Emily in Paris star Minnie Driver reveals why she swore off love before meeting famous fiancé


Minnie Driver previously dated Matt Damon, John Cusack and Josh Brolin before meeting filmmaker Addison O'Dea through mutual friends


minnie driver addison o'dea hugging red carpet© Getty Images
Katie Fitzpatrick
Katie FitzpatrickJunior Writer
22 hours ago
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Minnie Driver shared rare insight into her romance with filmmaker Addison O'Dea, revealing that she was "so glad" to have met him even though she had sworn off men before he came into her life.

The Good Will Hunting actress spoke to Grazia UK about how she had learned to love singledom long before meeting Addison, and shared her advice for other women who believe they will never find love.

Addison O'Dea and Minnie Driver attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California.© Getty Images
Minnie and Addison have been linked since 2019

"1,000% embrace the notion that you're never going to meet anyone ever again. Sit with it. Become celebratorily okay with it," she offered. "Then if a guy walks into your life – great. And if a guy doesn't walk into your life – also great. I would've been fine if Addison had never shown up, though I'm so glad he did."

"But we've got to get over the idea that we are incomplete if we don't have a man. It's not true."

See Minnie star in Emily in Paris below...

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The couple were friends for years before things turned romantic in 2019. Minnie has dated several A-list stars in the past, including Matt Damon, John Cusack and Josh Brolin, the latter of whom she was engaged to for several months before they called off their wedding in 2001.

Minnie shared with The Times in 2024 that marrying the actor "would have been, I think, the biggest mistake of my life." She added that being with Addison had taken the pressure off marriage altogether.

"If I look at my history, what it did was make me want to be married so much and then choose men who were so not the right men to be married to," she told the publication.

"So I would carry on longing to be married and to have that conservative version [of a relationship], find men who had no interest in that, and then if one did, run a mile."

minnie driver addison o'dea red carpet© Getty Images
Minnie revealed she had sworn off love

"But now I'm with someone who doesn't want to get married, but who is the most devoted, loving, extraordinary…everything I could have wanted in my childhood idea of a husband, he actually is," she said of Addison.

The National Geographic collaborator was by Minnie's side at the December premiere of Emily in Paris' fifth season, in which the star portrays Princess Jane – a socialite who married into royalty.

minnie driver Josh Brolin © Ron Galella Collection via Getty
The actress was engaged to Josh Brolin in 2001

He looked dapper in a black velvet suit jacket, black trousers, a white button-up shirt and a black bowtie, with his gray hair swept away from his face, while Minnie was glowing in a dazzling gray gown featuring a structured neckline and spaghetti straps.

The 55-year-old, who rarely speaks about her private life, explained that Addison had taught her so much about love and trust in the years they had been together. "He doesn't have an ulterior motive. There is no double speak in the way in which he speaks – it is what he thinks. I trust him with all of my heart," Minnie told People.

minnie driver addison o'dea red carpet© FilmMagic
Minnie shared that she trusted Addison "with all of my heart"

"What I've realized about love from this vantage point is that love is made up of all of these things I'd never seen them just demonstrated right off the bat in a person: respect, kindness, compassion, friendship, intelligence, humor and enormous security."

"It takes a long time for you to maybe discover qualities in a person, but I saw them very quickly in Addison."

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