Strange Things About Kathy Griffin's Marriage
Comedian, author, political activist, and reality television personality Kathy Griffin has been in a handful of relationships with public figures. (Remember the Steve Wozniak era? Or when she dated Quentin Tarantino while he was making Pulp Fiction? How about the time she told Howard Stern she was dating Isaiah Mustafa, but then Mustafa said that was not the case?) But for nearly a full decade, she has been linked to a gentleman who was, as she put it in a 2016 interview with People, "a regular guy" named Randy Bick.
She's a celeb whose life has been in the public eye for years; he's a dude who was living a quiet, normal life as a marketing executive before he met Griffin. But opposites attract and now the two are married — however, the road leading up to this point has been far from dull. Come on, as if any of us would expect anything less from the person whose New Year's Eve tradition used to be do whatever it takes to make Anderson Cooper blush on live television? Griffin, it seems, is incapable of dull.
These tidbits about Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick's marriage prove that these two lovebirds have been on quite an interesting and unique journey.
Kathy Griffin met her husband in a not-so-Hollywood way
Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick didn't first lock eyes on a red carpet at an awards show, or develop feelings for each other while filming a movie together. They weren't even set up on a blind date by some mutual famous friend. Rather, these two met in a relatively normal way that feels ... well, not that normal for a celebrity. At the very least, the way their real-life meet cute played out feels significantly more relatable than many celeb couple origin stories.
Griffin told Larry King Now that she met Bick (or, in her words, she "hunted him down") at a Los Angeles Times food and wine festival in 2011. Later quipping to People that she assumed their first date was going to be a "toot it and boot it, a one-nighter," that was evidently not the case. The next morning, Bick wanted to hang out, which threw Griffin for a loop. She recalled, "I was like, 'Oh, you want to, like, date-date? Okay.' And then we had to rethink the whole thing, 'cause I thought he was just a man-whore, if you will." Ah, Tinseltown love.
Griffin may have had early doubts on the relationship lasting, but couldn't help but gush about her man: "We have a great time, and he's very sweet and very mellow. He's like a regular guy ... he's not like a Hollywood guy." Sure, just a normal guy ... who met a bona fide star at a low-key LA food festival.
There was a secret engagement
After eight years of dating, Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick got engaged. The couple made the announcement in a video that went up on Twitter on New Year's Eve 2019, revealing that they would be getting married soon. Like, really soon: Their wedding was set for that night after midnight (er, was it technically the next morning?), and they were already all gussied up for the occasion. Griffin told her followers to keep an eye on her feed for more surprise wedding content that evening, and also teased that people were "gonna die" when they learned who would be officiating their ceremony. Luckily, fans didn't have to wait too long to find out because, again, the ceremony happened right after the engagement announcement went up.
In a January 2020 interview with Instinct, Griffin said the way her now-husband proposed was "really cute." She recalled, "I was upstairs watching MSNBC or something, of course, and then I hear the Peter Gabriel song 'In Your Eyes' and then I walk downstairs and he's holding this old fashioned boombox and I thought that was really sweet." A Say Anything... reference for the candid comic who tends to say pretty much anything feels quite right.
Inside Kathy Griffin's super small surprise wedding
Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick tied the knot on Jan. 1, 2020, at their home in an extremely small ceremony shortly after they shared with the world that they were engaged. A little over a week after she married Bick, Griffin told Instinct that they did not want to have a big wedding with "Bridezilla/Groomzilla adjacent stuff," and realized that their ideal location was right under their noses. She said, "The more we thought about it — we live in this awesome, beautiful, baller house where frankly I would let any of my friends get married here."
While the married pair filmed the ceremony and posted almost the whole thing online, Griffin explained to the magazine that they chose not to include their vows on the Internet, because that was something they "wanted to keep private." However, she added, "But I always wanted to put something out there that I felt I could show my followers and fans that it's okay."
The wedding video features barking dogs, the bride pausing the ceremony to grab a paper towel and blot away sweat, Lily Tomlin clutching a puppy with one hand, and more. We must say, it's a solid way to spend about a dozen minutes.
One of their only guests officiated the wedding ceremony
Much like the ceremony itself, Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick kept their wedding guest list short and sweet. When it came time to say their "I do's," the couple were joined by their four puppies, actress Lily Tomlin, and writer-director Jane Wagner (who also happens to be Tomlin's wife). The Grace and Frankie star pulled double duty: Tomlin also acted as the officiant. Griffin told Instinct in January 2020 that it was "so significant" to have Tomlin and Wagner there. At the end of their wedding video, Griffin and Bick thanked the couple for helping them make their "dream day come true."
