Earlier this week, Jon Hamm announced that he and longtime partner Jennifer Westfeldt were calling it quits on their relationship after 18 years. That’s basically an entire lifetime in Hollywood years, and they obviously gave it a real go. There have been various reports on the reason behind their split, most of them pointing to the idea that Jennifer wanted kids and Jon most definitely did not, which is totally a valid reason to move on (though you’d have thought they would have done so, like, a decade ago). However, People says it was about more than that, and that Jon was actually treating Jennifer like his mom or a business partner than his lover.
A source who worked closely with Hamm, 44, tells PEOPLE that in recent years, Westfeldt had been more like a manager or a mother to the former Mad Men star than a girlfriend.
While the source says Westfeldt, 45, kept a “tight leash” on Hamm, “she would also take care of him and support him” during difficult times – and after hard nights of partying.
The source says Hamm is well-liked among those who work with him on set, where he is known for sending Christmas cards to crew members, but that he also can be “a really dark person.”
“He has always had demons and needed a mother figure in his life,” says the source. “It was generally assumed that they would break up once he got sober, because he didn’t need to lean on her to take care of him so much.”
Yikes. I mean, it makes sense that once you get many years into a relationship, you need to make a more conscious effort to keep your romantic connection/passion alive, but this sounds dire. I can see why it ended – hopefully they both move on to someone that’s better suited to them (or stay single if that’s right for them).
That’s basically an entire lifetime in Hollywood years, and they obviously gave it a real go.