Jean Smart won her third Golden Globe in January 2026. She won all of them for her performance in HBO Max’s Hacks.
When she accepted her award, she quipped, “What can I say? I’m a greedy bitch.”
The 74-year-old was one of the oldest acting winners of the night, alongside fellow 74-year old Stellan Skarsgard.
After her win, she had some choice things to say about ageism in Hollywood:
“Somebody told me, years and years ago when I first got to LA, that there was one role for a woman for every 20 roles per man, which was really depressing,” she said in the press room. “They also said that the average age difference between a husband and a wife in the United States is a little hair over two years, and on the screen, it’s 20. So I’m not sure we’ll ever get past that.”
However, she said that “a lot has changed,” but added that she would “hate to think I’m the poster child for older actresses.”
Also, during her acceptance speech, she gave a special shout-out to her children and her partner, Joe: “I mean, I am just surrounded by so much support,” she said on the stage.
The Hacks star was married for 35 years to fellow actor Richard Gilliland. In 2021, Richard passed away suddenly from a heart condition at 71 years old.
“Losing your mate of 35 years, I mean, literally half my life I lived with him, is just kind of indescribable,” she said on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?. “And it just, you go through this period of thinking it’s just not real…It’s just this isn’t real. You know? This just doesn’t make any sense.”
Richard and Jean had two sons together, Connor and Forrest.
In 2025, Jean Smart shared in an interview with CBS that she was in a relationship again with “a wonderful actor.” However, she did not share who it was.
Then Joe Pacheco joined Jean Smart on the red carpet for the 76th Emmy Awards in September 2024. Ahead of their appearance on the red carpet, Joe posted a cute photo of the two of them, captioned: “Heading to the Emmys with my date, the incredible Jean Smart! She’s AMAZING!” Since then, they’ve frequently shown up at red carpets together.
Joe often praises his partner on his social media. After her interview on the Jimmy Kimmel show, he remarked, “Jean was spectacular as always…beautiful, funny, charming!”
As mentioned, Joe is also an actor. He currently stars as Bart Daley on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, aka The Morning Wars.