Watching two comedic talents like Tomlin and Griffin play off of one another is a real treat. Near the end of the ceremony, Tomlin asked if there was anyone present who objected to the marriage, and Griffin interjected, "The only other person here is your wife, Jane. Okay? If she objects, I find that offensive." Without breaking character, Tomlin turned to Wagner and asked if she objected, and Wagner said she did not and called it "a beautiful sight."
During her aforementioned Instinct interview, Griffin revealed that Tomlin "took her job as officiant so seriously" and brought along a "leather portfolio with all her officiant documents." Tomlin also checked in with Griffin's office "three separate times making sure everything was sent in properly to the Registrar's office, that everything was notarized." Wow, just when we think we couldn't adore Tomlin more.
Was the Kardashian-Jenner Christmas bash Kathy Griffin's unofficial engagement party?
After she and Randy Bick rang in 2020 as newlyweds, Kathy Griffin "revealed" that the annual Kardashian-Jenner Christmas extravaganza was her unofficial engagement party. A few days before she and Bick got hitched, the couple attended the Keeping Up With the Kardashians family's holiday bash and posed for a sweet picture in the photo booth that was set up for guests. The bride later took to Instagram to share said snapshot, and jokingly wrote, "BIG THANKS to @kourtneykardash & @krisjenner for taking this photo Christmas Eve when they were kind enough to host a gigantic #engagementparty FOR US! I mean, they didn't technically know it was an engagement party for us, but boy, they spared no expense!"
Some to-be-married people like to throw a traditional engagement party with gifts and mimosa bars and on-theme games, whereas others prefer to skip the whole affair and jokingly claim the KarJenner's enormous Christmas event was their secret engagement party after the fact. Hey, whatever floats your boat ... that is, not actually a boat, but a gifted boat-shaped floral arrangement most likely designed by celeb florist Jeff Leatham.
Kathy Griffin also joked Kim Kardashian was her maid of honor
After news of the Griffin-Bick wedding broke, Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner sent over those gorgeous boat-shaped flowers, and Kathy Griffin spilled some beans about her wedding party ... sort of. She not only shared a photo of the floral arrangement alongside Kardashian and Jenner's sweet congratulatory note, but also a picture she took with Kardashian at the family's Christmas party in December 2019. "Shoutout to my 'maid of honor,' @kimkardashian!" Griffin wrote in jest. "Thanks for keeping the secret."
It doesn't really come as a surprise that these E! stars would send Griffin flowers after her big day. Not only did the comedian used to live next door to Kardashian and husband Kanye West, the Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index author and the KarJenner clan have actually been pals for years. The celeb family was even "there for [Griffin]" in the wake of the scandal surrounding that infamous photo of her holding a replica of Donald Trump's head.
But if you watched Griffin and Randy Bick's wedding video in its entirety and were left wondering why Griffin's supposed "maid of honor" is nowhere to be found, don't worry, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Kardashian was not actually a part of the wedding ceremony; just like Griffin's post about the engagement party, the "maid of honor" picture seemingly was all in fun.
Kathy Griffin's wedding dress was her something old
The night of their wedding, Kathy Griffin posted a snapshot on Twitter that she and Randy Bick took together all the way back when they went on their very first major date. In the picture, she's wearing the very same dress she wore for their wedding ceremony. "This was our first formal date in September 2011!" the TV star captioned the sweet pic. "We are in the back of a limo provided by the one only @GloriaEstefan because her team arranged for me to surprise her as a back up 'dancer' when she performed at the Alma awards!" In a second tweet, Griffin explained, "I asked Randy to pick out which ever one of my long dresses was his favorite for any reason. He picked out this dress and showed me this photo."
And with that, the dress Bick picked out was the dress Griffin wore for their nuptials. According to People, the first date-slash-wedding gown was made by Diane Von Furstenberg. Also, can we back up a second and revisit the part where their first formal date included a limo provided by the one and only Gloria Estefan? You gotta admit that is quite the way to kick off a new relationship.
Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick exchanged toy rings
Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick's wedding was full of non-traditional elements, and the ring portion of the ceremony was no exception. Griffin told People that they picked out "sort of toy rings for the ceremony," but explained that they would be just for show because they do not "like wearing rings ever." She continued, "So we will never wear rings. Deal with it." Well, okay then.
