Inside Jake Johnson and Erin Payne’s 20-Year Relationship

Johnson has yet to reveal exactly how long he and Payne have been together, but it seems the couple began dating sometime after 2002. In a May 2012 interview with Marie Claire, Johnson revealed that before he met Payne, he had another girlfriend when he was 20 to 24 years old. Since Johnson was 24 in 2002 and he and Payne got married in 2005, that means he met his soon-to-be-wife sometime between then. The “Self Reliance” star basically confirmed this while appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in September 2022. “Has it been 20 years that you and your wife have been together?” Kelly Clarkson asked Johnson. “Something like that. A long time,” the actor replied.

After Clarkson asked how they met, Johnson revealed he first laid eyes on Payne when she was working as a bartender at The Cat and Fiddle. He ran into her shortly after moving to Los Angeles. “When I saw her, I had that moment where [I was] like, ‘Oh, wow, there she is,'” Johnson said. The same thing couldn’t be said for Payne, however. Johnson said his wife initially wasn’t interested in him, but she began to reciprocate his feelings after he stopped by the bar a few more times. “After about two and a half months, we finally had a moment where we talked,” Johnson said. “I heard everything she had said to other people, so I could connect on everything.”

Johnson confirmed that he and Payne tied the knot in 2005. “I’m happily married – been with my wife for seven years now,” Johnson told Marie Claire in May 2012. Neither Johnson nor Payne has publicly shared any details about their wedding, like where they got married or who was in attendance. They also haven’t posted any photos from their big day on social media.

Johnson and Payne welcomed their twin daughters, Elizabeth and Olivia, in 2014. Ever since they were born, the couple have kept their children mostly out of the public eye.

In August 2015, Payne accompanied Johnson to the Hollywood premiere of “Digging For Fire,” which marked their red carpet debut as a couple.

Payne’s artistic eye once helped her husband transform his initial vision for “Digging For Fire.” After hearing Johnson’s pitch for the film, Payne told Johnson that she “hated” both his character and the movie, and her critique made Johnson realize that the story needed to be worked. “So I talked to [director] Joe [Swanberg], and he 100 percent agreed,” Johnson told The Mary Sue in August 2015. “So at that point we needed a woman who was very strong and talented, who could help build that story in a way Joe and I didn’t think we could at the time.” In the end, Payne’s input influenced the movie to focus more on Johnson’s character’s marriage.

In June 2018, Johnson spoke to GQ about how he balances his work obligations with his personal life. “Taking jobs, especially when you have kids, is such a commitment,” he said. Because of this, Johnson thinks twice before accepting jobs that require him to be away from home. For example, he almost turned down doing “The Mummy” in 2017. Although he eventually decided to do the movie, he said it was a “big, weird decision” that wouldn’t become a regular thing. “Once it ended, I felt like, ‘Well, that was a really unique four months. I’m not sure I ever need to do something like this again,'” he said.