Prior to their split this summer, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt were together for nearly two decades, so naturally, they had a lot to say about each other over the years. In the wake of their breakup — which they announced in a joint statement on Sept. 7 — Us Weekly is taking a look back at their 18-year romance. Read on for some of their most revealing quotes below.
On How They Met
"Jen and I met in L.A. at a party — a mutual friend's birthday party," Hamm, 44, told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2011. "[It was a] completely random meeting…She was out here auditioning for a pilot or something…and I was, too…and she got an audition for Jake Kasdan's film Zero Effect…and wanted to read with somebody who was a guy, and she didn't really know any guys out here, so she called [me]…Apparently I wasn't very good, 'cause she didn't get the part."
"Jon was so sweet and he worked on these lines with me," Westfeldt, 45, recalled to the Guardian in June 2012. "I was like, 'God, this guy is so talented…and so handsome!'"
On How They Got Together
"She was involved with somebody, and I may have been involved, as well," the Mad Men hunk told THR in 2011. "Yeah, we were friends for a long time before we officially started dating — and we've never gotten out of the 'dating' thing. We're still in it."
On Why They Never Tied the Knot
"I don't have the marriage chip, and neither of us have the greatest examples of marriages in our families," Hamm told Parade in July 2010. "But Jen is the love of my life, and we've already been together four times longer than my parents were married."
On Filming Friends With Kids — and Not Coupling Up On Screen
"You know, we see enough of each other during the day," he quipped to THR in 2011. "That has its own set of landmines and pitfalls and whatnot, and our relationship is — I don't think — something we need to explore on screen."
On Their Differences
"I think Jen is a tremendous optimist. And a hopeless romantic as well," Hamm told the New York Times in March 2012.
"You're a little darker," the Kissing Jessica Stein screenwriter and actress said in response. "You're harder to — I'm a little more gullible; I tend to think everyone's awesome. I never see people's ulterior motives. I always say I'd rather believe people and believe everything and get my heart broken a few times than be suspicious of everyone."
"That's why I'm here," he added, smiling.
On Never Spending More Than Two Weeks Apart
"We've done it even if we just have one afternoon together," she told the Times in that same interview. "And even if we're in the same place, we prioritize making sure we have time and spend time. Especially now with all the demands on Jon's time and our privacy."
On Supporting Each Other's Careers
"It's a conversation," Hamm told the paper. "When Jen gets a big part on Broadway, and I've known her long enough to know that's something she's wanted to do since first grade, I'm not going to be like, 'Well, I'm on a TV show, so who's going to take care of the dog? Who's going to hang out?' It's like, 'You're going to go to Broadway, and we'll figure it out.' And the opposite is true."
On Why They Didn't Have Kids
"I've thought about this a lot lately. I never thought I'd be this age and not have kids," Westfeldt told the Times in 2012. "But my life has also gone in a million ways I never anticipated. I kept feeling like I'd wake up with absolute clarity, and I haven't. And we have a pretty great life together. The chance that we'll regret it doesn't seem like a compelling enough reason to do it…You were wondering how we make it work. One way is we're really mobile. No one's had to give up an opportunity they really wanted."
"In reality our lives — Jon's and mine — are so unconventional in every way, it's very difficult," she added in a separate interview with the Guardian later that same year. "I think kids should have something grounded. Jon and I are both children of divorce. I'm not sure we can do it without proper home base…"
On the Public's Perception of Their Relationship
"The hardest bit for people is that [Don Draper] is such an iconic character, fans of the show have a really hard time imagining [Jon] is not like that," Westfeldt told the Guardian. "That he is really this goofball. And that he is in this long relationship. That is, I guess, why people come up and say all sorts of wildly inappropriate things to him, and me, which don't bear repeating."
On What They Learned About Relationships From Friends With Kids
"It makes me more cognizant of the challenges, which is a really, really evasive answer," Hamm told the New York Times in March 2011. "I don't know what the future holds for either Jen or myself, but whatever it holds, I think we will handle it gracefully. Hopefully."