When officiant Lily Tomlin asked if they were ready to trade wedding bands, Griffin let her know that they are "not ring people" and would be using "fake rings" for the ceremony. "We're not going to wear rings, but we're going to do the gesture," she told her pal. Tomlin advised they store the rings in a "safe place," saying, "And every evening, you and Randy can take them out and look at them." At that, Griffin deadpanned, "But what if I want to bang other guys?" Tomlin put the officiant binder in front of her face to hide her laughter, pulled herself together, and carried on with the nuptials.
This wedding ceremony really was a one of a kind.
This relationship seemed done for good a year before the wedding
In November 2018, Kathy Griffin took to Twitter to announce that she was "gonna be one of those people who announces a break up." Yes, the My Life on the D-List star shared that she and Randy Bick had called it quits after seven years. She added, "It's not acrimonious and I will always adore him. There, now those jerks at TMZ wont get the story first. Go back to your bootlicking, @HarveyLevinTMZ." Griffin later told Hello! that she made the formal social media announcement only because she didn't think they were ever going to get back together.
Clearly, she thought wrong. Just a few months after tweeting about the split, Griffin posted a photo of herself with Daisy Fuentes, Richard Marx, and, most notably, Bick on Instagram. According to Page Six, someone hopped into the comments section to ask the on-and-off couple were back on, and Griffin gave about as clear an answer as one could hope for: "Yup, back together."
Speaking with ET in October 2019, Griffin explained that she and Bick "took a little break," but ultimately decided to give it another shot, saying, "Even though he's 19 years younger, we both turned to each other and went, 'This is the longest relationship for both of us, you know? We should fight for it and make it work.'" And just a little over a year after their short breakup, these two were married.
Suze Orman played a big role in Kathy Griffin's relationship
Kathy Griffin and her now-husband also happen to have a professional relationship — and it's all thanks to the titular host of The Suze Orman Show. During a December 2019 interview with Hello! magazine, the touring comedian shared that about a year into her romance with Randy Bick, her friend, Suze Orman, suggested a way for them to get around the whole long-distance relationship issue: "So, Suze Orman, the financial guru, said to me, 'Girlfriend, you're never going to see him. He's got a master's degree — why don't you make him your tour manager, and you can be together! Unless he can't do the job.'" Griffin embraced this idea with open arms and went so far as to have Orman actually interview Bick for the position, and it sounds like it all panned out for the couple. "So it actually works," Griffin added. "Seven years now he's been my tour manager, my marketing manager."
Leave it to Suze Orman to offer up just one piece of advice that ends up helping her buddy both personally and professionally. When it comes to words of wisdom, she really knows how to keep it economical.
The Trump photo scandal was rough on Kathy Griffin's relationship
There's no question that Kathy Griffin faced a ton of backlash when that infamous photo of her posing with a ketchup-drenched replica of Donald Trump's head was released in 2017 — but her long list of critics happened to include her significant other's family.
"My boyfriend, whom I live with and he's my tour manager as well, you know, his family struggles with him now in a way that shouldn't have happened," Griffin told ET two years later, adding that she felt "really guilty" about the falling out with Randy Bick's family. The comedian also shared that she had "not heard from one person named Griffin in months, if not years."
Appearing on The Wendy Williams Show in October 2019, Griffin further explained that Bick's relatives had been "very vocal online" about her, saying, "And that's very hard for him to deal with." Calling the whole situation "kind of a lot," Griffin also admitted that she began to "worry about his safety even." While Griffin and Bick's brief breakup happened about a year and a half after the photo incident, she said that enduring "something like this that's so immense" ultimately brought them closer together.
Kathy Griffin wasn't sure about the age difference
Kathy Griffin and Randy Bick are nearly two decades apart, and at first, she figured their relationship would fizzle out sooner rather than later because of the age difference. The comedian didn't know she was in store for a long-term relationship with Bick, but she did know almost right away that she was fine with firing off zingers about that age gap. In 2012 — all the way back when she and Bick were first dating — Griffin quipped to E! that she felt like "Demi Moore without the whip-its!" (Yikes.) She added, "Rosie O'Donnell sent me an email and she said, 'You are so Madonna right now with your boyfriend.'"
While Griffin is cool with joking about the years between herself and Bick, she seems to draw the line at any criticism or pearl clutching over it — especially from any talk show hosts who also have a history of being in relationships with significantly younger people. When Larry King asked her about their romance back in 2013, she replied, "I don't want one iota of judgment from you because he's a little younger than I am."
All these years later, they are still together and Bick is, as Griffin quipped on The Wendy Williams Show, "Still 19 years younger."