6 minutes readThe Rundown Nobody Wants creator Erin Foster married Simon Tiechman in 2019. The popular Netflix series starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody was inspired by Foster and Tichman’s relationship. Foster converted to Judaism before her wedding to music executive Tichman.
For the uninitiated, Netflix’s Nobody Wants is a series about the unlikely romance between sex podcaster Joan (Kristen Bell) and “hot” Rabbi Noah (Adam Brody). The popular romantic comedy, based on the real-life experiences of writer and creator Erin Foster, returns for a second season on October 23rd. But who exactly is Foster’s husband, Simon Tichman, and how did he inspire the plot of Nobody Wants This? Here’s everything we know.
Simon Tichman is a music executive from San Francisco.
One of the reasons Tichman fits in so well with Foster’s family is the fact that he works as an executive in the music industry. (He’s not actually a rabbi, as the show suggests.) Erin, of course, is the daughter of 16-time Grammy Award winner David Foster, a Canadian record producer and musician who is married to Katharine McPhee.
Tiffman and business partner Kevin “Chief” Zalk founded The Core Entertainment, a music and artist management company that already has partnerships with Live Nation and Universal Music Group.
Tikman grew up in San Francisco, and his Russian-Jewish parents Anatoly and Marina Tikman “fled the former Soviet Union in 1979 after being persecuted for being Jewish,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Tichman met Foster at the gym in 2018.
Foster met Tichman in 2018 at a gym/studio in Beverly Hills. Reminiscing about their cute meet-and-greet on a podcast episode, Foster explained (per People magazine), “We were seeing each other at 9 a.m. every other day, and I just started to notice him and was like, ‘Who is that cute guy doing pull-ups and smiling at me?'”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Foster was the one who requested to follow Tichman’s private Instagram account, but he hesitated for several days before connecting with her on the platform. According to People, a casual meeting at a Beverly Hills juice shop convinced the two to start dating. “It was scary because I was spending so much time in the gym,” Foster joked on the podcast. “I had to end this with marriage.”
Simon Tichman and Erin Foster in September 2024.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Foster said she was drawn to Tichman for a variety of reasons, calling him “funny, cool, modern,” but “a little bit old-fashioned.” Most importantly, Tiffman’s spontaneity in checking on relatives and supporting friends was completely new and appealing to Foster. “I didn’t grow up with etiquette around those things,” Foster told the outlet.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the couple’s romance faced some minor obstacles early on, as Tichman “wasn’t thrilled to learn that[Foster]was a public figure.” “It wasn’t an ideal situation…I’m a rather private person,” Tichman told the outlet.
Tichman and Foster’s romance inspired Netflix’s Nobody Wanted This
Tichman and Foster’s romance progressed relatively quickly. The two began dating in 2018, and Tichman proposed to Foster in August 2019 in Napa Valley. The couple tied the knot on New Year’s Eve 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee.
“This drama really represents how I see love now, which is very different from how I used to see love,” Foster told Tudum after the release of season 1 of “No One Wants It.” “It’s alleviated some of my cynicism because I have a really beautiful, healthy, fun relationship.”
In this entertaining series, agnostic podcaster Joanne unexpectedly falls in love with Rabbi Noah, and the two grapple with their different backgrounds and expectations. For Foster, creating Nobody Wants This came from a place of honesty, allowing him to explore some of the most difficult aspects of a romantic relationship.
Adam Brody and Kristen Bell in “Nobody Wants This.”
“This show is based on the only good decision I ever made, and that was falling in love with a nice Jewish boy,” Foster told the outlet. “But I realized that being happy is much harder than being miserable. I’m not complaining. So I created this show based on all the ways that finding the right person can be very difficult.”
Foster revealed what made her relationship with Tichman different from her previous relationships, explaining to Tudam: “You don’t have to be with a bad guy who makes you feel like shit but revs up his engines, or a good guy who’s really boring…you can find both.”
Tiffman’s religion is central to his life
After meeting Tichman, Foster literally followed the plot of Nobody Wants This. In this series, religion becomes an important aspect of the couple’s romance. Rabbi Noah has made it clear that he wants to marry a Jewish woman, but Joan considers herself agnostic. In real life, Tichman told Foster, “No matter who she marries, she has to be Jewish,” the Los Angeles Times reported. The course of Foster’s life was changed forever.
The music executive “doesn’t even consider himself particularly religious,” the newspaper said, but the persecution his parents faced “instilled in Tiffman the idea that he had an obligation to carry on his Jewish heritage.” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I really respect my parents and know the adversity they went through because they were Jewish. I don’t want to disappoint them.”
Simon Tichman and Erin Foster in September 2023.
Ultimately, “the idea of converting…wasn’t scary,” Foster said, “and found herself craving the kind of tradition she hadn’t grown up with,” the outlet explained. As she told the publication, her own “complicated family structure” (including the fact that her father had been married five times) only confirmed Foster’s decision to convert for her future husband.
“I didn’t grow up Jewish. I converted as an adult,” the writer and creator told Tudam. As for how his conversion experience influenced Nobody Wants This, Foster explained, “I wanted to tell the story of Judaism, but from the outside perspective of someone who chose Judaism.”
Foster and Tichman welcomed a daughter, Noah, in 2024.
For those wondering why Brody’s charismatic rabbi on Nobody Wants This is named Noah, it seems like the name has special meaning to the show’s writers and creators. On May 19, 2024, Tichman and Foster welcomed daughter Noah Mimi, who arrived two weeks early in a home birth. The Los Angeles Times reported that Noah became pregnant after “20 grueling IVF cycles over six years.”
Foster shared photos of her labor and birth on Instagram, calling Noah’s birth “the craziest experience of my life and the best ending.” she continued. “She gave birth naturally in our bed like a beast…Simon wants everyone to know he’s a warrior too.”
Foster’s husband was initially frustrated that no one wanted him.
Netflix’s Nobody Wants This was a huge success, earning three Emmy nominations in its first season alone. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, Tichman was clearly “surprised” when his wife revealed that she had “pitched the idea of a TV show based on their love story.” According to the magazine, Tichman was adamant that she did not want to be involved with the series and “asked her not to proceed with writing the show.”
Foster put off writing the pilot episode for fear of hurting relationships and worried that he would have a hard time working on the project. But executive producer and Modern Family creator Steve Levitan told Foster to change direction because he didn’t think the “stakes of a Jewish-Gentile romance” were “high enough for TV viewers,” the Los Angeles Times explained. “A rabbi and a Gentile fall in love? Now there was a real conflict.”
Adam Brody and Kristen Bell in “Nobody Wants This.”
For Foster, a healthy romance with Tichman began to serve as a source of inspiration. “We couldn’t have come from more different worlds, and those different worldviews really put us in a unique position to move forward with challenges and start life together, rather than in conflict,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
Fortunately, Tichman changed his mind and since then realized that his wife is an “incredibly talented writer,” the Los Angeles Times reported. It was easy for Foster to base a television show on her romance with Tichman. “I’m crazy about Simon. He’s my muse,” she told the outlet. “And this show is like a love letter to him.”
