I’m still wondering if there’s another shoe to drop with Michelle Williams’ sudden split. Again, the whole thing just seemed so out of character for her from start to finish. She’s dated several guys in the past decade, and she’s always kept it quiet and low-key and there was never a whiff of engagement or any move to make anything permanent. Then, out of nowhere, she elopes with Phil Elverum and doesn’t tell anyone until she reveals it in Vanity Fair last year. She made him sound like her big true love, like the man she’d been waiting for all this time. And then less than a year later, it’s over and there’s no real reason for the split? As I said before, I have some theories. But for now, no one’s talking except to say that everything just moved too quickly.
There’s no bad blood between Michelle Williams and Phil Elverum after their split earlier this year. Williams, 38, and Elverum, 40, quietly married and moved in together last summer, but PEOPLE confirmed that the two split after Williams attended events without her wedding ring. A source tells PEOPLE that the former couple couldn’t make it work after rushing into the relationship.
“She has too many responsibilities and jumped quickly into a permanent relationship without giving it a chance to work into something over time,” the source says in the latest issue. “There is a good bond between them, no animosity. It just didn’t work out at this point.”
This was Williams’ first marriage, but the source says the split won’t discourage her from getting married again in the future.
“Michelle is a private and an independent thinking woman with her own life,” the source says. “She is totally into marriage if it is right for her and her daughter.”
“She has too many responsibilities and jumped quickly into a permanent relationship without giving it a chance to work into something over time” – that’s what I don’t get! She’s not like that. She’s always been Ms. Cautious when it comes to “permanent relationships.” She’s always struck me as more a serial monogamist who sees through a guy’s bulls–t pretty quickly (to her credit). Why did she jump the gun here? And why did it fall apart so quickly? Hm…
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I take it your theory here is Sam Rockwell. Which I can see that. He’s Michelle’s type.
But middle age does weird things to women. Michelle definitely seemed cautious especially for Matilda after Heath died. But I can see her going a bit batty and impulsive now that she’s older. She made a mistake. Compared to many others, I’m okay with Michelle’s mistakes.
Middle age? Since when do women hit middle age in their 30s?
In my world anyone 35-50 is middle age. Michelle is 38-39.
People in their 30s are not middle-aged. Jesus…
On a pure numbers basis if average life expectancy is 80 then at 38 you are very close to exact middle age. But the ‘boundary line’ for middle age gets pushed upwards all the time. Image/perception issue or pure fear of death?
I would say she’s middle aged. I agree w you, I’m 43 and middle aged *sob*
I can relate to this. Sometimes you are cautious to the point you feel you are missing out. It made since when she was younger and trying to protect herself and her daughter. Maybe she decided to throw caution to the wind and realized that this was mistake.
I get what you are going for with the Sam Rockwell pics but I just don’t see it. He’s been with (but not married) to Leslie Bibb for 12 years and at age 50 has said repeatedly he has zero interest in being a parent (and stuck to that). Not exactly catnip to a single mother I imagine. Sure there could be a third party, but I don’t think it’s Rockwell.
It could also be unrequited/one-way on her part. As in, nothing is physically happening between them but she realized she has feelings for him and that made her doubt her relationship.
This. So much this. I’m currently experiencing it for the first time and dont know what to do!
“She is totally into marriage if it is right for her and her daughter.”
Such a bizarre quote as this marriage clearly wasn’t right for and her daughter is just along for the ride.
I don’t see what’s bizarre about it. She’s saying that she still believes in marriage but wants to do what’s right for her and her child. She thought this was it and it wasn’t. Nothing bizarre about that.
“Totally into marriage” is odd considering she just put her child through a marriage and divorce in less than a year and marriage really isn’t necessary just to be in a healthy relationship. Is she super religious? I just found it an odd proclamation.
Maybe the implication is that this marriage wasn’t right for her daughter and that’s why it ended. Maybe her daughter wasn’t adjusting well or something and Michelle learned her lesson not to jump into a marriage without putting her daughters needs first.
Kaiser, I’m confused… Michelle Williams was engaged to that financial guy Andrew Youmans something like 6 months before she married Phil. Right? I distinctly remember a huge heart shaped diamond engagement ring. Is this revisionist history on her part? I was so confused when she got married because my literal first reaction was “wait, but that’s a different guy?! How is this possible?” Obviously, the girl can change her mind it’s just a big swing to be engaged to one person and then marry another 6 months later and yet we are labeling her as someone who doesn’t enter into serious relationships lightly?
