ladies," hosts Jenna Fischer and
Angela Kinsey recalled with Nancy how she felt about working alongside her husband.
Nancy confessed, "I was so intimidated because he's so good. I mean, he was really nice to me,
of course. But I've sort of you know, I had retired after having our kids. That's what
I was doing. I was being a mom. So I felt a little rusty. But it was so much fun."
Fischer added that Nancy was great. She clearly remembered how Steve's face would
light up every time his wife came to the set, regardless of whether she was in a
scene or just stopped by with the kids. Carell could hardly hide his adoration.
Interestingly enough, Nancy’s also built quite a career. She was a member of
Saturday Night Live in 1995-1996 and worked with Steve in The Daily Show. However, the couple met
long before they were officially part of the entertainment industry.
The comic actress took time away from performing to focus on her family after she got married.
According to Steve, she wanted to have kids and be a stay-at-home mom.
Nancy felt fortunate that she had the opportunity to do so.
Steve and Nancy are the parents of two kids, Elisabeth and John.
The couple is very grounded and wants to raise them well. "My children don't expect to get
everything and I think our greatest achievement so far is that they respect us and listen to us.
I don't see that in all of their friends," he explained in the interview with The Guardian.
Nancy and Steve are a fun couple, and they're not afraid to put their sense of humor on display,
but when it comes to their kids,
they try to balance out the strictness and put on a strong, united front.
Steve said kids have a great way of
undermining what one parent says and going behind their back to the other parent.
So, if there's not enough communication between him and Nancy, that can take a turn for the worse.
For Nancy and Steve, their greatest achievement as parents is that their kids listen and respect
them; and Elisabeth and John don't expect to have everything handed out to them in life.
But it should be a surprise that Carell loves to embarrass his kids.
During an appearance on The Ellen Show, he puzzled his fans with a controversial answer.
In a "Burning Questions" segment, Ellen asked if he had a favorite child – he said,
"Yes," and slammed his red button. Wisely Carell did not elaborate on that answer,
so we may never know whether he was mentioning his son or his daughter. We'll actually assume
that he favors them both equally, and he was just trying to get a laugh, which he sure did.
Steve and Nancy have been bringing laughter to people with their talent for over
three decades. And apart from being extremely professional performers,
they learned how to overcome inner fears and stay strong by each other’s side.
We’ve been wondering, what do you think about Steve and Nancy’s relationship?
And would you like to hear some special stories about celebrities on your radar?
Don’t hesitate to let us know, and stay tuned!