- Lily Tomlin is a comedic actress who got her start on ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In’ from 1969 until 1973
- She won the 1985 Tony Award for Best Actress in ‘The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,’ written by her life partner, Jane Wagner
- Lily and Jane officially married in 2013 after a 40-year romance
Lily Tomlin put another big budget film under her belt with the premiere of 80 for Brady, the comedy inspired by a group of real-life older women bonding over their fandom of Tom Brady, the iconic NFL quarterback who announced his retirement from football on February 1, 2023. With Lily sharing the screen with Jane Fonda (for the second time, see 9 to 5), Sally Fields and Rita Moreno, the film highlighted mature actresses, and fans were loving it!
With the renewed spotlight on Lily, who has taken home a Tony, a Grammy and a few Emmys, followers also want to know more about her personal life, including her decades-long romance with her partner Jane Wagner. Meet the brilliant writer who stole Lilly’s heart, below!
How did Lily and Jane meet?
Lily was working as a comedian in New York in 1970 when a friend introduced her to Jane, who was a comic writer 4 years Lily’s senior, thinking the two women might collaborate well together. “A friend brought her to my hotel room and I tell you, in two minutes, I fell in love with her,” Lily recalled to Variety in 2020. “She had on hot pants, stretchy boots that went up to her knee, and a little backpack. I don’t know what it was, but I was in love.”
Lily said she flew back to New York a day later to ask Jane on a date. “I called Jane immediately, and I said, ‘Look, I don’t have much time, but I have to see you.’ She agreed to see me, and we had our first date,” explained the star. Jane chimed in, “It was an ecstatic time when we found each other, aesthetically — and in every other way.”
Jane became Lily’s writing partner
Soon after their first date, Jane began helping Lily craft her characters, including her popular Edith Ann on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In, which also starred Goldie Hawn. Jane would go on to pen the Broadway play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which garnered Lily a Tony award in 1985 for Best Actress. Jane would also write The Incredible Shrinking Woman for Lily as well.
“She expresses how I feel, which I have no ability to do,” Lily said of Jane to Variety. “She can express in words what I feel about the world, about humans, about the struggle that we’re in — and, presumably, not the inevitability of it all, something that I know speaks to other people.”
