Michelle Buteau Husband: All About Gijs van der Most
The comedian, actress, and Survival of the Thickest creator has built a career on candor, and that has made her marriage a frequent subject of public curiosity. Fans following her rise through stand-up, film, and Netflix have increasingly wanted to know who stands behind her, and this piece lays out the details on her husband, their story, and the latest updates on their relationship.
Michelle Buteau Husband
Michelle Buteau is married and her husband is Gijs van der Most, a Dutch-born photographer and furniture businessman based in New York, and the two have been married since 2010. Van der Most largely stays out of the spotlight despite his wife’s growing fame, choosing to support her career from the sidelines rather than seek attention himself. He has appeared alongside her at industry events over the years, including awards ceremonies and premieres tied to her projects, but he rarely gives interviews or comments publicly about their relationship. Their marriage has lasted more than fifteen years, and Buteau has continued to speak warmly about him in press interviews even as her own profile has expanded through television hosting, film roles, and her comedy specials.
Who Is Gijs van der Most (Husband Name and Background)
Gijs van der Most was born and raised in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He studied photographic design at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, commonly known as HKU, completing his training around 2005. He began his professional photography career in 2008, and his work has since been featured in a range of well-known publications, including People, Esquire, Men’s Health, Fast Company, and Dentsu. His photography portfolio includes documentary-style projects covering subjects like used car salesmen, yard sales, and sign jugglers. Beyond photography, he later became a photo editor for the design and culture blog Kaufmann Mercantile, and at one point he and Buteau even ran a joint blog blending photography with comedy.
Husband Age
Public sources do not widely publish an exact birth date for Gijs van der Most, so his precise age is not confirmed in available records. What is known is that he began his photography career in 2008 after training in the Netherlands, which places him as roughly a contemporary of Buteau, who was born in 1977. Because he keeps a low public profile and does not engage with media coverage of his personal life, additional biographical specifics like his exact age remain largely unconfirmed.
Husband Ethnicity, Race, and Nationality
Gijs van der Most is Dutch, born and raised in Amsterdam before relocating to New York. In terms of ethnicity and race, he is white and of Dutch/European background. This is sometimes highlighted alongside Michelle Buteau’s own heritage, since she was born in New Jersey to a Haitian father and a Jamaican mother, making the couple’s relationship one that blends Caribbean-American and Dutch-European backgrounds. Buteau has spoken about the cultural and language differences in their household, noting that English is her husband’s third language, which she has said contributes to how deliberately and openly they communicate with each other.
How Michelle Buteau and Her Husband Met
The couple met in New York City in 2008, around the time van der Most was beginning his photography career. At the time, Buteau was touring extensively, performing stand-up comedy at colleges across most of the United States for modest fees. Some retellings of their origin story describe their first meeting as a casual one-time encounter that unexpectedly grew into a lasting relationship, while other interviews describe a period of dating long-distance for roughly two years before they married. Whatever the exact sequence, the two wed in a traditional ceremony on July 31, 2010, with Buteau wearing a white mermaid-style gown for the occasion.
Michelle Buteau Husband and Kids
Michelle Buteau and Gijs van der Most are parents to twins, a son and a daughter named Otis and Hazel, born in January 2019 via surrogacy. The couple’s path to parenthood was not straightforward. Buteau has shared that she was diagnosed with prolactinoma, a benign tumor on the pituitary gland that disrupted her fertility, and that she underwent four to five rounds of IVF along with several miscarriages before the couple pursued surrogacy. Van der Most has been described as the one who encouraged her to stop the IVF process when it was taking too heavy a physical and emotional toll, and the couple also briefly considered international adoption before surrogacy worked out for them. Buteau has since spoken about watching her twins grow into their own personalities, describing how affectionate and close they remain with each other even as they’ve started attending different classes at school.
Michelle Buteau Discusses Infertility on The View
Michelle Buteau recently revisited her fertility journey during an appearance on The View, speaking again about the struggles that came before she and her husband welcomed Hazel and Otis via surrogate in 2019. A clip from the appearance was shared on Instagram, where it drew a large volume of comments from followers who connected with her story.
