This Is Why Allison Williams And Ricky Van Veen Broke Up
The relationship between actor Allison Williams and entrepreneur Ricky Van Veen seemed perfect on the surface. The pair met in 2011, while Williams was playing the deceptively polished character Marnie Michaels in HBO's "Girls." Meanwhile, Van Veen was two years into his work as CEO of Notional, the production company spinoff of his popular site, CollegeHumor. He proposed to Williams in 2014 and the couple married the following year. The innovative businessman and radiant star seemed like the model All-American couple fit for a Ralph Lauren ad. But below the flawless facade was an apparently faulty foundation, and the couple announced their separation in June 2019.
The announcement shattered the illusions of perfection the couple showed the world. It marked an end to an eight-year romance, just a few months shy of the pair's four-year wedding anniversary. So what went wrong along the way? Did the relationship burn out with a bang, or simply fade away as the two drifted apart? Let's investigate.
Was their shared love of The Bachelor simply not enough?
It all started with a bachelor, a bachelorette, and "The Bachelor." On a fateful night in 2011, Ricky Van Veen and notable "The Bachelor" superfan Allison Williams met while attending their mutual friends' viewing party of the reality dating show. The show continued to play a prominent role in their relationship as it blossomed. "We went to a weekly viewing party every week," Williams told host Chris Harrison on "Bachelor Live" (via Daily Mail). "... it was like a big group date, but with both genders equally distributed ... it was how we met up."
Three years after their initial meeting, Van Veen took full advantage of another one of those viewing parties. The parties were hosted by television writer and producer Lee Eisenberg. "[Eisenberg] has a couch where we would always watch the show," Williams told Harrison. "And that's where Ricky proposed to me ... I would not be married to my husband if it weren't for this show."
It's a charming story of a matchmaking show making an offscreen match. But, like many matches made by "The Bachelor," it wasn't built to last.
Was the fairytale too good to be true?
If the strength of a marriage was determined by the opulence of the wedding, Ricky Van Veen and Allison Williams might still be together. According to People, Williams walked down the aisle in a custom couture Oscar de la Renta gown in September 2015 at Brush Creek Ranch in Saratoga, Wyo. She was arm in arm with her famous father, former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams (shown above).
The star-studded ceremony was attended by 150 to 200 guests, including "Williams' "Girls" costars Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet. The guest list also included more surprising high-profile friends like Katy Perry, John Mayer, Diane von Furstenberg, Barry Diller, Seth Meyers and Bruce Springsteen. To top it all off, the wedding was officiated by Hollywood's nicest guy, Tom Hanks. "The magical setting featured a small creek and spectacular views," a source told People, adding, "It was a stunning ceremony."
Unfortunately, a fairytale wedding doesn't always guarantee a happily ever after.
Their early days of marriage sounded sweet
On the HBO dramedy "Girls," Williams plays Marnie Michaels, a tightly-wound character who strives for perfection. Of course, Marnie makes countless mistakes, including her marriage to challenging manchild Desi in Season 5. Thankfully, it appeared that Williams' real-life relationship didn't bear any resemblance to her onscreen one.
In March 2016, seven months into her marriage, Williams appeared on Today to promote the sixth and final season of "Girls." When she was asked about both her on and offscreen marriages, she said of her character, "She's making it up as she goes along, and she's working with an infuriating partner at times." Of her own partnership, Williams' response was thankfully warmer. "It's good. It feels very much the same ... married life is awesome" she said, before describing how surprised her friends were that she didn't turn into a bridezilla.
Mentioning that she'd just finished filming "Get Out," the actor also described enjoying a round-trip to Alabama with her new husband and their pet dog for the shoot. Her career was growing, but did her marriage have the space for it?
Allison Williams' career was rapidly taking off
When Allison Williams and Ricky Van Veen met in 2011, she was at the onset of her acting career. Shortly after their meeting, the pair collaborated on what would become just her fourth professional screen credit, the CollegeHumor series "Jake and Amir." But many career changes happened over the eight years that followed.
The relationship was strong enough to last through all six seasons of "Girls." Following her success on the critically-acclaimed HBO dramedy, Williams faced much more high-profile career opportunities. In 2014, she played the starring role in "Peter Pan Live!," opposite Christopher Walken. Her appearance as Peter Pan led to one of her most high-profile roles to date as Rose Armitage in Jordan Peele's Oscar-winning 2017 horror movie "Get Out." Williams' career continued picking up steam, and 2018 was a particularly busy year, as Williams appeared in Netflix's series adaptation of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and as the protagonist in the streaming service's thriller movie, "The Perfection."
