Mad Men star Jon Hamm and film-maker Jennifer Westfeldt at the 2014 Emmy awards. Photograph: PA

Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt split after 18-year relationship

Mad Men actor and Friends with Kids director announce separation ‘after 18 years of love and shared history’ in a joint statement

Staff and agencies
Tue 8 Sep ‘15 06.13 BST

Mad Men star Jon Hamm and his partner of nearly two decades, film-maker and actor Jennifer Westfeldt, have ended their relationship.

“With great sadness, we have decided to separate, after 18 years of love and shared history,” the couple announced in a joint statement to People magazine.

Hamm, 44, and Westfeldt, 45, first met in 1997 and became known as one of Hollywood’s most stalwart couples.

Westfeldt wrote and produced the independent film, Kissing Jessica Stein, and wrote, produced and directed Friends with Kids, in which Hamm also starred.

Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt

A jobbing actor before being cast as the talented but troubled advertising executive Don Draper on Matthew Weiner’s period drama Mad Men, Hamm went on to win eight Emmy nominations and worldwide recognition for his dark portrayal.

Hamm and Westfeldt established a production company, Points West Pictures, in 2009 and stayed together as Hamm’s fame skyrocketed during his eight years on Mad Men despite recent rumours about a split.

In March 2015, just before Mad Men’s eighth season finale, it emerged that Hamm had completed a course of rehab for alcoholism with the full support of Westfeldt.

The couple were last seen together publicly in July in New York City, People reported.

“We will continue to be supportive of each other in every way possible moving forward,” Hamm and Westfeldt said in their joint statement.

THE GUARDIAN