They say nothing lasts forever, and this time it’s especially true. Mad men star, Jon Hamm, 44, and his longtime girlfriend, actress, Jennifer Westfeldt, 45, have officially ended their 18 year relationship.
Hamm and Westfeldt met in 1997 at a mutual friend’s party and started dating later that year. They have been together ever since, but did not get married or have children. In a 2012 Playboy interview Hamm talked about his view on starting a family.
“We’ve seen enough of our friends, who shall obviously remain nameless, become parents, and sometimes it’s hard not to think they shouldn’t have had kids,” he said. “I don’t have a driving force to have a baby. That said, I’m in a committed relationship, and if it ever came up, I’m not ruling anything out.”
And later that same year Westfeldt had an interview with Times and explained her view on why they never started a family.
“I’ve thought about this a lot lately. I never thought I’d be this age and not have kids, 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.”
They had a strong relationship until Hamm was in rehab, earlier this year, for alcohol abuse. After 30 days he was released and the couple was faced with cheating scandals and breakup rumors, but denied them. However things have changed now and the longtime relationship of nearly 2 decades has officially come to a close with this statement to People on Monday.
“With great sadness, we have decided to separate, after 18 years of love and shared history. We will continue to be supportive of each other in every way possible moving forward.”