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Culture February 26, 2025

Jennifer Tilly shares how her ex-husband became her 'best friend'

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Jennifer Tilly is opening up about how her late ex-husband became her "best friend" after their divorce.

In a clip from the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show" published on earlier this month, Tilly gave insight into her relationship with "The Simpsons" co-creator Sam Simon, to whom she was married to from 1984 to 1991.

"I do not remember -- and my memory isn't what it used to be -- I do not remember my ex-husband ever saying [he loved me], and I knew that he loved me, but I don't remember him ever saying it until he was sick in the last two years of his life and I was taking care of him," she told co-stars Garcelle Beauvais and Sutton Stracke.

PHOTO: In this Feb. 1, 2014 file photo, writer Sam Simon and actress Jennifer Tilly pose in the press room at the 2014 Writers Guild Awards L.A. Ceremony in Los Angeles.
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for WGAW, FILE
In this Feb. 1, 2014 file photo, writer Sam Simon and actress Jennifer Tilly pose in the press room at the 2014 Writers Guild Awards L.A. Ceremony in Los Angeles.

"And then he said it all the time, to me," the Oscar-nominated "Bullets Over Broadway" actress continued. "It was really nice. I'm sure he must have said it when we were married, but I don't remember it."

Simon died in 2015 after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 59.

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Despite them being long since divorced during Simon's health battle, Tilly said they became close as she took care of him.

"We were very close after we got divorced. He was, like, probably my best friend for 30 years," the horror icon recalled.

PHOTO: Jennifer Tilly attends the "Tempted by Love" Premiere Event Presented by Terry McMillan at IPIC Westwood, Aug. 8, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Leon Bennett/Getty Images for A+E Networks
Jennifer Tilly attends the "Tempted by Love" Premiere Event Presented by Terry McMillan at IPIC Westwood, Aug. 8, 2024, in Los Angeles.

"But it seemed weird, like, once I wasn't saddled with being a wife and all the expectations that came along with being a wife, then it seemed like it liberated us to be really close because we were there because we wanted to be there," she added.

Tilly has been in a relationship with professional poker player Phil Laak since the early aughts.