Chelsea Handler Admits That Ending Jo Koy Relationship Was 'One of the Most Difficult Things'

Chelsea Handler is getting candid about the end of her relationship with Jo Koy.

On Tuesday's episode of Brooke Shields' Now What? podcast, the comedian reflected on her split from her longtime friend turned boyfriend after the two dated for nearly a year.

During the chat, Handler, 47, shared that her "last relationship" was an example of one of her "seminal" or "now what" moments in her life.

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"I really believed that this was my guy. I thought, 'Oh my God, I won.' Like I got everything. I have my career, I have respect, I have my family, I have so many friends, I have all of these things. And then I thought this was gonna be the person I spend my life with," she continued, explaining the relationship even changed her perspective on marriage.

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"I'm not that hard up to get married, but I was open to the idea of it, and we definitely discussed it at length because it was important to him," she elaborated. "And then, towards the end of the relationship, it just became clear that this was not my person."

"There were just some behaviors that we couldn't agree on… It felt to me like I would have to abandon myself, which maybe I would have been OK to do if I were 20 or 25, but I wasn't willing to do that. No matter how much I loved this person — and I loved him so much — I was not going to abandon myself," Handler told Shields.

"I am not going to change the way that I behave in order to make you feel more comfortable. I'm not doing that, and I had to walk away from something that I really believed was gonna be a forever relationship," Handler said. "So that was difficult."

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Handler and Koy, 51, were introduced by a mutual friend almost 20 years ago. Koy then went on to make regular appearances on Handler's former E! show, Chelsea Lately. The couple went public with their relationship in September 2021.

On July 18, Handler announced the couple's split on Instagram, sharing a video that was meant to be posted on their one-year anniversary.

She told Shields, "I was in a lot of pain, but it was unacceptable. I said this can't happen. Our relationship just devolved, and we both could not agree on a situation or several situations, and I thought therapy could help — it did not — and I exhausted any avenue I could think of, and then I just realized this is futile."

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Noting that "walking away from him was one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do," Handler also added she hasn't spoken to Koy in a while.

"There has to be some accountability ... from him about what happened because it was just ridiculous, and I don't think we can have a friendship until there's some accountability and some responsibility taken," she concluded.

"We had a really great friendship, and I would love to have that again, you know, but without a couple steps in the right direction, I don't see that happening."

Earlier this year, when asked about his split from Handler, Koy told Entertainment Tonight, "I'll always champion for her."