Who's Cynthia Nixon's Wife? Find Out All About the Sex and the City Star's Marriage to Activist Christina Marinoni
On Sex and the City, career-driven lawyer Miranda Hobbes epitomized the idea of "having it all." Achieving a work-life balance she hadn't prepared for after she met and finally fell all the way in love with bartender Steve, Miranda was often pragmatic and cynical about men and relationships, tending to put herself and her friends first, but she also had a secretly gooey romantic core—even popping the question to Steve in a total spur-of-the-moment move.
So with Miranda and the gang now back on our screens in HBO Max's new Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That..., we couldn't help but wonder: Is the acclaimed actress who's played Miranda all these years, Emmy and Tony winner Cynthia Nixon, anything like her character? As it turns out, yes; in fact, back in 2010, she admitted to Advocate that she'd taken one of those online "Which Sex and the City character are you?" quizzes—and it told her she's "totally a Miranda."
We're guessing Miranda would likewise be a big fan of Nixon's personal life—especially how she's created and raised her happily blended family that includes her children with two different partners: Danny Mozes, Nixon's longtime love with whom she shares two children; and Christina Marinoni, the woman (and now wife!) who stole her heart. Keep reading to find out what we know about Cynthia Nixon's wife, her happy home life and more.
Who is Cynthia Nixon’s wife?
Marinoni is an activist who has advocated for education reform and LBGTQ rights. She first became involved in political activism in 1995, the year she both came out as a lesbian and opened an LBGTQ-friendly coffee shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She told City and State New York that when one of her baristas was the victim of a hate crime, the coffee shop organized some events to call attention to it and lobby for more protection in the neighborhood.
Related: And Just Like That, We Compiled the 60 Best Sex and the City Quotes
How did Cynthia Nixon meet her wife?
Nixon and Marinoni met in 2001 when they were both campaigning for reform in New York’s public school system. Marinoni helped found the non-profit organization leading the charge, Alliance for Quality Education—a group that Nixon, whose two children were then attending public school, became a spokesperson for. They bonded as friends over the next few years, becoming close confidantes when Nixon ended her 15-year relationship with Danny Mozes in 2003, and began dating in 2004.
Prior to that, Nixon had never been romantically involved with a woman, though her new relationship didn’t spark any sort of coming-out epiphany or make her feel as if anything fundamentally changed about her. “It wasn’t something in me that was waiting to come out,” Nixon explained Advocate. “It was like, 'This person is undeniable. How can I let this person walk by?'"
When did Cynthia Nixon get married?
Nixon and Marinoni announced their engagement in 2009, at a rally in New York City in support of legalizing same-sex marriage. According to PEOPLE, Nixon showed off the diamond engagement ring Marinoni had given her and said, “It’s time already.” Though same-sex marriage was legal by then in California, the couple chose to wait until New York passed a similar law, which happened in 2011. Nixon and Marinoni were married a year later, on a city rooftop, with Nixon sporting a pale green gown by Carolina Herrera. Of the color choice, Nixon explained to Elle, “This particular shade—so light it borders on yellow—was especially apt, since it's the color of early spring, and no matter how long you've been together, a wedding is a certain kind of beginning.” Nixon also admired the Art Deco lines of the dress, evoking a very New York City vibe for a very New York City union.
Has Cynthia Nixon been married before?
Nixon’s marriage to Marinoni is her first, but she was involved in a long-term relationship with Mozes for 15 years. They met at New York’s prestigious Hunter College High School and began dating in 1988. Though they never married, they did have two children together, and have remained on good terms, sharing parenting duties when the kids were younger.
Related: Steve! Stanford! Harry! Find Out Which SATC Guys Are Returning for HBO Max’s And Just Like That...
Who is Cynthia Nixon’s ex?
Mozes is a photographer and teacher who, as of 2012, teaches at Hunter College, where he and Nixon were classmates. He apparently keeps his personal life very private and is not active on social media.
Why did Nixon and Mozes never marry, but did tie the knot with Marinoni? Nixon has said that she’d “always been wary of marriage… I felt it was a potential trap because some people want the party and the gifts and the public celebration—rather than the commitment.” Mozes allegedly felt the same, but Marinoni was more in favor of formalizing their relationship.
When did Cynthia Nixon and her ex split?
Nixon and Mozes ended their relationship in 2003, though the reason for the split is unknown. One of Nixon’s representatives at the time issued a statement that said, “Cynthia and Danny were both growing apart; it was discussions they were having. There was no third party involved. It was amicable. They are both committed and focused on the children.”
Did Cynthia Nixon run for office?
On March 19, 2018, Cynthia Nixon announced that she would run for governor of New York, hoping to secure the Democrat nomination and unseat then-incumbent Andrew Cuomo.
Her platform was largely progressive, advocating for Medicare For All, marijuana legalization and further public education reform, continuing the work she’d started in the early 2000s. Though she initially won the nomination of New York’s Working Families Party (a minor political party founded in New York in 1998, with chapters in about 18 other states so far) to appear on the primary ballot, Cuomo handily beat her at the polls to be the Democrat nominee for the general election, which he also won. Still, many credit Nixon’s campaign for pushing Cuomo leftward politically on a variety of issues, notably laying the groundwork for legalizing marijuana, which happened in early 2021, restoring voting rights to felons on parole, and turning more attention than before to public education.
Following her defeat in the primary, Nixon remained politically active, campaigning for congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and continuing to advocate for education policy reform. Though she told TIME that she would most likely not run for office again, she regrets nothing: “I do feel like particularly as women it is the thing that we throw up so many roadblocks in front of ourselves—that I am not qualified, that I am not ready, that I have not earned my place," she told the outlet. "What’s the worst that can happen? Let me try."
Related: CNN Has Fired Chris Cuomo—Find Out Why And How His Brother Andrew's Scandal Played a Part
When Cuomo was forced to resign in August 2021 amid numerous allegations of sexual harassment, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences revoked the honorary Emmy he'd received for his televised press conferences in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a bit of shade, Nixon tweeted shortly thereafter, “The difference between me and Andrew Cuomo? Neither of us is governor, but I still have my Emmy(s).”
Does Cynthia Nixon have kids?
Nixon has three children. Two are from her relationship with Mozes; Samuel Joseph was born in 1996 and Charles Ezekiel was born in 2002. Nixon was pregnant with Charles while filming Sex and the City’s fourth season; Miranda’s baby bump during that season was real, though Brady Hobbes was played by young actor Joseph Pupo on the series.
Samuel, also called Seph, came out in 2018 as transgender. Nixon proudly shared the news on Instagram with a photo of the two of them at Seph’s graduation from the University of Chicago. “I salute him and everyone else marking today’s #TransDayofAction,” she wrote.
In 2011, Marinoni gave birth to Nixon's third child, Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni. While initially they kept the father’s identity private, in more recent years, Nixon has referred to and posted photos of Max’s dad. For Halloween 2019, Max opted to dress as Pennywise from Stephen King’s It; Nixon posted a photo of the costume in progress with the caption, “When your dad’s a costumer and you always wanted to be Pennywise…” The costumer in question is Michael Growler, who worked on the Sex and the City movies and the 2006 Broadway play Rabbit Hole with Nixon (for which she won a Tony Award).
Speaking to The New York Times in 2012, Nixon made it clear that she takes pride in her children. “I know everybody says their kids are their greatest achievement,” she said, “and I think my kids are wildly impressive and great, but I don’t feel like they’re my achievement, really. They’re their own people. My relative sanity, I feel, has created a pretty good world for them. Not a perfect world by any means, but a pretty good one.”