I disagree with the popular narrative on her, I think she’s just as messy as the next chic when it comes to relationships. She had Matilda when she was like 25, and she and Heath weren’t married and he was in a very volatile mental/emotional situation. Then they broke up, he moved on and then died tragically, she clearly had a hard time with it. Then she dated a guy struggling with an alcohol problem. Then finally gets engaged to a “stable guy” but marries a completely different, recently widowed man 6 months later. In summary, it would not appear that she is as cautious with her relationships as has been described. I’m not trying to knock her, it’s just clear that PR peeps were trying to sell a narrative that doesn’t fit. Own it – sometimes things don’t work, and that’s ok, but I don’t like when people try to re-write history. That makes me question sh*t.
Here is my theory…..there is some overlapping between the engagement with Youmans, Fosse/Verdon going into production, their breakup (which was not announced because that is how she rolled) and having to promote Fosse/Verdon and the comfort of talking about her marriage instead of having to talk about possibly her and Rockwell have a off screen affair. I honestly believe that she would have been okay with no one knowing and her not confirming anything (separation or divorce) until television award season was over. I think it was her husband who put the pressure to put out an announcement because he did not want to be apart of her PR machine during award season (which tells me that she and Rockwell are still meeting).
But that is just my theory.
Yes it seems like revisionist history to forget she was engaged then six months later married to someone completely different and be surprised when it didn’t work out? And if this theory is correct and she home-wrecks Sam and Lesley Bibb I’ll have to hate on her.
Your honor, I’m asking for these photographs to be marked as Exhibits 1 and 2. And with that, I rest my case.
Lol. If obvious chemistry can be counted as evidence, the photos are pretty damning, counselor.
My son was 20 months when his dad passed. I gave him my all…..until he was about 12 or 13. I met a guy at a party and there were sparks…….so I ignored many, many warning signs. Luckily, he broke it off before marrying, but afterwards, I shook my head and wondered what the pluck was I thinking???
My need/desire to be/have a partner sent my picker sideways. I don’t know if I would have gone through with it, some part of me thinks I might have just because my son was entering his teens and I thought he needed a role model (yikes, what WAS I thinking) and i was tired of carrying everything myself. I wanted a partner. After M, there hasn’t been anyone else and my son is now 35. Not how I envisioned my life. I get what she was aiming for and no shame here for calling a mistake just that.
What an honest and insightful post. I get it people make mistakes and it’s better to figure out the mistake and resolving it instead of just going along for the ride.
Thanks for sharing, Surly Gale. I’m sure you were a great mom and role model for your son, as lonely and exhausting as it must have been.
A close friend of mine lost her husband 4.5 years ago. Her kids were older, tweens/teens, and her grief hasn’t abated at all, and in fact at times seems worse than when in the first year after he passed away. It’s really hard when you lose that love and partner in life.
Being single in your mid to late 30’s can do weird thibgs to you. Sometimes you feel like you are missing out on something. Especially if you’re a single mother. I also think that like myself, Michelle may be very cautious and then because she feels she is being TOO cautious. And so she jumped head first into something that ultimately wasn’t right for her. I don’t think this is about drama or some other person (i.e, Rockwell) and just about making a mistake.
The body language between her and Sam Rockwell does not scream affair whatsoever. I think her marriage ended because they realized it was too much too fast.
Yeah, I’m not seeing it either? I haven’t watched the show so maybe that would alter my perspective but they just seem friendly to me. He doesn’t seem like the cheating kind, and she doesn’t seem like the home wrecker type, but who knows.
I get no vibes from them at all. None whatsoever. She’s always been in a lot of relationships. She was dating a different
guy (semi seriously) while filming Dawson’s creek in North Carolina the whole time it was on.
I thought the word was that Phil Elverum was a cheater?
Thats what I read in more than one article….
She lives in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, and we see her every once in a while running errands or having brunch. She’s SO *soooooper* pretty in person, and looks like a porcelain doll wearing the most FABULOUS coats and sunglasses. FWIW, I don’t think she would homewreck anyone, ever, and also Sam and Leslie always feel super-solid. Michelle and Sam are both really really good on Fosse/Verdon and Sam is hotter at 50 than ever!
I think she’s just a serious actress at a critical point in her career, got married, and then the opportunity to do the FX show was presented. Sometimes people can’t handle it if their partner won’t turn down a career move to focus on a relationship instead. It doesn’t always have to do with another person, and Michelle doesn’t strike me as someone with a roving eye.