Ali Wong finalized her divorce from Justin Hakuta earlier this year.
But you won’t be reading about the split on any of the scandal-obsessed tabloid sites.
That’s because Ali and Justin have managed to maintain their friendship and their healthy co-parenting relationship in the months since their split.
Ali Wong Explains Her ‘Unconventional’ Divorce
Ali’s latest standup special just dropped on Netflix, and the material has sparked a renewed interest in her amicable split with Justin.
“We’ve been through so much together. It’s a very unconventional divorce,” Ali explained to Vanity Fair in March.
She went on to tell the outlet that she planned to use the special to explore her divorce and her feelings about re-entering the world of dating.
“I’m still workshopping it, but the bones are there and it came to me very fast,” Ali said at the time.
“This is the first hour I’m doing since I started where I’m single. I think we’re going to call it the Single Lady tour.”
The Cost of Comedy
Ali added that she feels as though the material in her last special may have hastened the demise of her eight-year marriage.
In that hour, she joked that she, “too, was once free” but “like an idiot, I asked this dude to ask me to go to prison. And now I’m in monogamy jail and I don’t know how to get out.”
Ali explained that people are reading a little too much into her jokes, adding, “I can’t help that. Not really.”
Breaking the News
While her divorce might have been smoother than most, Ali admits that there were some difficult moments.
“I did not expect the announcement to be so widespread, but by far the hardest part about getting divorced was my mother’s reaction,” she explained.
“I had told her before that I thought we might get divorced, and she was really upset. She looked me in the eye and asked, ‘Can you just wait until I die?’ She was literally asking me to not live a life for myself. But she’s 82, what do I expect?”
The Happiest of Endings
But despite the challenges of the past year, Ali seems to be in a very good place these days.
She recently won two Emmys for her work on the acclaimed Netflix series Beef. And she took that opportunity to express her gratitude to Justin.
“I really need to thank the father of my children and my best friend, Justin, for all of your love and support,” Ali said in her acceptance speech. “It’s because of you that I’m able to be a working mother.”
These days, Ali is dating fellow comic Bill Hader.
Insiders say the relationship is serious, but both parties are in favor of moving slowly — which makes sense.
After all, Ali and Bill both have kids from previous marriages. And clearly, neither wants to do anything that might jeopardize their amicable relationships with their previous partners.
