Does Kate McKinnon Have a Partner? Here’s Everything We Know About Her Girlfriend, Jackie Abbott

Author:
Tina Donvito
Mar 3, 2022

Kate McKinnon will do anything for a laugh, but one thing she won’t do is talk about her private life—including her partner, photographer and actor Jackie Abbott. The self-described “extraordinarily introverted” McKinnon can embody pretty much anyone, hilarious impersonating everyone from Justin Bieber to Dr. Anthony Fauci, but she keeps the details of her real-life persona close to the vest.

Still, McKinnon has become an LGBTQ+ icon and role model as the first openly gay female member of Saturday Night Live, and she doesn’t shy away from discussing that aspect of her identity. The Emmy award-winner—who, on Thursday, March 3, takes on the role of Tiger King animal activist Carole Baskin in Peacock's original series Joe vs. Carole—just prefers to stay off social media and keep her relationships to herself. (Except for the one with her cat, Nino, that is. Then she’s happy to share.)

Here are all the tidbits we've uncovered about McKinnon’s partner—Jackie Abbott, that is, not Nino the cat! Although we’ve got some pretty cute cat vids from her, too. Read on for more!

Related: Is SNL New This Weekend? Find Out Who's Hosting the Next Live Episode!

Does Kate McKinnon have a partner?

All signs point to yes, although McKinnon hasn’t publicly discussed her relationship, so we can’t confirm for sure. Why hasn’t she been more forthcoming? “I get criticized by people who know me the best for not sharing enough details about my day or my life. I am just quite an insular person, I guess,” she told GQ in 2018. “I decided in my mid-20s that I didn't feel comfortable sharing personal details like I had in the previous few years. And I just have run with that ever since.”

McKinnon also has no social media, which makes it even trickier for fans to get a glimpse into her romantic life—which explains why, when she attended the 2020 Golden Globes with her comedian sister Emily Lynne, they were mistaken for a couple!

One thing McKinnon has been very open to talking about, though: her sexual identity. When she presented Ellen DeGeneres with the Carol Burnett Award at the 2020 Golden Globes, McKinnon talked about discovering that she was gay, and how DeGeneres inspired her to pursue acting. “In 1997, when Ellen’s sitcom was in the height of its popularity, I was in my mother’s basement lifting weights in front of the mirror and thinking, ‘Am I gay?’ And I was, and I still am. But that’s a very scary thing to suddenly know about yourself,” she said during her speech. “If I hadn’t seen [DeGeneres] on TV, I would have thought, ‘I could never be on TV. They don’t let LGBT people on TV.’ And more than that, I would have gone on thinking that I was an alien and that I maybe didn’t even have a right to be here.”

Who is Kate McKinnon’s partner?

McKinnon was first spotted together with Abbott in 2016 when they attended the Broadway play Fun/Home.

Originally from Stamford, Connecticut, Abbott is an actor, artist and photographer, according to her website. She also studied clowning, so she and McKinnon both share a talent for comedic performance. Although Abbott does have an Instagram for her photography business, it lacks any personal info—but with a little detective work, it's possible to glean some of the couple’s shared interests!

For example, Abbott mentions her “tuxedo cat,” and McKinnon also has a tuxedo cat. Coincidence? “I’ll be on the couch with my tuxedo cat and a glass of wine, watching the newest lesbian love story documentary, A Secret Love. Throw in finishing my fourth Jeanette Winterson book of quarantine and you have possibly the most lez Sunday plan,” Abbott told Cosmopolitan in 2020.

Also, they both have a love of lazy Sundays and avocados. When asked by Interview Magazine if she prefers peanut butter and jelly or avocado toast, McKinnon replied, “Avocado toast. What kind of question is that?” She also told GQ that her big Sunday outing is to the grocery store, where “the big question is ‘Will there be an avocado that I can use that morning, or will I have to wait for it to ripen?’” Abbott is also an avocado fan: Her bio on The People’s Improv Theater mentions her “adding avocados to everything.”

Is Kate McKinnon married?

Not that we know of. McKinnon has never publicly mentioned a marriage with Abbott, although they're believed to be in a very long-term relationship.

There was an online rumor in January 2021 that McKinnon had married fellow SNL and Ghostbusters co-star Leslie Jones, but as Snopes revealed, it was just that: a falsehood, stemming from a couple of misleading clickbait ads.

How did Kate McKinnon meet Jackie Abbott?

Although we don’t know exactly where they met, it seems likely that they may have been hanging out in the same circles, as both artists are involved in the New York City creative scene. Abbott graduated with a BFA in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied under luminaries including Olympia Dukakis; and Long Island native McKinnon graduated from Columbia University, also in NYC, as a theater major. Both have lived and worked in the city for years; McKinnon most notably on SNL. Both women are multitalented, with Abbott a professional photographer and writer in addition to acting; McKinnon also paints and is a musician.

Did Kate McKinnon go to the Emmys with Jackie Abbott?

Yes! In a rare public appearance together, in 2017 McKinnon went to the Emmy Awards with Abbott, and when she won, cameras caught their embrace. Could it be the beginning of their relationship going public? Alas, this was the very rare (seemingly the only) public or televised event they've attended together.

Later that evening, Michelle Visage of RuPaul’s Drag Race outed the couple on social media with an Instagram post captioned: “I have SUCH a crush on #KATEMCKINNON SO HAPPY SHE WON!!! Her girlfriend Jackie was just as lovely as she is!!” Busted!

Does Kate McKinnon have kids?

Not of the human sort, but McKinnon is very open about her relationship with her cat, Nino Positano, who she frequently calls her “son.” On The Tonight Show back in 2016, she noted that Nino was overweight when she first got him so “we put him on a small diet—‘we’ being me,” she corrected herself. Was that a slip-up, and could she have been referring to Abbott?

In 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, Nino also appeared in a funny SNL skit direct from McKinnon’s apartment, in which the cat played various other felines waiting to be adopted from “Whiskers R We.” He even seems to have his "own" Twitter account.

Next, find out more about Kate McKinnon's new series Joe vs. Carole in 14 things to watch next week: the return of the Tiger King, new brain games and murderous roommates!