Four years ago, Jonah Hill almost entirely removed himself from the public eye to protect his mental health. Now, he’s back, and his life looks very different than before.
For context, Jonah announced in 2022 that he was taking a break from promoting his movies, explaining in an open letter that his anxiety attacks are “exacerbated by media appearances and public-facing events.” He stayed true to his word and did not take part in any promotional content for Stutz, the 2022 documentary about his mental health, nor did he step out to promote You People, the comedy he starred in alongside Eddie Murphy in 2023.
Then, in February this year, Jonah returned to the red carpet for the first time in years to celebrate his newest film, Outcome, which he co-wrote, directed, and acted in.
The movie — which is all about celebrity cancel culture — premiered on Apple TV on April 10, and over the past few weeks, while promoting the film, Jonah has given fans some super-rare insight into his private life.
Firstly, while talking with Martin Scorsese for Interview magazine earlier this month, Jonah referred to his partner, Olivia Millar, as his “wife,” prompting a source to confirm to People that the couple quietly got married.
Not only that, but Jonah also announced that he and Olivia recently welcomed their second baby together, nearly three years after their first child was born in June 2023.
In that interview, Jonah didn’t talk in too much detail about his family life. However, during a live taping of a SmartLess podcast episode over the past weekend, the 42-year-old shared a little more about his and Olivia’s low-key set-up with their kids.
“So, real quick, before we go any further, my wife is here. My best friend,” he said onstage at the Avalon Hollywood with hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. “Shout-out to my beautiful wife, Liv. Where is she? Oh, what’s up, baby?”
Jonah — who was born and raised in Los Angeles — explained that he and Olivia are now based “in a very small town in San Diego,” and their decision to leave LA came shortly after the birth of their first child three years ago.
“I wanted to leave LA and raise a family outside of Los Angeles,” he said, before paying tribute to his “incredible” normie neighbors in his small town. “They never treat me weird or ask me about my job or anything. My neighbor is one of my great friends, Dr. Sean… He never bothered me or was like, ‘Oh, what’s this person like?’”
Though he doesn’t want his kids to live in LA right now, Jonah acknowledged that it was certainly a “cool” place to grow up in the ‘90s. “You could go skateboard downtown, or you could sneak into a movie premiere, or you could go sneak into a comedy club and see Chris Rock or something,” he recalled.
Jonah also talked about his return to the spotlight after being “gone for a while” and how his new family life played a role in his comeback. “I’m excited because I got all, like, serious for a while and I wasn’t as happy,” he explained. “And then I had my family, and I got happy, and now all I want to do is be funny again. That’s why I said yes [to being on Smartless]. I’m, like, I want to go fucking be funny in front of a crowd, and that’d be awesome.”
“If you’re bummed, you don’t feel like being that funny, right?” he continued. “The first thing I thought about when I had my kids and was so stoked, it was like I connected to back when I was just like 12 and I was just being funny for fun. That’s the thing I fell in love with my whole life.”
The full SmartLess episode isn’t out yet, but we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, here’s where you can find Jonah’s interview with Martin Scorsese.
