Who Is Jon Stewart's Wife? All About Tracey Stewart

Get to know Jon Stewart's wife!

Tracey Stewart is married to the former host of The Daily Show, who recently announced his return to the Comedy Central hit nearly a decade after he exited in 2015.

Stewart's talk show hosting gig began in 1999 and the couple tied the knot one year later. They welcomed two kids (and a lot of animals) in the years that followed.

A former veterinary technician, Tracey has committed her life and career to rescuing animals and has enlisted Stewart to join her in the initiative since he stepped out from behind the Daily Show desk. In fact, the comedian's love of animals is what she found attractive from the start.

Stewart had inherited two cats from a past relationship; though Tracey was allergic, she told the New York Times that his getting "custody of the cats said so much about him... This was my dream man."

She added, "But I also knew that because he loved animals, if those animals didn’t like me, that might really count against me. I was like: ‘They’re going to love me. I don’t care if I have hives,'" Tracey joked.

Stewart and Tracey's initial interaction in 1995 has blossomed into a marriage of 20-plus years.

Here's everything to know about Jon Stewart's wife, Tracey.

She's a former veterinary technician 

Tracey is undoubtedly an animal lover: At one point, the Stewart household included four dogs, four pigs, three rabbits, two guinea pigs, one parrot, one hamster and two fish (as well as three horses that lived off-site).

Soon after Stewart began hosting The Daily Show in 1999, Tracey began working as a veterinary technician. Now, the couple own a farm in New Jersey that serves as a sanctuary for rescued farm animals that's affiliated with the national animal rescue group Farm Sanctuary.

Tracey is also the author of the memoir Do Unto Animals and the president of the Hey Friend Foundation, which is "dedicated to promoting healthy, sustainable and kind living."

She's a vegan

Given her commitment to animals, Tracey's dietary habits reflects that. She's a vegan, though the entire Stewart family is not.

“While I don’t eat animals, my husband does, and due to our mixed marriage we have decided to present both diets to the kids and let them come to their own decision about how and what they want to eat," she wrote in Do Unto Animals.

“My daughter wants to be vegan,” Tracey told the New York Times in 2015. “But she loves chicken nuggets.”

She met Jon Stewart on a blind date

Stewart's 20-plus years of marriage to Tracey all began with a blind date in 1995. During a 2002 appearance on Larry King Live, the comedian shared his story of being set up on a date by a person he was working with on a TV special.

That person happened to be Tracey's roommate at the time. Stewart said that their mutual friend told him, "I know this girl who I think you would very much like" and described Tracey "in such glowing terms."

"I thought, well, 'I'd be a jackass not to go out with this woman,'" recalled Stewart, who decided to give Tracey a call. However, The Daily Show alum revealed that he lost her number after initially writing it down.

"I wrote her number on a dollar bill. And this was when I still smoked, so I went and bought cigarettes with the thing," he said before admitting, "I lost her number. I didn't call for a while."

Ultimately, Stewart got Tracey's number and the two went on their first date.

She and Jon Stewart wed in 2000

Tracey and Stewart wed in November 2002. Prior to tying the knot, though, he proposed to her in a unique way.

The comedian popped the question using the help of New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz, who aided in the creation of a crossword puzzle filled with clues leading to the proposal.

She and Jon Stewart share two kids

Tracey and Stewart are the parents of two children, son Nathan Thomas and daughter Maggie Rose. In 2022, the former talk show host explained how leaving The Daily Show allowed him to spend more time with his kids.

"The best decision I ever made was taking The Daily Show and the other best decision I ever made was leaving The Daily Show because I got to spend years [with his kids] as teenagers," Stewart said in the PBS clip. "Just being with them, being present in their lives was such a great joy... something you can't get back."