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After making several guest appearances on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills over the years, Jennifer Tilly was officially upgraded to a “friend of” the main cast during Season 14, and she returned in that role for the current 15th season. During that time, Tilly has divulged some details about her personal life, without having to get too deep.
While her longtime boyfriend does not appear on the Bravo series, Tilly has spoken about him on the show before and posts about him on social media from time to time.
Scroll down to learn more about Tilly’s current relationship, as well as details about her past marriage to a famous television writer and creator.
Who is Jennifer Tilly’s boyfriend?
Tilly’s boyfriend is Phil Laak, a professional poker player. Laak was born in Ireland and moved to the United States as a child. He met Tilly at the World Poker Tour Invitational in 2004, and they have been together ever since (the actress is also a pro poker player).
It’s estimated that Laak’s poker winnings total more than $3,500,000.
“He’s a poker player. He just sort of likes to shuffle around in his pajamas and mutter about, you know, things going on in the world,” Tilly said on an episode of the RHOBH aftershow. “Yeah, he’s the best. Shuffles around in his pajamas and talks about cryptocurrency. That’s my man.”
Who is Jennifer Tilly’s ex-husband?
Tilly’s ex-husband was Sam Simon, the co-creator of The Simpsons. They were married from 1984 to 1991 and stayed friends after the split, until Simon died in 2015.
“He was probably my best friend for 30 years,” Tilly said on another RHOBH aftershow episode. “It seemed weird, [but] once I wasn’t saddled with being a wife and all the expectations that came along with being a wife, then it seemed like it liberated us to be really close. Because we were there because we wanted to be there.”
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Simon was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2012. The disease eventually metastasized to other organs. Although Simon was initially given three to six months to live, he survived for another three years before his death on March 8, 2015.
“In the last years of his life and I was taking care of him, then he said [he loved me] all the time to me,” Tilly shared. “It was really nice. I’m sure he must’ve said it when we were married, but I don’t remember it.”
How much money did Jennifer Tilly get from Sam Simon?
In Tilly’s divorce settlement with Simon, she received a $400,000 lump sum, according to In Touch. However, she continues to earn money from the divorce to this day because the agreement also provided her with earnings from The Simpsons residuals.
“When we got divorced, I got a piece of The Simpsons in the divorce settlement, and nobody knew that The Simpsons was going to go on for trillions of years,” Tilly revealed on RHOBH.
She later clarified to E!, “It’s not a large piece, but even a little piece is something to write home about.”
Tilly received “at least 25% of income that Sam made from each episode or any payment for films made related to The Simpsons,” per In Touch via the former couple’s divorce documents. This applies to when the show is syndicated, as well.
The divorce settlement provided Tilly with a percentage of all of the show’s earnings, despite it only premiering two years before the split.
Does Jennifer Tilly have kids?
No, Tilly does not have any children, which was a conscious decision. As she explained on an episode of Sherri, she “never wanted kids” and had a “sort of not really great childhood.”
Tilly continued, “I felt like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll make the same mistakes my mother did.’ I could see myself making those mistakes and I was like, ‘You know what, sometimes I make bad choices,’ and I didn’t want to put my kids through that.”
She also spoke about the decision on an RHOBH aftershow, adding, “I mean, hopefully I would be better [than my mother], but, yeah, I never really wanted children. And now my sister had a bunch, so I have nieces and nephews, so that’s really nice.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Season 15, Thursdays, 8/7c, Bravo
