John Goodman and Anna Beth Goodman have been married since 1989
John Goodman and his wife Anna Beth Goodman
Though the prolific actor, known for his roles in The Big Lebowski and Roseanne (and its current spinoff, The Connors), is from Missouri, he says the city has always felt like home.
“I used to come down here every time I’d get a couple of dimes to rub together, and it just felt like I was missing something every time I was here,” he told Today in 2023.
It was on one of these trips that he met his wife, Anna Beth — who is a native of Bogalusa, Louisiana — while filming the movie Everybody’s All-American in the late 1980s.
John told Entertainment Weekly in 1992 that Anna Beth approached him while they were in a bar. “I thought, ‘What could this lovely young woman possibly want with me?’ ” he told the outlet.
The couple married in New Orleans in 1989 and raised their daughter, Molly Evangeline Goodman, there after she was born in 1990. All told, John and Anna Beth have lived in New Orleans for three decades, splitting their time between the South and Los Angeles.
While the two keep their relationship private, John doesn’t shy away from talking about his wife in the media, from their history together to her role in helping him recover from alcoholism.
So who is John Goodman’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Anna Beth Goodman and her relationship with the actor.
They met at a party
John Goodman and Anna Beth Hartzog at the premiere of ‘Stella’ on January 31, 1991 in Westwood, California.
John and Anna Beth met at a Halloween party at Tipitina’s, a well-known music venue in New Orleans, in the late 1980s. John was taking a break from filming Everybody’s All-American, and Anna Beth was a fine-arts student at the University of New Orleans — just 19 years old to John’s mid-30s, per The New York Times.
“I went to this Halloween party, and she walked up to me and said, ‘Hi,’ ” John told Elle in 2012. “I couldn’t figure out why anyone that pretty was talking to me.”
Though the two met that night, it took some time for them to become an official couple.
“She kind of thought I was a zombie,” John said on Late Night with Seth Meyers in 2021, presumably referring to his shyness in speaking to her. “I had a buddy of mine keep track of her, and we started dating a year later.”
He proposed on the Mississippi River
John Goodman and Anna Beth Hartzog attend the 50th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 23, 1993 in Beverly Hills, California.
John and Anna Beth got engaged in April 1988 on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
John shared the story of his engagement to Anna Beth while on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2018, on the eve of their 29-year anniversary.
He told hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest that the engagement wasn’t a surprise. “We knew it was coming for a while,” he said. “We actually went to the jewelry store to get the ring before we went down to the river.”
They married in 1989
John Goodman and Anna Beth Hartzog attend the 62nd Annual Academy Awards on March 26, 1990.
John and Anna Beth married at New Orleans’ Saint Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in November 1989, PEOPLE reported.
The pair tied the knot in front of 650 guests in the church ceremony — where Anna Beth was escorted down the aisle by her father, Seymon, a real estate developer from her hometown of Bogalusa — according to PEOPLE.
After their vows, the newlyweds and guests went on a three-hour cruise on a Mississippi riverboat, the Creole Queen.
The star-studded celebration was attended by the likes of John’s Roseanne costar Roseanne Barr, as well as then-couple Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
They have a daughter together
John Goodman with his wife Anna Beth Goodman and their daughter Molly on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 10, 2017.
John and Anna Beth welcomed their daughter, Molly Evangeline, in 1990.
Anna Beth was pregnant with Molly while John was filming the 1991 comedy/thriller Barton Fink. John described filming the movie’s iconic hallway scene — during which his character chases two police officers with a shotgun while the hallway around him erupts in flames — to Vanity Fair in 2022.
“My wife, nine months pregnant, showed up one day and this was what I was doing and she really didn’t take kindly to it,” he told the outlet, adding that he wore fire protection.
After Molly was born, John and Anna Beth decided to raise her in New Orleans — closer to Anna Beth’s family — rather than Los Angeles, as a result of the fame and recognition John was receiving for his roles in projects including Roseanne and Raising Arizona.
“I don’t want to say this to disparage Los Angeles because it’s a great city, I just didn’t want [Molly] growing up in a show business environment,” John said on Off Camera with Sam Jones in 2021. “I had enough. So we found a secluded part of New Orleans and moved there. She went to a great school, and she loved it.”
Regardless, it seems show business runs in Molly’s blood. John told CBS News in 2012 that at the time, she was an aspiring filmmaker. “She just does stuff that I’d be too lazy or wouldn’t have the imagination to do,” he said.
Molly has since gone on to work as a set dresser and production assistant on multiple shows including The Conners and New Girl.
She helped him during a difficult time in his life
John Goodman and Anna Beth Goodman attend Royal Ascot 2015 on June 16, 2015 in Ascot, England.
John has long discussed his struggles with alcohol addiction, and his recovery and sobriety for more than 15 years.
In 2018, John told Sunday Today host Willie Geist that his recovery began with encouragement and help from Anna Beth a decade prior. He knew he had hit rock bottom after a weekend of playing golf with friends. He woke up Sunday morning shaking, but continued to drink.
“I called my wife, which was like turning myself into the Gestapo,” he said. “She made some phone calls, we got me into a treatment center and I detoxed there and decided I liked the feeling.”
On Off Camera with Sam Jones in 2021, John also talked about Anna Beth’s role in raising Molly when he wasn’t a present father due to his addiction. He credited his wife for being a strong support system for both him and their daughter.