Many commenters thanked her for using her platform to speak openly about infertility, surrogacy, and pregnancy loss, with several saying that hearing a public figure discuss it made them feel less alone in their own experiences. A number of viewers also pointed to how the subject had already been woven into Survival of the Thickest, noting that the show’s handling of the storyline felt even more resonant once they realized it mirrored her real life. Some responses shifted the conversation toward policy, arguing that discussions of infertility tend to center the emotional toll faced by wealthier families while overlooking the financial barriers that keep many people from accessing treatments like IVF at all, with several calling for broader insurance coverage of fertility care. Others offered support directly for the family’s surrogacy journey and encouraged Buteau to continue advocating for surrogacy rights.
The reaction reflected a pattern that has followed Buteau’s openness about her marriage and family life more broadly: her willingness to discuss fertility struggles, miscarriage, and surrogacy has repeatedly prompted fans to share their own experiences, keeping the story of her husband and children an ongoing part of her public narrative even as van der Most himself continues to stay out of the press.
Husband’s Net Worth and Career
Gijs van der Most’s exact net worth is not publicly documented in detail, though his income is understood to come from two main sources: his photography work and his furniture business. In January 2012, he and Buteau opened Van der Most Modern, a furniture and décor store in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which also operates online. The business specializes in curated mid-century modern furniture, with van der Most personally sourcing pieces from flea markets, auctions, and estate sales in the Netherlands before shipping them to New York. His photography credits, spanning outlets like People and Esquire, have also contributed to his professional standing, though no verified financial figure has been reported for his personal net worth.
Husband’s Instagram and Public Presence
Van der Most maintains a personal Instagram presence where he has described himself as a design enthusiast, photographer, and casual home cook. He is not especially active in terms of public commentary, and he has largely avoided giving interviews about his marriage or family life over the years. Most of what is publicly known about him comes through Buteau’s own interviews and social media posts rather than from him directly.
Are Michelle Buteau and Her Husband Still Together, or Have They Divorced?
There is no indication that Michelle Buteau and Gijs van der Most have divorced. As of their most recent public appearances and interviews, the two remain married, having been together since 2010. Buteau has continued to speak about their marriage in glowing terms in recent press interviews, describing her husband as someone who has been part of her career journey from its earliest, leanest days and who continues to share in her professional successes.
Recent News About Gijs van der Most
In a recent exclusive interview with People published in early April 2026, Buteau opened up further about what keeps her marriage strong. She described communication as essential to their relationship, noting that because her husband’s first language is not English, she tends to over-communicate to avoid any misunderstandings. She also credited him for recognizing the bigger picture of her career long before she reached her current level of visibility, describing their years of financial and professional struggle as something they went through together. The interview also touched on their family life, with Buteau reflecting on how their twins, now old enough to attend different classes at school, remain close and affectionate with each other. Around the same period, Buteau and van der Most were also seen together at industry functions, including the 2025 “Made in NY” Awards and the 7th Annual AAFCA TV Honors, continuing their pattern of public appearances tied to Buteau’s professional milestones rather than personal publicity for van der Most himself.
Michelle Buteau’s Background and Family (Parents and Ethnicity)
Michelle Buteau was born on July 24, 1977, in New Jersey. Her father is Haitian and her mother is Jamaican, giving her a Haitian-Jamaican-American heritage that she frequently references in her comedy and public appearances. She studied at Florida International University with initial plans to become an entertainment reporter before pivoting into stand-up comedy following the September 11 attacks in 2001. Her professional path has since included television hosting duties, most notably on Netflix’s The Circle, along with acting roles, a comedy special that won a Critics’ Choice Television Award, and the Netflix series Survival of the Thickest, which she created based on her own essay collection of the same name.
Conclusion
Gijs van der Most may not court the spotlight the way his wife does, but his role in Michelle Buteau’s life and career has been steady and long-standing. From their first meeting in New York City in 2008 to their 2010 wedding, their years navigating fertility struggles together, and the arrival of their twins in 2019, the couple’s relationship has developed largely away from public scrutiny even as Buteau’s fame has grown considerably. Her recent appearance on The View, and the outpouring of support it drew online, only reinforced how closely fans track this part of her story. Interviews continue to show a marriage built on open communication and shared ambition, with no signs of separation or divorce. As Buteau’s career continues to expand through television, film, and comedy, her husband appears set to remain a quiet but consistent presence alongside her.