The life of an actor is turbulent and unpredictable. Williams' skyrocketing career may have rocked the marital boat due to conflicting schedules. But it's not as though Van Veen was just sitting around the house in sweats and slippers waiting for her to come home ...
Ricky Van Veen's work life also sounded hectic
Judging by Ricky Van Veen's Twitter bio — a list that simply reads "Facebook/CollegeHumor/Vimeo/BustedTees/HomesickCandle/some other things" — the entrepreneur is one busy guy. In 2009, Van Veen assumed the role of CEO of the production company Notional, which is best known for the cooking show "Chopped." This was one of many elements of Van Veen's high-profile business relationship with prominent TV executive Barry Diller, who owned CollegeHumor's parent company, CH Media, from 2006 to 2020.
Despite his multiple companies and high-profile positions, Van Veen doesn't stay behind the scenes. He has made appearances in his own CollegeHumor series, including "Hardly Working" and MTV's "The CollegeHumor Show." In 2015, he founded the company Scroll Commerce and invented products for the company including the popular Homesick Candle. In 2016, a year after his marriage to Williams, Van Veen became Facebook's head of global creative strategy, adding to his expansive list of projects.
With so many high-level business positions, it's difficult to imagine anyone striking a stable work-life balance. With Williams just as busy, it's possible their separate schedules and obligations may have put a strain on their romance.
They lived separate lives for a while
With Allison Williams busy with her Netflix roles and Ricky Van Veen busy with his production company and work for Facebook, the couple may have apart over the course of 2018.
On March 4, 2018, Williams celebrated "Get Out" at the 90th Annual Academy Awards. The movie scored four nominations, including Best Picture, and writer Jordan Peele won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. After the ceremony, Williams headed to Vanity Fair's annual Oscars after-party for further celebrations with Van Veen in tow (above). He wore a classic tux, she wore a glamorous red dress and the couple posed with their arms around each other. The glitzy night may have been a celebration of Williams' career, but it also seemed to mark the beginning of the end of her marriage. Posing with Van Veen on the Vanity Fair red carpet apparently marked their final public appearance together, according to W.
For more than a year before they announced their split, however, the couple seemed to be leading separate lives. At least, that's what a source told Page Six in June 2019. "Every time I've seen Allison out recently, Ricky's been nowhere to be seen," the source dished.
Were they just too different?
Despite their individual career successes, sources claim Ricky Van Veen and Allison Williams had conflicting approaches to their ambitions. A supposedly close pal of theirs alleged to Page Six that the two were irrevocably different.
Pointing to Williams' acting career, another source for the outlet likened her to her goal-oriented "Girls" character, Marnie Michaels. "Allison really is Type A, a real go-getter," the source claimed. With his entrepreneurial spirit, one might speculate that Van Veen may be similarly driven and determined. But the same source claims this is not the case, and that their differences could have contributed to their split. "Ricky is far more relaxed and laid-back," the source alleged, adding, "Things just haven't been going well recently."
While we take this anonymous tabloid sourcing with a grain of salt, it's also fair to consider that some say opposites attract, and Williams' and Van Veen's differences may have contributed to their initial attraction and the longevity of their eight-year romance. Unfortunately, the attraction was not magnetic enough to hold them together for good.
Their lives changed after the split
Ricky Van Veen's and Allison Williams' post-split behaviors were further clues of their opposing priorities. Van Veen appeared to move on quickly after the split was announced. In September 2019, two months after the announcement, the Daily Mail reported that he was spotted living it up with a mysterious woman in Venice, Italy. The pair was spotted on Barry Diller's $70 million yacht, and were joined by other famous business figures, including fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, the recently divorced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Bezos' new girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
Williams was not immediately linked to any romantic partners after the split. She was radio silent on Instagram for a year following the separation announcement, and only posted three times in June and July 2020, all in support of social justice causes. Based on her post-split silence, Williams seemed determined to keep her personal life private and live a more low-key lifestyle.
It's possible that the contrast between Van Veen's pursuit of the high life and Williams' decision to lay low further indicates that the two may have been too different to make their marriage last.
