I’m so glad that I wrote about Zooey Deschanel last week, and that the post got so many comments. Zooey evokes strong reactions for and against. Some people think her hipster shtick is just an act, and that she’s a chick trying too hard to be different and precious. Other people think she’s genuine, and that she’s sort of cool. Well, fans and foes alike, did you know that she’s married? I didn’t, honestly. It’s not even something where I can say, “Oh, I sort of remember that, vaguely.” I have no recollection of Zooey ever being married to Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard. But she was, and now it’s over.
Hipster heartbreak. Just two years after tying the knot, Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard have separated, Deschanel’s rep confirms to Us Weekly.
“It was mutual and amicable,” a source adds. “There was no third party involved.”
The New Girl actress, 31, and Death Cab for Cutie frontman, 35, got married near Seattle, Wash. in late September 2009.
In Deschanel’s September cover story in New York magazine, Gibbard gushed about meeting and pursuing the star, who also fronts the band She and Him. “I’d seen her movies and obviously I thought she was very beautiful,” Gibbard explained.
When their mutual music manager finally introduced them three years ago, “I was just awestruck that she was even talking to me.”
Deschanel told iVillage that it was “definitely hard” being apart from her indie rocker guy when he was away on tour. “He’s really good at calling. He’s probably better than I am. He’s a very conscientious person.”
What surprised her most about marriage life? “You can’t expect to make no effort. You still have to make the effort and be kind and understanding. It sort of just solidifies your commitment.”
[From Us Weekly]
Now I kind of wonder if Zooey and Ben have been “over” for a while. She’s been doing a lot of red carpets and promotional work for The New Girl and a handful of film projects, and Ben was rarely at her side. Maybe he just did his own thing and they’re like the Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin of the hipster set, or maybe they were over really quickly, and she’s just announcing it now because…??? I don’t know. I said before that Zooey is the kind of girl I would be annoyed with in real life, but I still come away feeling some sympathy for Zooey. Poor girl.
*Patiently awaiting blind items about this split*
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Everytime you say “this post won’t get too many comments” they inevitably do!
I wonder what happened. 2 years is a short time to like amicably split.
It’s a funny thing how I feel about Zooey: I don’t like her acting stuff, I think she’s too apathetical while she’s acting in movies, etc.
However, when she sings and acts in the music videos of She and Him, which i love deeply, she’s full of life.
I love when she sings, but I hate her as a movie actor.
I think she’s cute. I don’t have any feelings, one way or another, about her acting but cannot stand her singing voice. It’s horrible.
@acidburn, I feel the exact same way about her. It’s like music is her real love, so she puts everything she has in it, but she knows that the movies will earn her the big $$$. I love She & Him, but I hate watching her act. It grates on my nerves.
Also, I really, REALLY love DCFC and The Postal Service. I bet this makes for some awesome new music 🙂
Darn that’s sad news. I liked them as a couple, they did a bunch of indie red carpets together and seemed to be on the same wave length (he’s a vegetarian and so is she, he’s kind of a navel gazer and so is she)
Yawn.
I wouldn’t mind her hipster-y schtick, if she had ever been in a good film, or shown evidence of being a good actress.
She hasn’t. That’s what annoys me about her. I can deal with the gamine, wide eyed not-quite-of-this-world B.S. Every actress has to distinguish herself in some way. I just wish she’d back it up with talent.
I heard she was pregnant? Or was that her sister????
He was with her at the Emmy’s, but then DCFC went on tour immediately after.
hmm, wonder if this means she’ll hook up with JGL?
@gee : From what I read on another site, due to their schedules they rarely saw each other.
If that’s true, I think it’s kind of sad that they couldn’t try and make it work. Doesn’t absence make the heart grow fonder? No?
Anyway, now that she’s free perhaps we can finally get a Zooey/JGL hook-up. 🙂
BTW I love both She and Him, AND Zooey’s acting. New Girl is one of my new favourite TV shows
I’d never really paid much attention to her before, but I caught her show last night and I thought it was hysterical-maybe because I have friends who are just as hipster doofus as she is.
Sad. She kind of irritates me though. And Soul Meets Body is one of my favourite songs.
nooo. well for ben gibbard. i love him. ugh i love her too but the lash work on the lower lid of her eyes always bothers me.
you have small round eyes zooey, why point that out even more??
I love her. She was a total scene stealer in he small role in “The Good Girl,” which is where I first noticed her.
I knew about her husband because of a “Top Chef” episode.
Between this and the KK divorce there are lot of of hilarious quotes. For two couples who COMBINED weren’t married for 2 1/2 years, there is a lot of “they were tired of faking it”, “it was getting to be too hard” and “you really have to work at it”.
Come back after you’ve been married for 13 years, with actual financial difficulties, and kids to raise, and tell us about how tough marriage can be. Idiots.
Having said that, I do think Zooey is adorable 😉
I like her, she’s cute and she seems like a fun free spirited person.
I had a feeling they would break up. Zooey did a lot to help get Ben sober and turned him on to being a vegan and running and yoga and stuff. He really seems to have settled and she now seems to be all over the place. I am just wondering when she and M. Ward will break up. She has an amazing voice— fantastic really— but I don’t think M. Ward wants the kind of mainstream popularity that Zooey seems to be attracting (and seeking) at the moment. I wish that Zooey had stayed on the Parker Posey path, but I guess she just really wants Katy Perry money and fame.
