Every fan of How I Met Your Mother has experienced Ted Mosby's journey as their own. It's not hard to identify with a good-natured thirty-something looking for the woman to marry and have children with. Nor with his friends, each with their own storylines, loves, and heartbreaks.
In real life, the actors from the iconic American series have also lived their own stories. The latest known with a happy ending is that of Jason Segel (46). The actor who portrayed Marshall Eriksen in the show has recently married dancer Kayla Radomski (35). The ceremony took place at the Huntington Library Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, California, last October.
Although they had only been in a relationship for two years, they decided to tie the knot. Prior to this, Jason Segel had other well-known relationships, such as the six-year relationship with actress Linda Cardellini, whom he met in 1999 during the filming of the series Freaks and Geeks. Years later, in 2012, he started dating actress Michelle Williams. However, their relationship only lasted a year. Shortly after, the actor began a relationship with photographer Alexia Mister, with whom he was together for nine years.
In the show, Marshall was linked to Lily Aldrin, his girlfriend since college. As you can see, the actor's real life is very different, as is hers. The actress who playedLily, Alyson Hannigan, has had two famous relationships in her life. Only one of them was long-lasting.
Alyson Hannigan had a brief romance in her youth with Ginger Fish, the drummer of the band Marilyn Manson between 1995 and 2011. Her relationship with the actress, which lasted from 1990 to 1998, was shorter. After eight years together, they ended things because they realized they were too different.
Shortly after, she met actor Alexis Denisof while filming the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Interestingly, he had a rule of not dating co-stars and initially rejected her. But in the end, he left the series and gave her a chance that turned out well. They got married in 2003 and have two children who are now 17 and 13 years old. 23 years later, they are still together.
Another cast member of the show with a very different life on and off-screen is Cobie Smulders, who plays the fiercely single and anti-children character Robin Scherbatsky. Unlike her character, the actress has one of the longest and most enduring marriages in Hollywood.
In 2004, she met actor Taran Killam at a mutual friend's birthday party. They were both 22 years old and fell deeply in love, so much so that five years later, in 2009, they had their first daughter. They got married in 2012 and three years later had their second daughter. They are still together to this day.
How I Met Your Mother aired from 2005 to 2014, and many things happened during its filming. Among them, Cobie Smulders was diagnosed with ovarian cancer while filming the third season of the series. Of course, Taran was her great support during the illness and took care of her during the surgeries and treatments while she continued working.
Interestingly, the actor had a small role in How I Met Your Mother as a colleague at the Golliath National Bank, hated by Marshall and Barney Stinson during their time working together.
Even more different from his character is Neil Patrick Harris, who will always be remembered for his magnificent portrayal of the charismatic, manipulative, and womanizing friend of the group, Barney Stinson. For some, Barney Stinson is the true star of the show.
Far from collecting women, Neil Patrick Harris is openly gay and married to actor and chef David Burtka. They met in 2004 and have been inseparable since. In 2014, with the approval of same-sex marriage in New York, they tied the knot in Italy with Elton John as the officiant. Four years earlier, they had become parents to twins born via surrogacy.
The important question is: Has Josh Radnor, the actor who immortalized Ted Mosby, struggled to find love as much as his most famous character? The truth is that their stories are quite similar.
During the filming of How I Met Your Mother, he dated Lindsay Price, who played Cathy, one of Ted's girlfriends whom the group couldn't stand because she wouldn't stop talking. The two actors were together for a year, between 2008 and 2009.
Between 2011 and 2013, he was in a relationship with actress Julia Jones, known for portraying werewolf Leah Clearwater in the Twilight saga. Three years later, he had a romance with Minka Kelly, the lead actress in the teen series Friday Night Lights. Their relationship lasted only a year, and they confirmed their breakup in 2018.
During the pandemic, the actor fell in love with Mexican singer Paty Cantú. Like many relationships that started during the Covid-19 crisis and ended when restrictions eased, they lived together in Los Angeles. They co-wrote the songMírame and had a pleasant time together, but eventually decided to go their separate ways.
In 2021, he started dating another actress, Abigail Spencer, who, interestingly, also appeared in the series How I Met Your Mother. In her case, she played Blah Blah, one of Ted's girlfriends whom his friends couldn't even remember the name of. Their relationship began years after the series ended and lasted only a year.
Fortunately, Josh Radnor soon met the woman who is now the love of his life, with whom he has started a family. She is Jordana Jacobs (38), a clinical psychologist whom he met in 2022 and married two years later. Private, she does not have social media and does not seek fame.
In 2026, they welcomed their first child. The actor, now 51, described the experience of being a father as something "wild, beautiful, exhausting, and heart-opening." Perhaps, in a few years, he will tell his child the story of how he met their mother.