Everything to Know About Michelle Williams' Husband Thomas Kail
They're parents again! Get to know Michelle Williams' husband Thomas Kail.
Michelle Williams revealed she and her husband Thomas Kail are parents again!
Williams and Kail were spotted walking with a newborn on Oct. 29, 2022; the baby is Williams' third and her second with Kail. She announced in May 2022 that she and Kail were expecting their second child together; the pair welcomed son Hart in June 2020.
The couple had a whirlwind romance starting in 2019, when they announced their engagement and her pregnancy, and they've largely flown under the radar since. While the actress may have a more recognizable name and face than her spouse, Kail is iconic among the theater-kid set. Get to know Michelle Williams' husband Thomas Kail.
Is Michelle Williams married?
Williams is married now, and she's been married twice overall. Her first marriage was to musician Phil Elverum, which came as a surprise to many. The couple reportedly met through mutual friends, and he was one of the only relationships she's spoken about publicly.
Williams told Vanity Fair in July 2018 that her marriage to Elverum was “very sacred and very special,” and they shared a tragedy in common: His first wife died of pancreatic cancer when the daughter they shared was 18 months old; Williams famously mourned ex and father of her daughter Matilda Heath Ledger after he died in 2008. Upon meeting and dating Williams, Elverum packed up his daughter and his entire life and moved from Washington state to Brooklyn to be with the All the Money In the World actress.
"I never gave up on love," she told the outlet, adding that she was seeking the same "radical acceptance" she felt from Ledger. "I always say to Matilda, ‘Your dad loved me before anybody thought I was talented, or pretty, or had nice clothes,’” she said. “Obviously I’ve never once in my life talked about a relationship, but Phil isn’t anyone else. And that’s worth something. Ultimately the way he loves me is the way I want to live my life on the whole. I work to be free inside of the moment. I parent to let Matilda feel free to be herself, and I am finally loved by someone who makes me feel free.”
As surprising as her marriage to Elverum was, its end was even more shocking. In April 2019, sources confirmed to PEOPLE that Williams and Elverum separated early that year.
Elverum addressed the split in his song "Widows," in which he sings, "Today the tabloids told the world you separated me / My phone began dinging more than usual/In the open sky / It was just like the day they found out that we’d gotten married / Because we’re all gonna die."
Who is Michelle Williams with now?
Williams is married to theater director Thomas Kail, who's worked closely with Lin-Manuel Miranda in In the Heights and Hamilton.
Sources close to the couple confirmed their relationship to PEOPLE in December 2019, announcing that they were engaged and expecting their first child. In March 2020, they were photographed wearing wedding rings, though neither confirmed at the time whether they'd officially tied the knot yet. They welcomed their first child, son Hart, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in fall 2020. In May 2022, the pair announced that they were expecting their second child together (and Williams' third overall).
“It’s totally joyous,” Williams gushed to Variety. “As the years go on, you sort of wonder what they might hold for you or not hold for you. It’s exciting to discover that something you want again and again, is available one more time. That good fortune is not lost on me or my family.”
Does Michelle Williams have a daughter?
Williams has a daughter named Matilda, now 16, from her relationship with the late Oscar winner Heath Ledger. The pair met while filming Brokeback Mountain, and after Ledger's untimely death from a drug overdose in 2008 when Matilda was just two years old, Williams said a surprising figure stepped up: Successionstar Jeremy Strong. (Williams and Strong were never romantically involved, just close friends.)
"Jeremy was serious enough to hold the weight of a child's broken heart and sensitive enough to understand how to approach her through play and games and silliness," Williams told Variety. "she grew up with her Jeremy and we were changed by his ability to play as though his life depended upon it, because hers did."
What ethnicity is Thomas Kail?
Kail is ethnically Jewish.
Related: See Michelle Williams’ Politically-Charged Golden Globes Acceptance Speech, Plus More Updates!
What role does Thomas Kail have in In the Heights?
Kail directed the original Broadway and Off-Broadway runs of Miranda's In the Heights, earning him his first Tony nomination in 2008. He would later win a Tony Award for directing Hamilton alongside Miranda.
What has Thomas Kail directed?
Kail has directed a slew of stage productions, including:
24 Hour Plays (2007, 2008)
A Bus Stop Play (2007)
Zusammenbruch (2008)
In the Heights (2008)
Broke-ology (2009)
The Wiz (2009)
Lombardi (2010)
When I Come to Die (2011)
Magic/Bird (2012)
Hamilton (2015)
Kail also has directing credits onscreen as well:
Critical Hours (2006)
Storymakers (2009)
The Electric Company (2009)
The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special (2010)
2 Broke Girls(three episodes in 2012)
The Jack and Triumph Show (two episodes in 2015)
Fosse/Verdon(five episodes, 2019—and where he first linked with Williams)
He combined his two worlds when he directed the televised musical Grease Live! in 2016 and the filmed stage production of Hamilton, released in 2020. He is slated to produce the upcoming feature film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof and the World War II film Silver Wings.