Was Allison Williams and Ricky Van Veen's split amicable?
"With mutual love and respect, we have made the decision to separate as a couple," Allison Williams and Ricky Van Veen said in the joint statement announcing their separation. "We are grateful for the friendship we have and will continue to have."
The couple has not been spotted together since the announcement, so it's unclear whether they actually continue to spend time together as friends. They had no children together, but they shared mutual friends who were likely saddened by the split, including Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk, who announced their split the same month as Van Veen and Williams. The couple also shared a Golden Retriever mix named Moxie and a $2 million apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The fate of these shared assets remains a mystery.
Whether the split was due to busy schedules, conflicting personalities, or something else entirely, there seemed to be no bad blood between the pair. Of course, their separation announcement could have been a reflection of their romance as a whole: Sophisticated and polished, but concealing deeper issues lurking beneath the surface. Regardless, in time both of them would move on.
Allison Williams started dating Alexander Dreymon
Allison Williams met German actor Alexander Dreymon on the set of the 2020 film "Horizon Line," a thriller where they play two exes caught on a plane with an unresponsive pilot and have to survive. The film scored a measly 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, with viewers complaining about preposterous plot lines and unrealistic stunts. Regardless, in terms of off-screen success, it was certainly a hit for the couple.
The two started their relationship in 2019 but kept things under wraps, with an insider telling People, "They are both private people individually, and they made the decision to keep this happy news to just a small circle of family and friends." Though they met on set, the couple has had very different career trajectories. Williams has had a stunningly successful career on the small and big screen, while Dreymon had a much slower start.
"I didn't work for a long time after I finished theater school," he told Backstage in 2020. "I studied in London, and then before I actually started making a living from my work it was about six, almost seven years." While the star would go on to star in shows like "American Horror Story" and "The Last Kingdom," he added that the lull was extremely challenging. "The most difficult thing is to hunker down and have that grit to keep going when there's no work," he told the outlet. Thankfully, his career has blossomed since.
The former co-stars welcomed a baby
While keeping things very hush-hush, Alexander Dreymon and Allison Williams had a baby boy named Arlo in late 2021, per People. Typical of their mutual love of privacy, both Williams and Dreymon have declined from posting anything on their social media about each other or their new child. Nevertheless, fans couldn't resist piping up. When Dreymon posted a link on Instagram about their film "Horizon Line," one user cheekily wrote, "I hear you guys made more than a film. Congrats!!"
It's no surprise that the two are keeping their child under wraps. In 2017, Williams suggested to E! that if she were to ever have children, she'd likely take a page out of Beyoncé's big book of baby announcements and unveil her pregnancy and childbirth in her own good time and on her own terms. Interestingly, that's exactly what she ended up doing with Arlo.
While they haven't taken their son out in public, the couple were spotted in Abaco, a cay in the Bahamas at a resort with her father, journalist and news anchor Brian Williams, per People. Baby Arlo was with them and first-hand accounts reported that Williams was wearing what looked like an engagement ring. "They seemed to be very happy and very much in love," an insider said of the new parents. Though if there is a wedding in their future, it seems likely it'd be a private, family affair.
Ricky Van Veen married a venture capitalist
According to Page Six, Ricky Van Veen married again in July 2021, tying the knot with Caroline Kassie. His new wife is a venture capitalist and a lawyer who teamed up with Chelsea Clinton for Metrodora Ventures, a firm that focuses on nurturing businesses related to education and health. Per Bloomberg, Kassie hails from Toronto, Canada but currently lives in New York City and is committed to increasing the roles of women and marginalized people in business.
The investor spoke with the outlet about the particularly low rates of women in venture capital, overall. Explaining that the impact of these rates can create an ongoing pattern of excluding diverse groups from diving into the market, Kassie told the outlet that bringing in more marginalized groups could have incredible benefits. "Women and minorities think differently," she said. "They run companies differently, they communicate differently, and women are more likely to identify market segments by virtue of where their empathy lies."
Van Veen and Kassie had an outdoor wedding with A-list guests like John Mayer and Andy Cohen. On Instagram, the "Watch What Happens Live" host celebrated his attendance by posting a pic of him and Mayer together with the caption, "Sob Rock is wedding rock." Any wedding with Mayer and Cohen as guests is bound to be fun.