Jersey-born comedian Michelle Buteau has been making audiences laugh since her first standup gigs in 2001. Eventually, her brand of humor paved the way to spots on Comedy Central and a successful comedy podcast. She later landed movie and TV gigs, and she’s currently the host of Netflix’s original reality competition show The Circle. It’s not just her professional life that’s thriving, though. Michelle Buteau’s husband is also part of her long-running success story. 

Let’s take a look at the ups and downs of Buteau’s love life and how she wound up married to a well-known photographer. 

The Relationship Started As A One-Night Stand 

In an interview about her life and career with Radio IQ, Michelle Buteau explained her approach to dating when she first met the man who would become her husband. At that time, she felt she didn’t have the time or energy for something serious. Buteau wanted to hook up physically without the ‘boring personal stories’. She’d dealt with infidelity previously and was trying to focus on work.

Linking up with Gijs van der Most was meant to be a one-time thing. As fate would have it, that’s certainly not how it all worked out.

Who is Michelle Buteau’s Husband? 

Michelle Buteau’s husband is photographer Gijs van der Most. Born in the Netherlands, he spent his life in Amsterdam before relocating to the Big Apple, where he met Buteau. On his Instagram account, he describes himself as a “Design addict, photographer, decent cook.” 

Van der Most primarily works in photography. He perfected his skills with the camera at the Utrecht School for Arts in the Netherlands, which he attended from 2000 to 2005. People reported that his snaps have been featured in Esquire, PEOPLE, GQ, and other publications. 

In addition to his photography, van der Most runs a furniture company alongside Buteau. Van der Most Modern prides itself on its “eclectic collection of furniture and décor pieces carefully curated by founder and owner Gijs van der Most.” In addition to its online storefront, Van der Most Modern operates a brick-and-mortar store in Bushwick, NY. 

They Got Married In 2010

While the exact details of how they got from point A to point B are kept under wraps, it is clear that their relationship went far beyond that one-and-done meeting Buteau intended. In 2010, the pair married.

According to an interview with NPR, Michelle Buteau lost weight for the wedding. She did so at the behest of several well-intended friends, but it’s a choice that she regrets. 

“All my friends were like, you’ve got to diet. You got to exercise. You got to diet. That’s what you do. And I was like, why? And they’re like, you just got to do it. And I did it, and I lost a lot of weight, and I was like, this doesn’t feel good, and I miss turkey bacon. And my dress was too big and kept falling off of me during my father-daughter dance and my – and all the dancing. And then I literally had, like, some tequila and a potato and blacked out for the rest of my wedding…”

In the same interview, she said that van der Most loves her the way she is, compounding her weight-loss regrets. 

“I already found a man that’s going to love me no matter what. What am I doing?” 

He Supports Her Through It All 

Van der Most seems to like to keep his personal life to himself. Even his Instagram account is private, which is wild for a public figure in 2025. However, his position out of the limelight hasn’t stopped him from supporting Michelle. He pops up by her side at events, especially awards shows, whether she’s receiving or hosting. He accompanied her when she hosted the 75th Annual Writers Guild Awards in 2023. 

Van der Most was also by her side when she took home the award for outstanding breakthrough creative at the NAACP Image Awards in March 2024. She says that his presence pushes her to raise her own personal expectations.

In a USA Today article, Michelle shared, “It’s so corny, but he made me feel like anything was possible. My life changed when I had someone who truly understood me and what I could do.”

The Happy Couple Welcomed Twins in 2019 

Michelle Buteau’s part in the movie Babes saw her grappling with the joys and challenges of early motherhood. Perhaps her performance was so authentic because she’d already experienced this hurdle offscreen when she and her husband became parents in 2019. Her journey to that point was a rocky one.

Due to a small benign tumor, she was unable to get pregnant without outside intervention. Buteau and her husband struggled with in vitro fertilization before deciding to go the route of surrogacy. She wrote about her experience in Elle magazine, detailing her multiple miscarriages. 

After an uphill battle with IVF, van der Most suggested it was time to try something new.

In Elle, she recounted: “At our seven-week sonogram, there wasn’t a heartbeat. My doctor was speechless. And for the first time through this whole thing, my husband wasn’t. He spoke up for me and said, ‘Enough. She’s done enough. She’s tired and she needs to be happy again.’” 

The couple decided to try surrogacy instead and soon became the parents of twins, Hazel and Otis.

Buteau later told the New York Times that she and her husband have very different approaches to parenthood. According to Buteau, Van der Most is much more relaxed, while she takes a much more helicopter mom approach to raising their twins. While she’s scanning the floor for potential dangers, he’s letting them climb furniture and encouraging them to figure out how to get down. 

Buteau Jokes About Her Husband In Her Comedy Sets 

Comedians are no strangers to joking about their lives, and Michelle Buteau’s husband has appeared as a story beat in her comedy on multiple occasions. She told Variety that she walks a fine line between what she should and should not say as part of a comedy routine because she doesn’t want to come off as an “a-hole.”

Her husband’s Dutch origin has led to interesting differences in language and culture between the pair. In a clip from her stand-up show, posted on her Instagram, Buteau laughs about the “interesting verb” he taught her. Beyond the hilarious language discrepancies, Buteau is fond of her husband’s accent and way of making “everything sound sexy.”

Still, her position as a Black woman interacting with his older Holland-based family has ended in cultural clashes. 

Here’s to Love and Laughs Between Michelle and Her Husband 

They’ve been going strong since 2010, and there’s no sign of struggles for Buteau, her husband, and their family of rainbow babies. She’s been in the comedy game for almost 25 years, and while that’s just starting to pay off with Netflix deals and movie appearances, her luck in love is sure to make her happy as she continues to laugh through her journey.

We’re rooting for more happy moments between Michelle Buteau and Gijs van der Most in the future!

Frequently Asked Questions 

Is Michelle Bateau still married? 

Yes. As of June 2025, Michelle Bateau and her husband Gijs van der Most are still married. 

What does Michelle Bateau’s husband do for a living? 

Gijs van der Most is a photographer. He also owns a furniture company with Michelle. 

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