Ali Wong is sharing her thoughts on her single life — and her new relationship!
In her latest Netflix comedy special, Ali Wong: Single Lady, Wong, 42, discusses her divorce from ex-husband Justin Hakuta and her return to dating.
She admits that she hadn’t anticipated that aspect of her life would generate such widespread interest, joking that it ultimately turned into a rich source of material for her comedy.
“I didn’t expect the news of my divorce to be so widespread and public,” Wong explained.
“I felt really embarrassed and ashamed, but I didn’t realize that all of these media outlets were acting like a Bat-Signal, letting all potentially interested men know that I was suddenly available. I’ve never been pursued this much in my life.”
Wong shared that she met a man — someone she had encountered only a couple of times at dinner parties — and that a mutual friend had given him her number.
This suitor, later identified as her current boyfriend Bill Hader, wasted no time in making his intentions known.
“‘Hey, Ali. I just happened to hear the news of your divorce today, and I gotta tell you…I’m excited,’” she recalled the actor saying.
“‘I am, Ali, because, look, I have had a crush on you forever, and I actually told my best friend years ago that you were my dream girl. And I know this sounds crazy, but, uh, I want you to be my girlfriend.’”
Wong humorously noted that the timing was a bit awkward since she had just “paid $250” for a dating app, so she continued with her life as usual.
“Shortly after that phone call, I take off to Europe,” Wong recounted. “I arrive in London and discovered that this man had sent me a bouquet of flowers.”
As she traveled through Amsterdam, Cologne, and Copenhagen, Hader continued to send her flowers.
“I told all my girlfriends and they were like, ‘Oh my God, that is so sweet. I am so jealous,’” she said, adding a comedic twist about how her male friends reacted.
“They were like, ‘That dude sounds like a psychopath.’ That’s how cheap and lazy men have become—that now when a fellow man commits any act of kindness, any romantic gesture, it must be a symptom of an undiagnosed mental illness.”
Despite this, Wong went on dates with other people (who were not Hader), including one with a “big fancy movie director.”
“I think for the longest time I was so focused on getting d—ed down,” she joked.
“Because the task of finding a boyfriend, someone who I consider talented, someone who makes me laugh, someone who I have a real connection with, someone who I look up to as an artist, someone that I would feel proud to introduce to my kids, my peers and my friends and my mentors, I mean, that seemed impossible, you know?”
Wong has also maintained a close relationship with her ex, which adds another layer of complexity to her dating life.
“Divorce gets a really bad reputation and it can sound really scary and full of acrimony,” she stated.
“But then just look at me as an alternate example of how it can be: I’m best friends with my ex-husband.”
“I need him desperately, and I need to respect him,” she added.
Ultimately, Wong revealed that the man who is now her boyfriend is indeed Hader.
“I did fall in love again,” she shared. “Some of you might know who the guy is. And it just so happens to be the man who sent me all of those flowers in Europe.”
Hader and Wong confirmed their relationship in April 2023, one year after her separation from Hakuta.
They briefly dated in 2022 but reconnected later and have since remained a couple.
Previously, Wong mentioned that she prefers to keep the relationship “very selectively private,” but she noted several commonalities in their lives that contribute to their compatibility.
“It’s just also, like, we’re both, like, in our 40s and parents,” Wong told in January.
