Kyle MacLachlan Has the Sweetest Marriage: Inside the ‘Twin Peaks’ Star’s 23 Years With Wife Desiree Gruber
Plus, see his earlier relationships with Laura Dern, Lara Flynn Boyle and Linda Evangelista!
Kyle MacLachlan has long been beloved for his quirky charisma and performances in everything from Twin Peaks to Sex and the City to Desperate Housewives, and in recent years, the star, who got his start in the ’80s as a regular in the work of the visionary director David Lynch, has unexpectedly won over a new audience of fans on social media.
MacLachlan, still boyishly handsome at 66, has become a fixture of Instagram and TikTok, where he posts silly videos featuring him wearing a hotdog suit, lip-syncing to contemporary pop songs, making hilariously niche references to his famous roles, showing off nerdy dance moves in public and more.
MacLachlan has become so popular online that his Gen-Z fans have started calling him “babygirl” (using it as a tongue-in-cheek, non-gendered expression of love and appreciation rather than its literal meaning), and accordingly, interest in his personal life has reached a fever pitch.
In the ’80s and ’90s, the Dune star had relationships with a number of famous ladies, but he’s been happily married to entrepreneur and producer Desiree Gruber since 2002, and has a teenage son. Here’s a look back at his relationships and the sweet things he’s said about his 23-year marriage.
Kyle MacLachlan’s early relationships with costars and supermodels
The provocative 1986 David Lynch film Blue Velvet didn’t just make Kyle MacLachlan into a star, it also had a major impact on his personal life, as he dated his onscreen love interest and fellow Lynch regular Laura Dern from 1985 to 1989.
MacLachlan admitted that the relationship didn’t end well, but said that years later, he and Dern maintain a close bond, explaining, “We were both kids. I felt bad about it but any way we have gotten back together, we’re great friends now, and I just adore her. She’s got the best sense of humor. She is smart, beautiful, empathic.”
After breaking up with Dern, MacLachlan embarked on another relationship with a costar in a Lynch project when he started dating Twin Peaks actress Lara Flynn Boyle in 1990. The relationship didn’t last, and they broke up in 1992.
Later in 1992, MacLachlan got into his most high-profile relationship when he began seeing supermodel Linda Evangelista, who he met during a photo shoot. They got engaged after a few years of dating, but ultimately called it off in 1998.
The Flintstones star said that after six years together, he and Evangelista “just drifted away from each other,” but recalled their time together fondly, saying, “God, we had a ball. It was like a party. I got to submerge myself in the world of fashion. I became a bit of a clothes horse, actually. Linda opened up the world to me.”
Kyle MacLachlan’s ‘late bloomer’ marriage to Desiree Gruber
Kyle MacLachlan and his wife, Desiree Gruber, had a meet-cute at their L.A. chiropractor’s office in 1999, and they became a couple shortly after that. While Gruber isn’t an actress, she and MacLachlan run in similar entertainment industry circles, as she was the executive producer of Project Runway and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and runs her own public relations agency, Full Picture, in addition to various other entrepreneurial endeavors.
MacLachlan and Gruber married in 2002 and their son, Callum, was born in 2008. MacLachlan told The New York Times that from the moment he met Gruber, “I couldn’t imagine not being with her forever,” and said that being with her motivates him “to do better,” in all areas of life, noting, “She knows more about my industry than I do. I like the creative part. As do all actors. The business side is something that I run from. And she has encouraged me to not run from that and to engage. And that’s been incredibly helpful.”
MacLachlan was 43 when he got married, and he embraced the decision to settle down somewhat later in life than expected. As he told The Guardian, “I think you should wait to get married if it takes that long to find the woman you want to be with. That’s what happened with me. I’m a late bloomer: I like to come to things at my own tempo.”
Clearly, being a late bloomer has worked out in the actor’s favor, as he’s the rare star who has been married just once and has had his marriage last for over 20 years. He said that he and his wife have a lot in common, joking, “Desiree and I share a lot of the same values. We both always had confidence, [but] growing up, we were both kind of nerds.”
When asked for the secret to his lasting marriage, MacLachlan said, “We’re very patient and respectful with each other—she’s probably much more patient than I am. She’s also incredibly smart and wise, and very pragmatic.” We certainly can’t argue with that, and we love that the Twin Peaks icon has always spoken about his wife with such admiration and devotion.
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