‘On the Basis of Sex’ director talks about RGB’s love story with her husband

Mimi Leder talks about a dinner she had with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband, Martin, while Leder was prepping to make the 2018 film “On the Basis of Sex,” which tells the story of RBG and describes the way their marriage worked, with Martin cooking while RBG “does the thinking.”

Video Transcript

MIMI LEDER: So, at this first dinner, you know, I asked her, you know, how did you know Marty was the one, who was an incredible, famous tax attorney, by the way, in his career? And she said he was the first man who looked at me and saw my brain. And you know, it was just really interesting to talk to her, and she was very human, you know? She was-- but it's-- you feel so intrusive in a way because you're speaking to a very important public figure who has real feelings, and it was really interesting.

He-- you know, he used to cook. Every month, the wives of the justices would have lunch, and he would make them all lunch. He was an incredible cook. And the wives all made a book when he passed, and he-- and it had all his recipes and then sayings in the book from the wives, from their daughter. And one of the things his daughter said, their daughter said, was daddy does the cooking, mommy does the thinking--

[LAUGHTER]

--because he would come home. She'd be working. He'd come home from his job. He'd make dinner because she could not cook. She was a lousy cook. And then he'd put it in the fridge, and he'd go back to work. And he took care of them. He did everything. It was a really profound relationship to see and emulate.

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