Chelsea Handler is hosting the 2025 Critics Choice Awards. Catch up with the comedian by reading about her work, new romance and where she stands with ex Jo Koy.

Lately, Chelsea Handler has been exploring a new romance.

However, she isn’t ready to kiss and tell just yet.

"I’ve been down that road before with having a public relationship, my last relationship,” the Chelsea Lately alum said on the Feb. 4 episode of Alex Cooper’s podcast Call Her Daddy. Not that she’s opposed to having people know about her love life. "No, it’s not that," she noted. "It’s more out of respect for their privacy, you know what I mean? I don’t want him to have to be exposed to my world."

Still, Chelsea was willing to spill some tea—sharing she met her mystery man "a long time ago," but that they "didn’t really become lovers until about six or seven months ago."

"I’ve known him for years," the 2025 Critics Choice Awards host continued. "I’ve always been attracted to him, but he was not available. And I always have wanted someone like him in my life. He’s hot, he’s awesome, he’s sweet and so caring and completely sees me and understands that I am not available a lot."

Because Chelsea is proudly living life on her terms and isn’t going to waste time with someone who isn’t down for the ride.

"My life is pretty crazy, and he appreciates that," she added. "And he’s around when I want him to be, and he’s great."

However, the comedy star insisted she isn’t looking to settle down with someone anytime soon.

"Listen, I go through periods where I have multiple lovers, and that’s kind of what I wanted to do when I was a little girl," she shared. "I wanted to grow up and be a woman that did have multiple lovers. I’ve never been interested in marriage. I’m not interested in long-term commitments—to work, to people, to anything. I am a free spirit, and I want to remain and soar like an eagle. I want to soar like an eagle with my heart and legs wide open."

So when Chelsea enters a new relationship, she’s honest about what she wants.

"Listen, I love men. You know what I mean?" the Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea author said on the podcast. "I want to have adventures with lots of them, and I try to make sure everybody knows that’s where I’m coming from when I’m in a relationship or any sort of—you know what I mean? I’m very upfront. I’m not a liar. I’m just like, 'Listen, this is the deal. Do you want in?'"

However, there was a time when Chelsea was all in with Jo Koy. The two had been friends for years. In fact, he frequently appeared on her E! late-night show Chelsea Lately, which ran from 2007 to 2014.

Still, it wouldn’t be until much later that a spark would form. As they previously recalled to The Hollywood Reporter, Jo asked Chelsea in December 2020 if he could call her—to which she replied, “Not if you’re trying to f--k me.” The comedians continued to stay in contact over the next eight months, the outlet added, and their relationship shifted from platonic to romantic in August 2021.

“She basically asked me to kiss her,” Jo told the publication before Chelsea clarified, “I said, ‘I think you have a crush on me, and if you do, you should do something about it and see what happens.’”

The following month, the pair made their relationship Instagram official.

"People hear me talk about how Jo's renewed my faith in men," Chelsea said to THR, "and they must think, 'Oh my God, if Chelsea Handler’s in love and all soft and mushy, it could happen to anyone.'"

Perhaps this reaction was due to the fact that Chelsea had made it clear she was perfectly content being single—with her at one point telling E! News she considered herself “an emblem of a single woman with no children to show other women that they don't have to have children or a husband to have it all.”

And even during her romance with Jo, she reiterated that you don’t need a relationship to be happy.

“He has renewed my faith in men in many ways,” the 49-year-old told E! in January 2022. “It reminded me that when you don't settle and when people are like, 'You're in your 40s, you can't be so picky.' I was always like, 'Yes, I can. I can be as picky as I want. I don't need a man to be with.' Like, I'm having this great life regardless of whether I find someone or not, so I never really lowered my standards. And it's a good lesson for all women and anyone who hasn't met their person yet, to not ever lower your standards because then someone comes along that meets your standards.”

So when Chelsea felt like her relationship with Jo was no longer meeting her standards, she knew it was time for them to go their separate ways—the pair announcing their breakup in July 2022 one month shy of their first anniversary.

"There were just some behaviors that we couldn't agree on, and it felt to me like I would have to abandon myself—which maybe I would have been OK to do if I were 20 or 25—but I wasn't willing to do that," she said on a December 2022 episode of Brooke Shields’ podcast Now What? without going into detail on the specific issues. "No matter how much I loved this person, and I loved him so much, I was not going to abandon myself. And I had to walk away from something that I really believed was going to be a forever relationship.”

Still, it appears Chelsea and Jo ended things on good terms.

"Our split was beautiful,” the Easter Sunday actor told People in May 2023. "It really was."

And Chelsea—aside from making a joke at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards about her ex’s Golden Globes monologue that year—hasn’t spoken much about Jo or the split.

“It's not nice to him to give away the details,” she told Parade in a January interview. “I loved him at one point in my life, and I don't want to hurt him. And also, I'm at a different place in my life where I don't have to give away the dish. My breakup with Jo Koy was the first mature ending to a relationship that I was in. My behavior was mature and graceful. I honored the relationship by never actually divulging what happened, and I liked that version of myself.”

In fact, Chelsea added, “I don’t think I’ve spoken to Jo Koy since we broke up.”

As they continue on their separate paths, they're enjoying the journey: Jo released his Netflix special Live From Brooklyn in June 2024 and is currently in the middle of his tour. As for Chelsea, she's getting ready to helm the Critics Choice Awards, releasing her new book I’ll Have What She’s Having, preparing for her next round of shows at her Las Vegas residency and, according to Parade, pursuing acting this year.

"My life is exactly what I hoped it would be—it's more than I hoped it would be," she told the outlet. "I had no idea what the possibilities were or that I could live a life like this and feel so free.”

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by Elyse Dupre

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]