Inside Anna Faris' Relationship With Michael Barrett

Whew, after Anna Faris and Chris Pratt let the universe know that they split up in 2017, the dam holding back the Major Life Changes River sure did burst open. In the few years that followed, we've heard Faris express that she is not totally sure about marriage anymore; we learned Pratt remarried Katherine Schwarzenegger; and we found out that Faris is in a relationship with cinematographer Michael Barrett. Oh, and it looks like Faris may be up for getting married again after all, because now she and Barrett are engaged.

Compared to her extremely high-profile relationship with Pratt, Anna Faris' relationship with Michael Barrett is a pretty private one. Sure, they have been photographed by paparazzi, and no, they do not exactly try to hide their PDA, but she seems set on keeping things more under wraps this time around. (For starters, as far as we can tell, he is nowhere to be found on her Instagram account. And if he has an Instagram account, we were unable to find it.) As she said when she went on SiriusXM Hits 1 in 2018, "I think that it's a lesson learned a little bit in terms of keeping relationships a little more private, potentially, even though I don't want to— I pride myself in being a pretty open person. But, I don't know, it's tough when you're under the scrutiny."

So what do we know about this relatively private Hollywood relationship? Here's what we've got.

We know Anna Faris and Michael Barrett met during the making of Overboard, but as far as the official start date of their courtship goes? We don't have the answer to that! But we do know that entertainment news outlets first caught wind of Faris and Barrett's budding relationship about a month after Faris and Chris Pratt announced their separation. As TMZ reported, Faris and Barrett were photographed hanging out at a carnival together in early September 2017. And then, according to TMZ's sources, the pair looked "very couple-y" while dining at Neptune's Net in Malibu shortly after their carnival outing.

The following month, E! reported Faris and Barrett went to Modo Mio, a restaurant in Pacific Palisades, Calif. twice in two days. According to an E! source who witnessed the duo's second trip to Modo Mio, the meal "seemed romantic in the way they were looking at one another and how they were laughing at the table." Shortly after that, TMZ reported Faris and Barrett were out and about in Seattle, adding that a source said there was some PDA during their "romantic lunch date." And then, E! reported that they jetted off to Venice, Italy together that November. A day at a carnival, good meals, and a trip to Europe? Not a bad way to kick off a relationship. 

Anna Faris and Chris Pratt's son, Jack Pratt (pictured above), did not have to wait too long before he met Michael Barrett. Remember that trip to a Los Angeles carnival that Anna and Michael took back in September 2017? Well, it looks like Jack was there, too. A source told E! that Anna and Michael "made the day all about him and were watching him play carnival games and cheering him on." According to a 2019 E! report, an insider said Jack was introduced to Michael "very early on." The source continued, "[Anna] wanted to be honest with him and have Michael be a part of Jack's life."

A few months after the carnival, Jack apparently met Michael's son. According to the Daily Mail, Anna and Michael introduced their children to each other in December 2017 when the foursome went out for a meal together.

Anna's new relationship apparently got her son's seal of approval. A source told In Touch in November 2018 that "Jack really likes Michael," adding, "As her son is her number one... [she] is thrilled [he] is comfortable and happy." In March of that same year, Us Weekly reported an insider said, "Michael is great with him and that's all Anna cares about."

On a 2018 episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Anna Faris said, "I believe in partnership, I believe in companionship. I just don't know if I believe in the ceremony of a wedding necessarily." And on the aforementioned two-part episode of Divorce Sucks!, she said, "I wouldn't even want to have another [wedding]." She went on to say that she's "not crazy about weddings." As she shared on the Divorce Sucks! podcast, her first wedding was a ceremony at the Beverly Hills courthouse. Her second was, as her rep told People in 2009, "a small ceremony in Bali."

When she went on The Late Late Show with James Corden in February 2020, she asked James Corden if he would be down to audition for the role of wedding officiant. And then, she considered the possibility of officiating her own ceremony (she is an ordained minister, after all). Are we to assume all of this means she changed her mind and is actually open to the idea of having another wedding after all? Who knows! Only time will tell. 

At the very least, we know she is open to the idea of kidding around about who she would consider for the wedding officiant job. So, uh, that's... something?

According to a source speaking with Entertainment Tonight in 2018, Anna Faris and Chris Pratt have "always maintained a respectful relationship after breaking up." The anonymous friend of the exes added that they "support each other in their new relationships and want one another to be happy." Another source quoted in a 2019 E! report about Pratt and Faris' split claimed that the exes "are on good terms now in terms of each of their significant others and have no problems with Jack hanging out with either." 

All of this brings us to Halloween 2018. As TMZ shared, Faris and Michael Barrett spent that All Hallow's Eve with Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger. The foursome all went trick-or-treating together with Faris and Pratt's son. A source told E! that the four grown-ups "all seemed like very good friends and had a lot of laughs and good times." Well, that sounds sweeter than a five-pound bag of candy corn. 

In November 2019, TMZ reported Anna Faris was seen wearing a big ol' canary yellow diamond ring on her left ring finger. And with that, the engagement speculation began. Aside from casually thanking a photographer for congratulating her on her engagement shortly after the ring photos surfaced (via E!), Faris kept pretty quiet initially about whether or not she and Michael Barrett were set to wed. 

The following January, Allison Janney put any and all doubt to rest when she confirmed to Us Weekly that her Mom co-star did in fact get engaged. She said, "I know she's been engaged for a long time. I kept it very quiet, I'll have you know! So, I celebrated with them a long time ago." Faris went about sharing the news in a most casual way. Janney recalled to Us Weekly that she just so happened to notice the fresh new ring on Faris's hand one day at work, so she asked about it. Janney explained, "I think she was waiting for everyone to notice. 'Oh, that's it,' and then ... yeah, it was fun." 

And then, there was the picture Faris posted on Instagram when Jason Biggs was a guest on her podcast in February 2020. In the photo, her diamond is front and center, daring us to scream "CONGRATULATIONS" from the mountaintops.