Chelsea Handler is outspoken about all areas of her life — and her romantic relationships are no exception.
In 2021, the former Chelsea Lately host revealed that marriage might not be in the cards for her, despite high-profile romances with fellow comedian Jo Koy and 50 Cent.
“I don’t know that I’m the marrying kind,” she told NBC at the time before teasing that she might change her mind down the road. “I feel like, who knows, I doubt it, but usually when I say I’m not going to do something, I end up doing it like the next weekend, so I’m not going to say that anymore.”
A few years after her 2022 split from Koy, Handler revealed in early 2025 that she was dating someone new. However, she chose to keep the man’s identity private.
Keep scrolling to see Handler’s love life throughout the years:
Ted Harbert
Handler dated Harbert for four years before the two split in 2010. While she told Cohen that her attraction to their threesome partner played a role in their breakup, she shared with Marie Claire in 2012 that their jobs also factored into the split. (Harbert was president of E! Entertainment when Chelsea Lately was on the air.)
“I would come home from work, and Ted would be like, ‘Do you want to watch your show?’ and I’d be like, ‘No, I just came from my show. That’s the last thing I’d want to do.’ That was the reason it didn’t work out, ultimately. I think,” she explained at the time.
Dave Salmoni
Handler dated the Animal Planet star in 2010, hinting at their breakup during a monologue on Chelsea Lately that year.
“I’ve decided to consult for other networks. Up until a couple weeks ago, I was working very intimately with Animal Planet, but unfortunately, that contract was terminated,” she quipped. “However, I enjoyed being in bed with them and may hook up for an occasional project.”
50 Cent
Handler briefly dated the rapper in 2011. “I don’t know if I can handle him, to be honest. I like to have fun, and I’m really trying to not get into anything too serious,” she exclusively told Us Weekly at the time.
Twelve years later, she named 50 Cent as her “favorite ex.”
“I love 50 Cent, he was fun. He was just a sweetheart and he was fun to be around,” she told Entertainment Tonight in January 2023. “My friends loved hanging out with him. I loved hanging out with him. It was a pretty short-lived romance, it was only two months. But yeah, I mean, If I saw him I’d definitely have a drink with him.”
Handler opened up about her relationship with 50 Cent during a December 2025 appearance on Scott Evans’ “House Guest” podcast, revealing that he convinced her to date him by sending “dozens and dozens of roses” after he was a guest on her show.
“We only dated for a very short time, but you know, people it blew up because people were like, ‘What are these two doing together?’ But he really was one of the sweetest people,” she added.
Andre Balazs
Handler described her brief relationship with the businessman — whom she dated for roughly a year between 2011 and 2012 — as draining.
“It was extremely time consuming and it was really, really hard for me to focus on anything at all,” Handler, shared on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast in 2012. “He lived in New York and I lived in L.A., and it was a constant back and forth, flying and meeting each other … it was just exhausting. But I prefer a long distance relationship because I don’t really want to deal with someone on a daily basis.”
Still, the romance “kind of took the wind out of me … it drained me from my career, it drained me from my work,” she added. “I wasn’t focused on anything. It was just stress.”
Jo Koy
When Handler finally got together with Koy in 2012 — after 20 years of friendship — even she thought she found The One.
“For everyone who is still looking for their person, do not adjust who you are or make yourself smaller to find them. Be patient and never settle for anything less than you deserve,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “Your person is coming and sometimes — they’ve been standing in front of you the whole time.” After many Instagram selfies — and declarations of love on both sides — the duo ultimately called it quits in July 2022.
“There were just some behaviors that we couldn’t agree on, and it felt to me like I would have to abandon myself — which maybe I would have been OK to do if I were 20 or 25 — but I wasn’t willing to do that,” Handler later explained to Brooke Shields. “No matter how much I loved this person, and I loved him so much, I was not going to abandon myself. I was like, ‘I’m not going to change this, I’m not going to change the way that I behave in order to make you feel more comfortable. I’m not doing that.’ And I had to walk away from something that I really believed was gonna be a forever relationship, and so that was difficult.”
Mystery Man
Handler revealed on “Call Her Daddy” in February 2025 that she was dating someone new, explaining that she had known him for a while, but they only recently sparked a romantic connection.
“We didn’t really become lovers until about six or seven months ago,” she said. “I invited him to Mallorca on a trip with a group of friends. … I’ve known him for years. I’ve always been attracted to him, but he was not available. I always have wanted someone like him in my life.”
Handler added that she wouldn’t be going public with her new man “out of respect for their privacy.
“I don’t want him to have to be exposed to my world,” she continued.
Handler later exclusively told Us that she wants “lovers all around the world.”
“I will be very honest and up-front with anyone who I’m dating, that you may not be the only one,” she revealed. “And if you need to know, I’ll let you know, but I’m just letting you know. Hopefully you don’t need to ask any further questions.”
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