Tobey Maguire and jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer have come a long way since their divorce.
“I actually think that my divorce has been one of my greatest teachers,” Meyer, 48, said on the Monday, December 1, episode of “The Inside Edit” podcast. “It teaches you patience, and you’re also raising [kids together]. Our daughter was 10 or something, so those are some intense times that you need to stay connected.”
Maguire, 50, and Meyer were married from 2007 to 2017, finalizing their divorce three years later in 2020. While the actor and Meyer parted ways, they tried to maintain an amicable coparenting dynamic for the sake of daughter Ruby, now 19, and son Otis, now 15.
“He is wonderful and I got lucky for that,” Meyer acknowledged of her ex-husband. “My life was not easy every day, and I’m sure he would say the same thing. We definitely had to overcome some big hurdles.”
How Gwyneth Paltrow’s Split Helped Jennifer Meyer and Tobey Maguire
Keep scrolling for more of Meyer’s post-divorce revelations from “The Inside Edit” podcast:
Why Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer Lived Together After Separation
Meyer revealed to podcast host Maeve Reilly that she initially didn’t want anyone to know about their breakup.
“[After] Tobey and I had broken up, we were still living together,” she said. “We didn’t tell anybody because we didn’t want the kids to know. It was this weird time, and everything happens all at the same time. It’s complicated when you’re breaking up after being together for 14 years and building your whole life. We were kids and built this whole life together and had two kids.”
Meyer further stressed that “nothing bad happened” that led to the end of their marriage.
“It was just time to call it, and it was hard because we really loved each other and cared about each other,” she added. “When two people are breaking up, you kind of hate each other for a minute. You want to hate each other because you’re, like, ‘This will make the breakup easier.’”
Taking Inspiration From Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin
Before Meyer and Maguire told anyone that they called it quits, she got a glimpse of how they could get along down the line.
“One day [around] 10 years ago, I went over to Gwyneth Paltrow’s house … in the middle of a workday,” Meyer said. “I was in her kitchen, and her kids were in the kitchen. She was making quesadillas for them, and they were doing homework at the table. Her ex-husband, Chris, walks into the house [and] doesn’t ring a doorbell.”
Paltrow, 53, and Martin, 48, were married from 2003 to 2016, during which they welcomed daughter Apple and Moses. They announced in 2014 that they were “consciously uncoupling,” since maintaining a friendly coparenting relationship.
“[Gwyneth] was like, ‘Oh, hey, I didn’t know you were coming over,’” Meyer recalled. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I would come over and do homework with Apple.’ She was like, ‘Oh my, God, great. I’m making quesadillas. Do you want one?’”
Meyer felt like she was watching a “goddamn ping-pong game” between the exes.
“My parents got divorced, and this never happened. It was like war,” Meyer said. “It wasn’t, like, ‘Come on over. Here’s a key.’ … Everyone is one big happy family, and I’m, like, ‘This is possible, this is a world I want. I’m going to make this happen.’”
Paltrow later gave Meyer the name of a couple’s therapist, who helped the designer and Maguire work through their divorce. (According to Meyer, the now-exes went to therapy on and off for several years.)
Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer Are Now ‘Best Friends’
Meyer credited Paltrow’s therapist with changing her life.
“I now have an ex-husband who is my best friend and would do anything for me, and I would do anything for him — anything in the world,” Meyer said. “[He is] the best dad, the best ex-husband, the best friend [and] the most generous.”
Reilly, for her part, noted that Meyer’s comment was completely “true.”
“He’s at the house, he’s at every celebration [and] every birthday,” Reilly revealed. “Tobey’s there and he’s in the corner. He’s doing his own thing. He’s, like, ‘Jen’s the start of the show,’ and he’s just there. He’s just supportive and lovely.”
They Always Put Their Kids First
“I knew and Tobey knew [that we] didn’t want to say, ‘Which Christmas is yours, which Thanksgiving is mine,’” she said. “My heart will shatter [if we split up holidays]. … I don’t want to miss a day with Ruby and Otis, I just don’t want to.”
In order to work out schedules, Meyer said that she and Maguire needed to understand the “beginning of why [they] ended up together.”
“Why did you and this person get married? Why did you have children? Like, you loved each other once,” she said. “I was lucky [that] nobody did anything in the marriage that was disrespectful or shattered us, but in the end, you got to think, ‘Not only am I putting my kids first, I’m putting me first.’”
Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer Also ‘Put Each Other First’
Meyer further noted how the pair’s therapist taught them ways to effectively communicate after their divorce.
“We worked really hard, and we still do,” Meyer stated. “I mean, we still keep each other in the loop [and] we still put each other first when it comes to the kids and asking opinions. Like, we [also] traveled together.”
Meyer also realized that fighting wasn’t worth it.
“I learned whenever you’re sitting there on your phone and you’re about to send that [angry] text … [that] very few people are reading that long text thinking, ‘She’s right,’” Meyer said. “Just don’t send the text; delete, delete, delete. Send it to your best friend [or] leave it in your Notes app. I do that a lot.”
Tobey Maguire’s Ex Gets Emotional at Their Daughter’s College Drop-Off
Where Tobey Maguire Stands With Jennifer Meyer’s Fiance
Meyer eventually moved on with Geoffrey Ogunlesi, and they got engaged in 2024.
“The cutest part is Tobey and my fiancé, Geoff, love each other so much,” she gushed on Monday’s episode. “When the fires happened [in January], I thought we were going to be fine in Brentwood, so everyone was at my house. Tobey, at the time, was in West Hollywood because he’s redoing his house.”
After realizing that she would need to evacuate her home amid the devastating wildfires, Meyer called Maguire.
“I was, like, ‘I think we’re going to have to evacuate.’ And he’s, like, ‘You better get over here.’ So me, my fiancé, our two kids, Tobey, we all went into Tobey’s house [and] we are all sleeping there,” Meyer said. “Then, Geoff and I went to stay with Tobey’s best friend next door [to have more space]. We’re all living on this compound. It was the greatest.”
