Who Is Fortune Feimster's Wife? All About Jacquelyn Smith
Fortune Feimster and Jacquelyn Smith have been together since 2015
During her relationship with Fortune Feimster, Jacquelyn (Jax) Smith has found that being with a stand-up comedian means your life becomes part of the comedy.
Feimster and Smith got married in 2020, and as the actor previously shared with PEOPLE, she uses her story with Smith in her show, Good Fortune, to spread a positive message.
"I want people to know me and Jax are like everybody else," she said while speaking about her 2022 special. "We happen to be gay but our story is not much different from other people's. I want the special to be something everyone can relate to. You don't have to be gay to relate to an engagement story."
The Mindy Project star added, “I get a lot of men coming up to me after shows being like, 'Oh my God, the proposal was the most nerve-racking thing,' " she said. "It's neat to be able to relate to them on that."
After meeting in 2015, Feimster and Smith got engaged in 2018 and tied the knot in 2020. The two share about their relationship on social media and have also talked about working together — for instance, Smith has served as an executive producer for Feimster’s comedy specials. Mostly, though, they post about spending time together and with their pomeranian, Biggie.
So, who is Fortune Feimster’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Jacquelyn Smith and her relationship with the comedian.
They met at a Pride celebration
Feimster and Smith met at a Chicago Pride event in June 2015 — one day after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision made same-sex marriage legal across the country.
"It was love at first sight, baby!" Feimster told PEOPLE in October 2022. "We happened to meet in a parking lot, because Pride commandeers different parks and areas. I'd only been there 10 minutes when we met, and we kept running into each other all night."
Smith added, "Right away, we just had an ease with each other."
In June 2020, Feimster posted about their five-year anniversary on Instagram. “I never thought I’d A) find someone that I wanted to marry and B) legally be allowed to,” she wrote in part. “But five years ago today, the day after marriage equality passed, I went to pride in Chicago and immediately met Jax. She appeared out of nowhere and it felt like I’d known her forever.“
They were long distance at first
When Feimster and Smith met, the latter lived in Chicago while Feimster was based in California. So, their relationship was long distance at the beginning. After a year, Smith moved to be with her girlfriend.
"It was a huge act that said, 'I want this to work. I believe in us,' " Feimster told PEOPLE.
They got engaged in 2018
Feimster and Smith got engaged during a trip to Big Sur, California in January 2018.
“After two and a half years with my beautiful lady, she’s officially my feyoncé,” Feimster wrote on Instagram at the time.
In her own post, Smith shared, “A few days ago Fortune asked me to join her on a magical adventure to Big Sur....yes, yes, a thousand times yes. #engaged.”
They had a small wedding
Smith and Feimster decided to get married in October 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to PEOPLE, they explained that they always wanted to get married that year, and they chose to hold a small wedding rather than wait any longer.
“We just decided because we don't know when this is going to be over and it's just too hard to plan anything. We just did something quick and small with our friends,” Smith said.
The two made things official at a house they rented in Malibu, California. “We just asked a couple of our close friends we knew had been taking the quarantine and pandemic seriously,” Feimster explained. “We only gave them a week's notice. We said, 'Would you guys be willing to take COVID tests and keep hunkering down leading up to the day?' And they were like, 'Absolutely.' "
Feimster also shared that she and Smith wanted to get married when they did, because of concerns about the state of marriage equality in the United States following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“I think I had posted something on Instagram, something like, 'Oh man, this is nerve-racking as a gay person.' … All these people were like, 'Go get married now,’ ” Feimster explained. “Hopefully, marriage equality is here to stay. But we wanted to be more proactive and get married while we know we can.”
They almost had a famous officiant
Before the pandemic changed their plans, it was possible that Smith and Feimster’s wedding was going to be officiated by Feimster’s Mindy Project costar and the creator of the series, Mindy Kaling. When the couple announced their engagement on Instagram, Kaling commented, “This is exciting!! Yes I will officiate.” Feimster wrote back, “YES PLEASE!!!!”
A few months after the wedding, during a February 2021 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Feimster shared why Kaling presiding over the wedding didn’t end up happening.
"We would have totally had Mindy marry us, that would have been our choice, but we didn't really want to ask someone to do that during a pandemic,” Feimster said. “We thought that was kind of getting them out of their pod." She explained that instead they "hired a same-day marriage person, someone [they] didn't even know" to officiate the wedding. “Hopefully, Mindy's not mad."
Smith is originally from Michigan
While Feimster and Smith met while the latter was living in Chicago, she is actually from Michigan. Because of her family being from Michigan and Feimster’s family being in North Carolina, their loved ones were not able to be at their wedding — at least not in person.
“Literally like, five minutes before the ceremony, I'm emailing Zoom links to people,” Feimster told PEOPLE. “But that ended up being really great because her family was there and my family was there. It was most important for our parents to see it."
They’re obsessed with their dog
Smith and Feimster have a pomeranian named Biggie, who is a huge part of their lives. Biggie was even the ring bearer at their wedding.
“They put [Biggie] down to come walk towards us and he gets right towards the edge and he does a big shake," Feimster told PEOPLE of the pup’s participation in the ceremony. "And we were like, 'Please still have our rings.' We just envisioned our rings flying off of his tuxedo and into the ocean, but luckily they stayed."
Smith posts about Biggie often on Instagram. In an April 2023 post, she wrote, “Is your nickname for your partner or your pet more romantic? Fortune keeps telling me I can’t call Biggie ‘little lover boy’ but I disagree.”
They work together on Feimster’s comedy career
Smith was previously a kindergarten teacher, but more recently, she has worked with Feimster on her career. She was an executive producer for Good Fortune and for Feimster’s 2020 special Sweet & Salty.
"She does not want to be in the spotlight," Feimster told PEOPLE of Smith. "She's the brains helping me. We're teammates." Smith added, "It's a good balance. I don't have a problem seeing her shine and getting all the attention. I love that for her. But I don't want any of that! I never want to get on a stage."
They also discuss jokes. “Since I tour with her a lot, we talk about the jokes because I hear them so often," Smith said. "I'm not the funniest, but I'll be like, 'Hey, I think there's something there. Maybe you could find a funnier bit in that.' I am always so proud of her and love seeing her bring joy to a theater full of people."
Feimster included a few jokes about her relationship with Smith in her 2024 Netflix comedy special Crushing It.
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