Who Is Molly Shannon's Husband? All About Fritz Chesnut

Molly Shannon and Fritz Chesnut met through a mutual friend in 2000

Molly Shannon has been married to her husband Fritz Chesnut since 2004.

The former Saturday Night Live cast member and the seasoned artist were first set up on a blind date in 2000 by a mutual friend. In the years that followed, they welcomed a daughter and a son together and relocated from New York City to Los Angeles.

Growing up, Shannon says she always knew motherhood was in her future. Luckily, she quickly established that she and Chesnut were on the same page once they started dating.

"I always knew I wanted to be a mother. I babysat a lot when I was little, and I just really wanted that," the Never Been Kissed star told NPR's Terry Gross. "And I told Fritz, you know, when we first started dating and he wanted that, too."

So who is Molly Shannon's husband? Here's everything to know about Fritz Chesnut.

He grew up in California

Chesnut was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1973 but was primarily raised near Santa Barbara, California.

He received his bachelor's degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1995. He went on to get his MFA in 1997 from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. After living in New York for several years, he returned to the west coast with his family in 2008.

He's an artist

Chesnut primarily creates patterned and textured paintings, and has had his work shown in galleries and exhibits nationwide since the 1990s.

"When I'm making my work I like to have it look like it was kind of grown or you know somehow organic," he told friend and Swell Season Surf Radio podcast host Tyler Breuer. "All of my paintings kind of look like structures or grids and patterns and things that have kind of been dissolved or decomposed."

"Sometimes I'm like 'that painting's not quite there,' and I'll look at it for a month and be like 'you know what, I love that painting.' Sometimes the stuff grows on you, or grows on me," he added.

Chesnut shared how sometimes he still has moments of doubt and works best when he is alone and focused on his art. To help him concentrate and settle down, he starts his day by surfing or running.

He married Shannon in 2004

In 2000, Shannon was set up with Chesnut by Jane Pratt, founding editor of now-defunct Jane magazine.

"All the years I was on SNL, I didn't think about kids. I was focused on work. But toward the end, I was looking for a serious boyfriend who could turn into a husband that I could have children with," Shannon previously told Page Six.

After four years of dating, the couple married in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Santa Barbara, California, on May 29, 2004.

He and Shannon have two children

The pair became first-time parents when their daughter, Stella Shannon Chesnut, was born on Sept. 28, 2003. Less than two years later, Shannon and Chesnut welcomed their son, Nolan Shannon Chesnut, on March 15, 2005.

After graduating from a Los Angeles high school in 2022, Stella followed in her mother's footsteps when she began studying drama at New York University the following fall.

In March 2023, Shannon weighed in on "nepo baby" discourse, telling Page Six, "I feel like Stella always followed her heart. Whether you have a family member in showbiz or not, it's about following your heart."

"I just want her to follow her passion," she added. "She is loving starting drama and she is just having the time of her life. So I am so happy for her."

After losing her mom and sister in a tragic car crash as a child, Shannon doesn't take "any" aspects of parenting "for granted," The White Lotus star wrote in her memoir, ​​Hello, Molly!, "Some of the stuff that people complain about, as far as parenting goes, I can't relate to. I just think, They are alive!"

He enjoys surfing

Chesnut developed a love of surfing as a young teenager living in Isla Vista, California, just north of Santa Barbara. However, he took a break when he began pursuing art in college. By the early 2000s, he was living in New York and picked it up again.

The artist passed down his passion for surfing and skating to his son, introducing Nolan to both at a young age. Though the boy initially took to skating more, a trip to Hawaii further sparked his interest in surfing, and it's something that the father-son duo enjoy doing together.

"My advice to any dads that are trying to get their kids into surfing, just introduce it and then you know, at least for me, it's that age of like he just kind of came to me and was like, 'So what's that,' 'What kind of board is that,' 'Let me see your surfboards,' 'Let me check this out,' " Chesnut said on the Swell Season Surf Radio podcast.

They are involved with each other's work

Despite being different types of artists, Chesnut says he and Shannon occasionally share opinions on each other's work projects.

"She's not educated in the arts the way I am, but I look to her and she has a good instinct as to what's really catching her attention, so that's kind of interesting," he said on the Swell Season Surf Radio podcast.

Chesnut added, "And then vice versa you know, she'll show me scripts or things that I'll read and I'll say 'This looks really good' and she'll get my opinion, so there is you know we get each other's opinions on stuff but I've never collaborated with her or anything like that."

While they work in different fields, the two share their passions and support each other often, attending museum galas and red carpet premieres together.

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