Tina Fey and husband Jeff Richmond have quietly been one of Hollywood’s long-standing couples.
They’ve been married more than 20 years and have achieved a lot of professional success, both separately and together. Most recently, the pair have teamed up for the new Mean Girls movie, which premiered in January.
While Fey served as the screenwriter for the updated version of her original 2004 hit movie, her composer husband reworked the songs from the Mean Girl’s stage musical, which ran from 2018 to 2020, into the film’s 11-song soundtrack.
Fey and Richmond have worked together for years, even hitting career highs at Saturday Night Live at the same time. When it comes to being married and sharing office space, Fey explained that she’s happy to have someone she trusts in her corner. During their time on SNL, Fey managed the entire staff as the head writer while Richmond worked in the music department for the sketch show, eventually becoming the musical director.
“We’re not literally together all day. That would make anybody crazy. But it’s a good situation because we work toward the same goal,” she previously told O Magazine about her and Richmond’s working dynamic in 2009. “Although maybe I’m the one saying it works because I’m the boss! You should ask him. Last year, he did have an issue with a particular story for the show. He was like, ‘Listen, I’m going to tell you something because nobody tells you no — I don’t like this.’”
Fey and Richmond have a lot of history as romantic and creative partners. Keep reading to see their full relationship timeline.
1993
Richmond was working as the in-house pianist at Del Close’s ImprovOlympic Theater in Chicago after he graduated from Kent State University, where he studied music theory and composition. The couple crossed paths because Fey and fellow SNL icon Amy Poehler took classes at the theater.
“I’m the guy sitting there at the piano watching everybody audition, and Tina and Amy were among the very best,” Richmond recalled to the New York Post in 2018.
1994
Fey auditioned for iconic improv theater Second City, where Richmond would eventually also land a gig as a musician. By then, the pair were a very solid couple.
“We met when I was 24. He’s nine years older than I am,” Fey told Women’s Health in 2007. “It was actually a really great age difference because he was much more mature than someone my own age. There was no game playing or ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’ It was a very easy, respectful relationship from the beginning, and it very quickly and easily became quite solid.”
1997
Fey and Richmond moved to New York City after she scored a role on Saturday Night Live, where she worked as a cast member and eventually the head writer from 1997 to 2006. Richmond, for his part, also became the musical director of the sketch show.
June 2001
After seven years together, Fey and Richmond got married during a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3.
September 2005
The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Alice.
2006
Fey and Richmond left SNL together to bring the Mean Girls writer’s vision to life with her NBC sitcom 30 Rock.
“On 30 Rock, we would be not necessarily occupying the same creative spaces all the time,” Richmond told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. “She would be writing the script, and then I would be off in another room writing the songs … It was very enjoyable!”
August 2011
Their second child, daughter Penelope, was born.
2018
Fey and Richmond teamed up to turn her hit 2004 film into a Broadway musical, which went on to earn 12 Tony nominations and grossed $17 million in the first 12 weeks, per THR.
2024
The couple once again combined their talents for their Mean Girls remake, which hit theaters in January. This time, bringing the script to life was a whole family affair.
“Sometimes I would run things by the kids,” Fey told Entertainment Tonight at the film’s NYC premiere. “Like casting, or you know, like [asking], ‘Should the burn book stay a book, or should it be a private Instagram account?’ And they’re like, ‘No, it’s a book, it’s a book.'”
