Chelsea Handler revealed the reason behind her 2022 split from ex-boyfriend comedian Jo Koy.
The star, 49, spoke on podcast Armchair Expert on Monday, opening up in great detail about her heartbreaking split and how it affected her well being.
Chelsea, who said she ‘did not want to break up’ with him, ultimately decided to choose herself and not compromise her values or her future.
‘What I thought a mature healthy relationship and what he thought was a mature healthy relationship were two different things and I would have had to compromise everything I stand for and I wasn’t willing to do that,’ she said on the podcast.
She called Jo’s expectations for her as his girlfriend were very ‘outdated, old-fashioned and not going to work,’ adding that it was obvious that they ‘had different ideas about togetherness.
Chelsea and Jo, 53, dated for almost a year before they parted ways in July 2022.
Chelsea Handler revealed the reason behind her 2022 split from ex-boyfriend comedian Jo Koy.
The star, 49, spoke on podcast Armchair Expert on Monday, opening up in great detail about her heartbreaking split and how it affected her well being
Chelsea said on the podcast: ‘I felt like it was a decision between having a relationship and being full-on or choosing myself and my sanity – sanity is an overstatement – but I would have compromised my own value system.
Chelsea reflected on how their relationship changed her confidence level as well as her ability to be vulnerable.
‘The biggest takeaway from that relationship was A, that I was able to be in love again in a vulnerable, mature, healthy way and then when I realized it wasn’t going to work out I was able to end it in a healthy, mature way and not divulge all the stuff and the ugliness that may have happened in between because I didn’t want to focus on that,’ she said.
The comedian said that she also learned that she is ‘capable of accepting love’ and was ‘reminded of’ her strength and power of who she is.’
Chelsea said he helped reinstall that in her, during a time in which she had lost interest in her job.
The biggest takeaway for her was that she was ‘capable of accepting love’ and ‘being vulnerable’ in a relationship.
She said she was ‘really in love’ with Jo, and was very ‘happy,’ but that she had to call it quits due to their different values.
Chelsea and Jo, 53, dated for almost a year before they parted ways in July 2022
In 2021, Chelsea shared that Jo had ‘renewed’ her ‘faith in men.’
At the time, she couldn’t stop gushing about Jo on her Instagram, as well as sharing a number of snaps.
‘Do you know how hot it is to have a man be turned on by my honesty, strength, and confidence? Someone who loves the fact that I’m not going to take anyone’s sh*t and isn’t intimidated or emasculated by my fierceness? Jo has renewed my faith in men.
‘For everyone who is still looking for their person, do not adjust who you are or make yourself smaller to find them. Be patient and never settle for anything less than you deserve. Your person is coming and sometimes—they’ve been standing in front of you the whole time.’
Chelsea and Jo officially announced that they were dating in September 2021, after pictures of them at a Dodgers game in August 2021 surfaced.
Before going public, Handler wrote at the time that she was ‘finally in love, with the best kind of guy there is.’
The two had been friends for many years prior to making it romantic.
Jo was a frequent panelist on Handler’s talk show Chelsea Lately which ran from 2007 to 2014.
Chelsea reflected on how their relationship changed her confidence level as well as her ability to be vulnerable
The pair opened up about their relationship on Handler’s podcast Dear Chelsea in September 2021 with The Chelsea Does star saying Jo though their chemistry was ‘sexual’ while she though it was ‘comedic.’
Jo disagreed with that idea, saying, ‘Never did I ever say that! That’s not how it went down.’
‘What makes me sad is that you don’t remember any of the things I remember,” Jo added. ‘In my head, it’s such a beautiful story. And when I finish telling it, you go, “Really? That happened?”‘