The Real Life Partners Of The Cast Of Mom
If you are going through withdrawal since the series finale of "Mom," Chuck Lorre's hit CBS sitcom, which concluded on May 13, you are not alone. The heartfelt show consistently found the funny in a complicated and controversial subject: sobriety. The show offered "hope that recovery from alcoholism and addiction is possible," as Lorre wrote in his last Vanity Card. "Hope that the journey can be filled with love, friendship, and laughter. ... And finally, hope that life, through all its ups and downs, never has to be faced alone."
"Mom" followed the adventures of Bonnie Plunkett, a recovering alcoholic and drug user and the titular "Mom," played by Allison Janney, as she rekindles her complicated relationship with her daughter, Christy, played by Anna Faris, who's also struggling with addiction. While romances come and go, the mother-daughter bond between them grows, as does their friendships with the other women — all over 40 — in their recovery group: matriarchal Marjorie, played by Mimi Kennedy; Wendy, the mercilessly teased nurse played by Beth Hall; Jaime Pressly's rich, high-class southern bell, Jill; and the wonderful Kristen Johnston as late addition Tammy.
Although Faris left before the show's eighth and final season, these women stuck together and supported each other through struggles and happiness alike, like the best ersatz families. But who do the cast members face troubles with when they are not on set? Let's look at the strong, wonderful women and see who is there to support them in their lives.
Allison Janney isn't actually a mom
While Allison Janney's Bonnie Plunkett is both a mom and grandmom on the show, Janney herself does not have children. Bonnie finds love and marries Adam Janikowski, a wheelchair-bound former stuntman played by William Fichtner, but unlike her fictional counterpart, Janney has never been married.
The amazing actor keeps plenty busy with her career and accolades, with roles on both the big and small screens, as well as on the stage. Best known before "Mom" as press secretary C.J. Cregg on "The West Wing," Janney won Emmys for both roles, plus an Oscar for playing Tonya Harding's mother in 2017's "I, Tonya." She also lets the media focus on her career, keeping her private life private. But Ossa reports Janney was once engaged to actor Richard Jenik, whom she met working on "Our Very Own," but they split up in 2006 after three years of dating.
Janney has talked about why she never married, telling Women's Health (via Hollywood.com), "I used to have a recurring dream that I would marry a man and, right after the ceremony, they'd turn into somebody completely different. I'd marry Arnold Schwarzenegger and then he'd be Danny DeVito — except that no one else saw the difference. So you could say I've had some fears about it."
Janney also said she's "at peace with not having kids," explaining, "I've never had that instinct." She's currently dating production coordinator Philip Joncas — 20 years her junior — but they have no plans to marry. "I don't believe in that institution," she said.
Anna Faris and her ex were once Hollywood's 'It' couple
Unlike Bonnie, Christy Plunkett, an addict single mother of two, never had any romantic success on the show "Mom." But actor Anna Faris has been luckier than that. Faris graced the big screen in many movies, including her breakout role as Cindy Campbell in the "Scary Movie" franchise. She also appeared in rom-coms like "The House Bunny," "Just Friends," and "What's Your Number?" — even appearing in "Keanu" and "Brokeback Mountain" — not to mention an arc on the final season of "Friends."
Most people who follow Hollywood know about her infamous relationship with Chris Pratt, the superstar who played Peter Quill/Star-Lord in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" and Owen Grady in "Jurassic World," not to mention Andy Dwyer on "Parks & Recreation." Pratt and Faris were one of Hollywood's "It" couples since marrying in 2009. According to Ossa, Faris and Pratt grew up only 20 minutes away from each other, in Washington state, but they didn't meet until 2007 while working on the movie "Take Me Home Tonight." She was about to leave her then-husband, Ben Indra, and Pratt knew right away he wanted to marry her.
Alas, Hollywood's favorite couple tumbled, and Faris and Pratt broke up in 2017, though the two are still close friends, co-parenting their son Jack. Rumors of Faris' new beau started even before her official split from Pratt, and she's now engaged to cinematographer Michael Barrett, according to USA Today.
