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'There were just some behaviors that we couldn't agree on': Chelsea Handler opens up about breakup with Jo Koy

By Camille Santiago Published Dec 28, 2022 4:17 pm

TV host Chelsea Handler looked back on her split from comedian Jo Koy.

Joining Brooke Shields on the former supermodel's Now What? podcast, Handler revealed on Tuesday that she thought Koy would be "The One."

"I really believed that this was my guy. I thought, 'Oh my god, I won.' Like I got everything. I have my career, I have respect, I have my family, I have so many friends, I have all of these things. And then I thought this was gonna be the person I spend my life with," she said.

Handler admitted that she wasn't really the marrying type, but eventually became open about marriage "because it was important to him."

"And then, towards the end of the relationship, it just became clear that this was not my person," she told Shields.

"There were just some behaviors that we couldn't agree on… It felt to me like I would have to abandon myself, which maybe I would have been okay to do if I were 20 or 25, but I wasn't willing to do that. No matter how much I loved this person — and I loved him so much — I was not going to abandon myself," she said.

"I am not going to change the way that I behave in order to make you feel more comfortable. I'm not doing that, and I had to walk away from something that I really believed was gonna be a forever relationship," Handler said. "So that was difficult."

Handler also said that she "was in a lot of pain" after their split, noting that it was "one of the most difficult things" she had ever had to do.

"I was in a lot of pain, but it was unacceptable. I said this can't happen. Our relationship just devolved, and we both could not agree on a situation or several situations, and I thought therapy could help — it did not — and I exhausted any avenue I could think of, and then I just realized this is futile."

The former Chelsea Lately host also said she hasn't spoken to Koy in a while, adding that there needs to be "some accountability and some responsibility" to happen before they can be friends again.

"We had a really great friendship, and I would love to have that again, you know, but without a couple steps in the right direction, I don't see that happening."

Handler and Koy had been friends for over two decades.

They made their relationship public in September 2021, and later on split in July 18.