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Judd Apatow said in a new interview that he knew his wife Leslie Mann was the one “the moment she walked in the room”
Apatow and Mann married in 1997 and share two daughters; they met when Mann auditioned for 1996’s The Cable Guy, which Apatow produced
“It did hit me like lightning. ‘Oh, it’s her,’ ” Apatow said of the first day they met
Judd Apatow is reflecting on the moment he fell in love with wife Leslie Mann.
While Apatow, 57, spoke with USA Today recently to promote his new memoir Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures, the director, screenwriter and producer said Mann, 53, “was so hilarious and beautiful” when they met as Mann auditioned for the 1996 Ben Stiller comedy The Cable Guy, which Apatow produced.
“I just loved her vibe the moment she walked in the room. It did hit me like lightning. ‘Oh, it’s her,’ ” Apatow recalled. He recalled telling Stiller, now 59, that “the future Mrs. Apatow just walked in the room,” as the outlet wrote.
Apatow and Mann began dating in 1996 following her casting in The Cable Guy and married in June 1997. The couple share daughters Maude, 27, and Iris, 23, who have each ventured into acting as well. Apatow, who is behind movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Trainwreck and dozens of more comedies, told USA Today that Mann “taught me so much about writing for women.”
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Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow on Dec. 20, 1999
“I would see all the scripts that she would get and what good writing looked like and most of the time what bad writing looked like,” he said. “It made me realize that I had to put in a lot more work to write complex characters for men and women.”
Many of those films have featured Mann, who appeared in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This Is 40 and Funny People, among other movies Apatow produced or directed. “When we work together, the second I have an idea, we start kicking it around,” Apatow told the outlet of their collaborations.
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Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann on March 10, 2024
“She comes up with an enormous amount of funny situations and lines in those movies. She’s my toughest critic,” he added. “When the cuts start coming in, there’s always a final Leslie pass, where she protects all the actors to make sure I make them look good.”
Mann most recently appeared on the big screen in Poetic License, which marked the directorial debut of her and Apatow’s older daughter Maude. That movie made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, but it won’t hit theaters until May 15, 2026. Apatow’s new memoir Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures is available for purchase now.
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