Fun Facts About Comedian Jim Gaffigan's Wife, Jeannie Gaffigan
They do everything together.
Miro Vrlik Photography / Shutterstock Comedian and actor Jim Gaffigan is making headlines, but not for a new project — this time, it's thanks to his opinion about the POTUS. Last week, Gaffigan went on a Twitter rant against Donald Trump, imploring his followers not to vote for him in the 2020 presidential election, calling him "a liar and a criminal," and he definitely received some backlash for it from his fans. But one person who's assuredly standing behind him in all of this is his wife of nearly 20 years, Jeannie.
Who is Jim Gaffigan's wife, Jeannie Gaffigan?
And what do you need to know about her? Meet Jeannie Gaffigan, who not only spends her life with Jim, but shares her career with him, too.
Who is Jeannie Gaffigan? She's an actress, writer, and producer.
Just as Jim works in the entertainment industry, so does Jeannie. She starred in My Boys as Meredith, as well as movies including Maybe It's Me, Hacks, and A Killing. She also has experience working behind the camera, working as a script supervisor on a show called Pale Force and collaborating with her husband on his comedy specials.
Jeannie and Jim work together on The Jim Gaffigan Show.
One of Jeannie's biggest ongoing projects was The Jim Gaffigan Show, which lasted for two seasons. Though she has guest starred on a few episodes in various smaller roles, she also worked as a writer and a producer on the show, and even directed an episode of the show in 2016.
Jeannie Gaffigan dedicates herself to the causes she is passionate about.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Jeannie has used social media to make her followers aware of organizations she's supporting, and she's been outspoken in her support of The Bowery Mission, an organization that helps feed and support the homeless in New York City. Her family used to volunteer there themselves before COVID-19, and during lockdown, Jeannie continued to promote their efforts on Instagram, encouraging her followers to donate. She also promoted The Imagine Society, which donated resources and goods to hospital workers at Mount Sinai.
Jeannie Gaffigan suffered from a brain tumor.
In 2017, Jeannie had a craniotomy done to remove a pear-sized tumor from her brain that was discovered when she couldn't hear out of her left ear. Fortunately, the tumor was benign, but after the removal, she was unable to walk and had to use a feeding tube while she recovered and she said in a 2018 interview that she wished she'd paid more attention to her own health so she could have caught it sooner.
“My advice for other women is to listen to your body and really take care of yourself,” she said at the time. “And resist the instinct to only take care of other people.”
Together, Jeannie and Jim have five children.
Jeannie and Jim have been married since 2003, and in that time, they've welcomed five children: Jack, 14, Marre, 15, Katie, 11, Patrick, 8, and Michael, 9. They definitely have a big Catholic family (with a big range of ages), but it seems like that's exactly how Jim and Jeannie like it, and there appears to be a lot of love between them all.
jeannie Gaffigan has already defended Jim's tweets.
Jeannie was quick to defend her husband's rant against Trump, tweeting plenty of jokes of her own about it — especially poking fun at the fact that he used profanity, since he's known for keeping his comedy clean and his Catholic faith.
"If people think that @JimGaffigan’s filthy language rant was bad, you should have heard my private filthy language rant at him for his filthy language rant! Definitely earned me a few extra days in purgatory!" she wrote.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.