I feel like I need to qualify all my posts on Friends cast members with “you all know I am a Friends sycophant, right?” Being a… what – Friend-loonie? Friendophile? – I still root for them both professionally and personally to varying degrees. So this story bummed me out when I read it yesterday. David Schwimmer and his wife of six plus years, Zoe Buchman, who are parents to six-year-old Chloe, are taking some time apart.
David Schwimmer and his wife, Zoe Buckman, are taking some time apart after nearly seven years of marriage, the couple exclusively confirm to Us Weekly.
“It is with great love, respect and friendship that we have decided to take some time apart while we determine the future of our relationship,” the pair tell Us in a statement. “Our priority is, of course, our daughter’s happiness and well being during this challenging time, and so we ask for your support and respect for our privacy as we continue to raise her together and navigate this new chapter for our family.”
The Friends alum, 50, and British photographer Buckman, 31, have been together for more than 10 years. They met when Schwimmer was directing the 2007 romantic comedy Run in London. She relocated to Los Angeles to be with the actor and the pair tied the knot in June 2010. It is the first marriage for both.
I don’t have any issue with age gaps regardless of which partner is older if everyone is legal. But I do recognize that a large gap can sometimes factor into two people drifting away from each other. David and Zoe have kept their relationship fairly low-key so I doubt they will go to the press about what’s going on beyond this statement. I’m bummed because I thought David returned to the mainstream mellower and less arrogant thanks in some part to Zoe. I want to believe taking time apart to think about the direction of their relationship is hopeful but let’s be honest, this is Hollywood speak for, “once the settlement is ironed out, we’ll flip a coin for who files first.” I will, however, take the tone of the statement as evidence that they will not wage war publicly and will co-parent Chloe amicably because, well, Friends.
In much more positive news, David has partnered with his good friend, filmmaker Sigal Alvin, to launch a new campaign to combat sexual harassment. David and Sigal have filmed six short videos, all of which are based on real incidents, that depict the “grey area” of sexual harassment. Sigal had already launched a four-video series in Israel but reached out to David to bring something similar to American audiences. They enlisted several familiar names like Bobby Cannavale, Mamie Gummer, Cynthia Nixon and Emily Rossum. Each video “features a subtle moment in which the interaction changes, when each man… oversteps his boundaries in a way that completely demoralizes the woman he’s talking to.” The campaign is called #ThatsHarrassment and you can watch all six videos here. Trigger warning though. My stomach has been clenched since watching them.
Photo credit: WENN Photos
Their daughter Is a cutie!
I will be the first: WE WERE ON A BREAK!…………..wife resembles Rita Ora in some of the pics, cute little girl.
LOL!!!!!!!
Nailed it!
On a purely superficial level they make a gorgeous family. I hope they really are amicable for the sake of their adorable daughter.
Yes, I didn’t realize until now, not paying attention I guess, just how beautiful she was. And their daughter is adorable.
Just speculation but given that she was 21 at most when then got together she’s likely a very different person at 31. Not better or worse, just different. When either spouse is that young when the couple gets together I have exactly zero shocks when they divorce.
Oh and just to head off the dozen or so “but my aunt Susie met her husband when then were 14 and they’ve been together 150 years!” comments….yes I know not everyone. But generally speaking the younger you marry the less surprising it is to see the couple grow apart.
Exactly.
Truth.
Totally Agree! that’s the feeling I came of with a very young woman when they got together
Corollary to the project he is working on Funnily enough Yesterday I had a whole day of that: The sexually harrasy client that thinks he is funnier than he is and wants to baby talk followed by the rageaholic client that only flirts when his gf isn’t around, yesterday he asked me to fistbump cause Peace and love man, finally capped by my boss about to self congratulate telling me “Don’t you Agree I haven’t been yelly lately?” I legit went. TF AWF I was like: Clearly ONE of us must have LOST their mind or have developed amnesia, I find it funny ( LOL) that youd ask me this when you’ve spent since Friday at least being awful and obnoxious .. Im truly just Baffled!
He’s 50, that’s middle-aged no matter how you slice it and she’s still a young woman. It’s very hard to keep it together when you are in such different places physically, mentally, and emotionally.
That’s too bad. They were a lovely little family. The thing with a large age difference is that if the younger party is in their late teen or early 20’s, they are going to change significantly over the next decade and might not want the same things. Not to nitpick, but their sweet little girl’s name is actually Cleo.Hopefully they can keep things amicable for her sake.
Daughter is Cleo! x
“Clinched” or “clenched”?
They make a lovely family. I”m sorry to hear they are going through a rough patch.
Those videos were intense. I’ve sat through countless HR sexual harassment programs and classes. These absolutely hit the mark.
He totally doesn’t look 19 years older than his wife. A little older but they look about the same. Either his wife looks older than she looks or he looks younger than he seems but you can’t tell on a visual level there is such an age gap.
She is really gorgeous in that top photo.
Zoe and Chloe? ugh
Their daughter’s name is actually Cleo. Must be a typo or something. It’s not Chloe.
Its probably that she grew up and realised the things she loved and wanted at 21 are not what she wants as a mature adult woman.
Age gaps are to some extent fine when one partner is in their late 20s or early 30s. 21 is too young a age for a longterm relationship
Having been in a similar age gap relationship – it was fine when I was in my early twenties and he was in his early forties. Then, things started to change. When you hit 30, as a woman, your body, your needs, your confidence all change. At that point, I actually found the 30 to 50 age gap much more incompatible.
I loved the six videos on That’s Harrassment and I think this project should have gotten its own post. I wouldn’t normally care enough about David Schwimmer or his marriage but I am happy to have read until the last paragraph of the post :).
Didn’t David try his hand at teaching? Those high school kids must have driven him mad. Their daughter is so precious.
That is sad for their family. I didn’t realize he was so much older than her. Kudos to him for tackling the subject of harassment