Sacha Baron Cohen is well known for his outrageous satirical comedy and controversial antics portraying a fictitious journalist in Borat and the sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. But is the 49-year-old comedian — who received two Oscar nods for Best Adapted Screenplay for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and Best Supporting Actor for The Trial of the Chicago 7 — really as outrageous as Borat? His wife of 10 years, Isla Fisher, 45, is perhaps the only person who really knows the answer to that.
Well before Borat was even a thing, Isla had fallen for Sacha. According to The Sun, the Australian actress met Sacha at a party in Sydney in 2002.
“She was hilarious,” Sacha told The New York Times. “We were at a very pretentious party, and me and her bonded over taking the mic out of the other people in the party. I knew instantly. I don’t know if she did. It’s taken her about 20 years to know.”
Not much is known about their early dating life, but clearly something must've worked, because the two wound up engaged by 2004. After that, Isla began a three-year Jewish study program to convert to Judaism for Sacha.
"I will definitely have a Jewish wedding just to be with Sacha. I would do anything — move into any religion — to be united in marriage with him," she reportedly told the Evening Standard.
Not long after, Isla and Sacha welcomed their first child, a girl named Olive, into the world in 2008. After Sacha and Isla married in 2010, they went on to have another daughter named Elula in 2011, followed by a son, Montgomery, in 2015.
So, what's it like being married to Sacha? In 2012, Isla admitted to Conan O'Brien that he can be a bit embarrassing at times. While on the show, she recalled a time she and Sacha went to a film premiere for Jack Black, who was producing the film. While there, a woman made a long speech and Jack made a short one before the movie began. Everything was going fine ... until Sacha accidentally insulted the School of Rock comedian's mother.
"Jack Black said, 'Yeah, if I would've known the movie was going to be so great, I would've made a longer speech.' And then Sacha said, 'Yeah, like that woman who wouldn't shut up with the massive boobs.' And then Jack said, 'That was my mom,'" Isla told Conan. "And then Sacha said, 'Well, big boobs are great! Isla wants big boobs! You want big boobs right, babe?'"
Alas, Isla knew to an extent what she was getting into. From the sound of things, she finds Sacha to be hilarious and is totally fine when he sometimes brings his characters home with him. "Of course [he brings the character home]. It's hard to drop the accent when you're doing it all day on set," Isla said about her husband in 2016, who she starred with in Grimsby that year.
The way she sees it, it's all in the name of good comedy. "He's such a perfectionist. He'll do everything and anything to get the best joke possible into the movie, so it was definitely inspirational," she gushed. "He's so funny on set and it was a lot of fun."
While it's clear Isla appreciates Sacha's humor, it can be tricky with her family. As she told Conan in 2019, there have been a few times where his work has made things a bit awkward for her. On Conan, she recalled a particularly uncomfortable experience watching Brüno with her mom in 2009.
"I was just staring at the screen, and I could feel my mom's eyes turned to me at one point ... like, 'Really, you marr — this is it?'"
But alas, it's clear Isla is crazy about her man and vice versa. While attending the Golden Globes in 2019, Isla joked that she and Sacha had engaged in "limo love" (making love in a limo) before walking the carpet.
"It was pretty good, let me tell you, it's not every day you get to be with a Golden Globe nominee ... that's the benefit of a big poofy dress," she told Access while Sacha smiled.
But all jokes aside, Isla believes the two have a rock-solid relationship. "Life is filled with highs and lows, and you have a best friend to share it with you," she reportedly told Australia's Sunday Telegraph about their marriage. "It's amazing. It's like winning the lottery, having a good partner."
