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Fred Armisen’s successful run on Saturday Night Live helped boost his career. The opportunity also led to him getting involved with actor Elisabeth Moss. The two were briefly married. Armisen admitted he was not a good husband to Moss, saying that he saw her as her Mad Men character, Peggy Olson.

Fred Armisen and Elisabeth Moss were married

fred armisen elisabeth moss
(L-R): Actor Fred Armisen and his wife, actress Elisabeth Moss, arrive at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on May 1, 2010 in Washington, DC. | Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

The relationship between Moss and Armisen began back in 2008 when they met on SNL. According to InStyle, Armisen was a cast member of the show at the time. Moss landed a cameo role for a sketch about Mad Men.

While Moss was only in one sketch in the episode hosted by her co-star, Jon Hamm, she grabbed Armisen’s attention. The two stars began to date soon after the episode aired. They were not together long before they got engaged.

Moss preferred to keep details of the engagement private, but she did say, “it was perfect.” The couple got married in October 2009, a year after they met. Few details have been shared about the Long Island City ceremony. After less than a year, they separated.

Fred Armisen viewed Elisabeth Moss as her ‘Mad Men’ character

Moss filed for divorce in 2010, a month shy of their first anniversary. Her reason for the split was “irreconcilable differences.” She later elaborated.

Moss explained that she did not want to reflect on her past relationship too much. However, she revealed that her marriage to Armisen was “extremely traumatic and awful and horrible.” Still, she was glad it did not happen later in life. Rather than dispute this, however, Armisen agreed.

“I think I was a terrible husband, I think I’m a terrible boyfriend,” Armisen stated in an interview. He wanted to reach relationship milestones quickly but would become frantic after a couple of years. In 2016, he further explained the marital issues.

“I get lost in fantasy a lot. The fantasy of this person from Mad Men, you know, [she’s] great actress,” Armisen said. He continued, “I have a problem with intimacy, where all of a sudden, there’s a real person there. It’s not the girl on Mad Men … It’s almost like an amnesia.”

Who has Elisabeth Moss and Fred Armisen dated since the divorce?

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Since the split, Moss has stayed out of the public eye when it comes to her personal life. She remains in the spotlight for her award-winning role in the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale. But she hasn’t dated anyone publicly since.

As for Armisen, he was in a relationship with Natasha Lyonne for many years. The two began to date in 2014 when a friend introduced her to him. They remained a couple until 2022 but did not break up on bad terms.

Lyonne admitted that they had a “mundane reason” for splitting. She explained that she wanted a pool, while Armisen did not, but she did not elaborate further. Nevertheless, they still care for each other deeply and continue to talk. Armisen hasn’t stepped out with anyone publicly since the breakup.

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