I knew she was married. I really like her. I think she’s gorgeous, but I could see the try-hardness. I think she’s at least buying it, and it may even be genuine.
If he needs a shoulder, I’m available. He is so talented.
It’s a shame, I guess. Hate to be heartless/blase, but hard to work up much feeling when people seemingly give up on a marriage so quickly. Guess I’m in the minority, I prefer her acting to her singing, her singing is just so Rosemary Clooney lite, I prefer the real thing. I haven’t seen her show so I have only enjoyed her in small doses,supporting roles. She seems to fill the roles that Parker Posey might’ve gotten ten years ago, now that is an indie actress I miss seeing.
Ben Gibbard makes me swoon.
Love Ben Gibbard, love Death Cab For Cutie. Zooey, not so much. Her acting ability is so dry and uninspiring.
I guess all my comments are going to be about eyelashes today. Is that really false eyelashes on the bottom lid??? WTF? I have really long eyelashes, and when I even TRY – just one tiny swipe of the mascara brush – to do my lower lashes, it’s instantaneous super-scary spiderlegs! Is this some kind of new trend? A throwback to the Valley of the Dolls era, perhaps?
Someone please tell me where to get that dress in the top pictures. I love it oh so much!
Loved her in some of her older roles, particularly 500 days of summer. The new sitcom irks me- she’s trying way too hard. I had forgotten she was married, but 2 years is a very short time to split without really trying to make it work.
I just hope some amazing songs come out of this.
“I still come away feeling some sympathy for Zooey. Poor girl.”
I don’t – I mean, if the split really was amicable and the marriage wasn’t working, it’s probably for the best. (Maybe it’s because I have two friends in a very similar situation and they’re both much happier people post-divorce. Edit: Admittedly, they both got married on a whim – I don’t know if this was the case above)
I want her wardrobe and her hair is fantastic.
As for the divorce, I really wonder why any celebrity gets married anymore. It never lasts.
she just rubs me the wrong, way, her singing voice is weak at best and just so blah, generic with a capital G..
her acting is too cutesy hipster.
Whoa TINY PUPILS!!!!
I recall her getting married. Thought I read it on here – guess not.
yea, i knew she was married-but i also thouoght she was pregnant/had a kid, too?
guess not….
how strange-must’ve been a parallel universe that i read about it in….
okay but she WAS funny in Failure to Launch, which was surprisingly entertaining. [notice i did not say good, but entertaining]. she was hilarious-albeit almost always the same role in everything she does.
she was good in 500 days of summer, and i agree she was mean in that-but as far as needing a nemesis for JGL, she did her job-cuz let’s face it, JGL was the star of that show!
I love DCFC….I hope he’s alright
I loveeee Death Cab for Cutie.
@the original bellaluna: Plans and Narrow Stairs are such great albums. One of my favorite’s is “Cath…”, along with all the others.
Since it sounds like these two drifted apart, I’m sure they are a little sad, but will be fine. We will probably get some great music out of this.
I can see Zooey’s getting with her costar Jake Johnson. Her marriage makes me think of Mandy Moore and Ryan Adam’s. Hope they’re doing well.
I can’t imagine they spent much time together, given their schedules. (Which is something people need to consider before marriage…)
I like her, but sometimes the cutesy quirky stuff bugs a bit. Though I saw her on Craig’s show the other night and she seemed nice. I’m now trying to remember if her husband was mentioned…
I remember hearing about her getting married. At least no kids are involved in this split.
Zooey is adorable and so pretty. Loved her in 500DOS.
They look cute but they seem more like friends. She’s too beautiful for him, he’s not a bad musician but seems so pretentious and I can’t stand his voice.
Hers on the other hand is lovely and hauntingly beautiful.
She doesn’t seem to me like she’d be indie if she’d ever been offered a contract, but it’s the only way for some musicians to be able to record an album. And labels don’t care about releasing good music anymore, would rather see a beautiful song like She and Him’s Don’t look back on the top of the charts instead of the horrible and boring songs Adele releases.
I saw her on Craig Ferguson the other night and she is annoying – she came off as really fake and try hard, which is unfortunate, because I’m sure she nice and everything but I can see how she rubs people the wrong way. Either way, a divorce is always sad news so poor them.
Some of you are getting her confused with her sister, Emily who just had a baby. Y’all aren’t crazy!
I’m actually indifferent about Zooey (airing on the side of finding her annoying) BUT, this news upsets me only because she had my favorite celebrity engagement ring. This gorgeous Neil Lane princess cut with a thin diamond band. So beautiful! What a waste!
http://backseatcuddler.com/2009/01/01/check-out-zooey-deschanels-engagement-ring/
Sorry to hear they didn’t work out, I thought they made a cute couple. I like Zooey all right, she seems to always be enjoying what she does whether she’s acting or singing. I loved her as Trillium in the Hitchhiker’s Guide remake. Loved Sam Rockwell as Zaphod even more though!
Has anyone seen her show New Girl? It’s so funny I nearly peed myself the other day. She’s great on it, but her co-stars are awesome. They have some excellent writers.