Mimi Kennedy and Beth Hall both have long-lasting marriages
Bonnie and Christy's sponsor on the show is the matriarchal Marjorie, played by Mimi Kennedy. Kennedy's long career in entertainment started in the 1970s and saw her in many roles, including opposite Stockard Channing in the short-lived sitcom "Just Friends." She's performed on big and small screens and onstage, debuting in the original "Grease." But she was best known pre-"Mom" as Abby O'Neil in another Chuck Lorre sitcom, "Dharma & Greg."
Kennedy has been married nearly as long as her storied career, to actor Larry Dilg. The two met on what Ossa called a primary version of Tinder, called Operation Match, which Kennedy used in 1966. They married in 1978 and have two children, and Kennedy occasionally posts photos of her family on her Instagram.
The most put-upon member of the sober gang is the smart but emotional Wendy, played by Beth Hall, who started her career in the 1990s. She played character roles in shows like "Murphy Brown," "Frasier," and "House," before landing her breakout role as Roger Sterling's secretary Caroline in the antihero drama, "Mad Men."
Hall has been married for 24 years, since April 1997, to Philip Mastopietro, who has two children from a previous marriage. Hall is mother to the two kids, as well as her own adopted daughter with Mastopietro, Nina. Hall is also an avid poker player, per IMDb, and was the only woman to play in the Southern California Poker Championships on its last day.
Jaime Pressly is a mother herself
Former model Jaime Pressly plays the beautiful and ultra-privileged Southern bell Jill Kendall — former alcohol, drug, and food addict struggling with her sobriety. Jill arrives in the Season 2 premiere and Christy quickly becomes Jill's primary sponsor and close friend. Jill also develops a strong friendship with Bonnie, particularly while they both find happiness with romantic relationships. Jill marries police officer Andy, played by Will Sasso, in the series finale.
Pressly also has an impressive résumé, starting out in teen comedies like "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Not Another Teen Movie," and moving on to other TV and movie roles, including "I Love You, Man." She's best known, before "Mom," for playing Joy Turner in the long-running sitcom "My Name is Earl," which won her an Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy in 2007.
Pressly — who almost bought a plane ticket on September 11, 2001, for one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center — was close friends with actor Eric Cubiche for nine years, according to IMDb, before they began dating in 2004. The couple were engaged for two years, during which time they welcomed a son in 2007, but they ended their relationship in 2008. Pressly married entertainment lawyer Simran Singh only nine months later, in September 2009, but she filed for divorce a short 15 months after that, per People.
That same year, 2011, Pressly met shoe store owner Hamzi Hijazi, per Ossa, and the two have been together ever since. Pressly gave birth to twin boys in October 2017.
Kristen Johnston overcame addiction and works on a show about addiction
Kristen Johnston's Tammy Diffendorf was the latest addition to the sober gang, joining the show in late Season 5. Tammy and Bonnie were foster sisters turned enemies when Bonnie leads Tammy down the wrong path. They reunite while Tammy is in prison, and eventually become best friends and business partners.
Johnston burst into comedy as alien Sally Solomon in the hit 1990s sitcom "3rd Rock from the Sun," for which she won two Emmys. She seemed to vanish after that, but consistently played small parts in television and film projects like "Music and Lyrics," "Bride Wars," "ER," and "Ugly Betty." She also has personal experience with the subject of "Mom." She wrote about her addiction to alcohol and pills when she was a teen in her 2012 autobiography "Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster." She is an advocate for sobriety, establishing the charity Sobriety, Learning, and Motivation (SLAM), and she is working to establish a high school for students struggling with addiction, per Entertainment Weekly.
Despite dating Ryan Reynolds for a brief while, Johnston has never been married, joking to People that she had a "very abusive" marriage to opiates after her "3rd Rock" fame. When "Mom" was canceled, Johnston was disappointed. "Such a huge bummer. This show has been such a total joy & honor to be a part of," she tweeted. "It's been life-changing for me to be on a show that's about recovery & women supporting each other thru thick & thin."