Paul Rudd has returned to our screens in season three of Only Murders in the Building. Cast as Broadway star, Ben Glenroy, the 54-year-old delivers a stellar performance as the narcissistic actor with a growing list of enemies. Away from the show, however, Paul couldn't be more different to his on-screen character.
Time and time again, the father-of-two has been hailed as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, and while he's recognized around the world, he doesn't see himself as a celebrity. "When I think about myself, I think of myself as a husband and a father, like I'm that," he said to PEOPLE in 2021. "I just hang out with my family when I'm not working. That's what I kind of like the most."
We're taking a closer look at Paul's sweet family life with his wife of 20 years, Julie Yaeger, and their two children, Jack, 17, and Darby, 12. Keep reading for the details…
Paul met his future wife Julie in the mid-90s. After making a name for himself in the cult classic, Clueless, the actor moved to New York, and followed the advice of director Amy Heckerling to get a publicist.
When he arrived at the publicist's office with his luggage, he was quickly introduced to Julie, who was working there at the time. "She was the first person I met in New York," Paul revealed to Marie Claire in 2018.
"We started talking and there was a maturity with her – she had experienced some tragedy in her life, I had too, and the impression I got was, wow, this is a woman. This isn't a girl. I was really taken with who she was and how she had overcome and was in the process of overcoming adversities in her life."
Paul added: "There was a perspective that she had and still has on the world that you don't come to easily – it's earned and most people don't have it at such a young age."
A few days after their adorable meet-cute, Paul asked Julie if she wanted to go for lunch, and the rest is history! The couple went on to date for a few years before tying the knot in a private ceremony in 2003.
While they've always been extremely private about their relationship, Julie is very supportive of Paul's acting career and she's always there to hold his hand on the red carpet. Today, she works as a producer and screenwriter.
By 2004, Paul and Julie had welcomed their son Jack into the world, and as of 2009, they are also proud parents to a daughter named Darby. The family appears to reside in Rhinebeck, New York, close to the candy shop that Paul co-owns with his close friend and fellow actor, Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Speaking about his role as a father, in 2018, Paul admitted that he's an "embarrassing dad."
"Oh, I'm still the embarrassing dad," he told Marie Claire. "My daughter is eight and thinks I'm the bee's knees. My son is 13 and doesn't even want me going to his school. I make jokes to a series of eye rolls."
It wasn't until Paul's son Jack turned 15 that he was able to fully grasp what his dad does for a living. Recalling an adorable story to NME, Paul explained that when Jack was five, "He went to a movie theatre with his friends, and there was a poster that I was on, in the lobby. They all just assumed I worked at the movie theatre, which I felt was very cute. I never corrected him. When he was 15, I think he finally put it all together."
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As for his daughter, Darby has watched a number of Paul's films, and he's even left some easter eggs in them for her.
"At first when [my daughter] was very young, I used to think, is it going to be weird when my daughter is old enough and she sees this movie? She's going to see me playing dad to a little girl," he told Mama's Geeky. "Instead it's the opposite. She really loves it because I tell her you're the real Cassie. I do little things in the movie that are little things for her."