Ali Wong opened up about the heartbreaking way her mom reacted to her divorce news
Last year, Ali Wong and her husband of eight years, Justin Hakuta, announced they were separating. They’ve kept things private as they’ve navigated their split, but in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wong opened up for the first time about the end of her marriage. One of the most crushing things she shared was how her mom reacted to the news—but it will resonate with anyone who’s had to navigate a relationship with a controlling, self-absorbed, or narcissistic parent.
“I did not expect the announcement to be so widespread, but by far the hardest part about getting divorced was my mother’s reaction,” Wong explained. “I had told her before that I thought we might get divorced, and she was really upset.”
Then, Wong recalled her mom looking her in the eye and asking, “Can you just wait until I die?”
Oof. As Wong noted, “She was literally asking me to not live a life for myself.”
The stand-up comedian now sees that moment through her trademark lens of self-deprecating humor.
“But she’s 82, what do I expect? She hasn’t had her period in 40 years,” she joked. “She’s in the sha-ha-hallows of senior citizenship. But it was still really f—ing hard dealing with all her fear of the shame it would bring her.”
And Wong also noted that the news of her divorce going viral saved her mom from making a lot of embarrassing phone calls because everyone she knew heard the news and called her instead.
“She died a million deaths in one day and then woke up the next day and was like, ‘I survived,’” Wong said.
It’s good that Wong is able to look back on this with humor, but there’s a darker story hidden under her jokes. She’s entitled to the life that will make her happy, even if that means getting a divorce. And splitting from a long-term partner is hard enough without having to navigate a parent’s disappointment like this.
Luckily, Wong and Hakuta are on good terms after their split. They co-parent and remain good friends—Wong even noted that they played pickleball together before her interview.
“We’ve been through so much together,” she said. “It’s a very unconventional divorce.”
