rundown
Over the years, Laura Dern has been linked to Hollywood stars such as Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum, and Billy Bob Thornton. Her most notable relationship is her marriage to musician Ben Harper, and they have two children. Dern is currently openly single.
Oscar-winning actress Laura Dern is best known for her roles in the films Blue Velvet, Jurassic Park, Marriage Story, and most recently, Is This Sing On? And Jay Kelly. And who can forget her Emmy-winning performance as Renata Klein in Big Little Lies?
But beyond her vast career, Dern’s personal life has also received a lot of attention, and she’s had several high-profile relationships over the years. From a brief romance with her Jurassic Park co-star to a nearly 10-year marriage, here’s what’s publicly known about her dating history.
Kyle McLachlan
Dern and Kyle MacLachlan reportedly met on the set of the 1986 film Blue Velvet and dated until 1989.
“We were both kids,” McLachlan later said on a 2024 episode of the podcast Dinners on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, according to People magazine. He admitted that the relationship “didn’t end very well” but said: “We’re great friends now. I just respect her. She has the best sense of humor.” McLachlan married publicist and Full Picture CEO Desiree Gruber in 2002.
jeff goldblum
Dern met Jeff Goldblum on the set of the 1993 film Jurassic Park, and they began dating after production wrapped.
“I was shocked,” Goldblum said of Dern in a 1993 interview with the Chicago Tribune. “I was a huge fan of hers. I think she’s a great actress and a great person. I was shocked from the beginning. But after the movie, we realized we liked each other.”
Regarding the nature of navigating a high-profile relationship, Dern added, “When you see it on paper[in a magazine]it probably sounds a lot nicer than it does in person. Because once all the preconceived notions of how attractive it is go away, there’s a guy and a girl, and you have to figure out how to build a relationship. For me, that’s a lot of work.”
The two were reported to be engaged in 1995, but broke up two years later. Dern reflected on their relationship in a 2000 interview. “Goldblum and I intended to treat each other with respect and love in the media, and we wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, according to ABC News.
billy bob thornton
After her engagement to Goldblum was called off, Dern began dating Billy Bob Thornton in the late ’90s. At the time, Dern revealed they met at a Miramax party. “It’s like all of a sudden you see someone who knows you so well and you feel safe with and you go, ‘Wow. Wait a minute, I was thinking about sharing my life with someone who really knows me and here he is,'” she said.
They were reportedly engaged, but Thornton broke off the engagement and married Angelina Jolie instead.
According to ABC News, Dern explained that they broke up in 2000, saying, “I left home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married and we lost touch.” “It’s like a sudden death. No one has ever felt closure or clarity.”
Rumors then began to circulate that Thornton was planning to remove Dern from the 2001 film Daddy and Them, which she wrote, directed, and co-starred in. Regarding speculation that they were cutting her out of the final cut, she said: “If he deleted it, he’s a great editor! This movie is about[the two of us]so I’m in every scene. And it would be very selfish for him to have an affair with Dern.” I’ve heard that he himself went back to the editing room, but I think it was to tighten up the movie. ”
ben harper
Dern reportedly met musician Ben Harper at a concert in 2000. The couple later had two children. Their son, Ellery Walker Harper, was born in 2001, and their daughter, Jaya Harper, was born in 2004. Dern and Harper married in 2005 and were married for nearly 10 years before finalizing their divorce in 2013, according to People magazine.
Neither Dern nor Harper have said much about their relationship publicly, but she said her Oscar-winning role as a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story played a role in their separation.
“As[director Noah Baumbach]first said when we first talked about this story, he said, ‘I want to tell a love story where the ending is not a failure,’ and that really touched me and deeply impacted me,” she said at the 2020 Golden Globes, according to Country Living. “So to my wonderful divorced parents, my wonderful in-laws, and my wonderful children born out of love even though our marriages ended, we are so honored to be redefining what family is.”
Learn more about Laura Dern
