Who Is Cynthia Nixon's Wife? All About Christine Marinoni

Actress Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni got engaged at a rally for same-sex marriage in 2009

Cynthia Nixon may be famous for her relationships in Sex and the City, but her real-life marriage with her wife, Christine Marinoni, is even more special.

The And Just Like That actress first met her future wife in 2001. The two became close friends and eventually started dating after Nixon finalized her 2003 divorce from ex-husband Danny Mozes. The pair got engaged in 2009.

Nixon and Marinoni enjoyed a long engagement, waiting until same-sex marriage was officially legalized in the state of New York before tying the knot in 2012. The year prior, they welcomed their first child together, son Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni. (Nixon also shares kids Seph and Charles with her ex-husband.)

So who is Cynthia Nixon's wife? Here is everything to know about Christine Marinoni and her relationship with Nixon.

Marinoni is from Washington

Marinoni was born in Washington state and spent much of her formative years in Bainbridge Island, Washington. After moving to New York in the early 1990s, she worked as a neighborhood organizer in the Bronx and studied economic development at Columbia University with the intention of working in international affairs, according to the New York Times. However, she ultimately pivoted into a career in education organizing, leading the statewide Alliance for Quality Education.

Marinoni came out as lesbian at 26 years old in 1995. Not long after, she opened up a coffee shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, that catered to the LGBTQ community.

In a 2017 interview with City & State New York, Marinoni spoke of her involvement with LGBTQ advocacy over the years. She said that after one of her café employees became a victim of a hate crime, she began organizing events to bring attention to the LGBTQ community and "call for more police attention and protection for the community."

She is an education and LGBTQ rights activist

Marinoni is an education organizer and LGBTQ rights activist who has fought to make systematic changes in New York's education system. In 2000, she helped found the Alliance for Quality Education in New York (for which Nixon would later become a spokesperson).

"As an LGBTQ person, I've always been focused on issues across the board," Marinoni told City & State New York. "I think it's important for the LGBT community to be joining hands with other groups and issues like income inequality and education."

Marinoni worked for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's office as a senior adviser for community partnerships. She later resigned from the position to work on Nixon's campaign for New York State Governor in 2018.

She met Nixon through a campaign

In 2001, Nixon was campaigning to reduce N.Y.C. public school class sizes when she met Marinoni, who was still working as an education organizer. As reported by The Advocate, the women became close friends and continued their friendship during Nixon's 2003 divorce from Mozes.

Nixon and Marinoni started dating in 2004

The two activists began dating in the summer of 2004. Before her relationship with Marinoni, Nixon had never dated a woman.

"When we started seeing each other, Christine kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for me to panic about what this would mean — to my career or to myself — as if somehow I just hadn't noticed that she was a woman," Nixon reportedly told the Radio Times. "And then she met my mother and that was when she stopped worrying about it."

However, Nixon was discouraged by her then-publicist from publicly announcing her relationship with Marinoni. "He just kept saying, 'It's your life, and it's private, and that's it,' " she told The Advocate. "And we kept asking, 'That's the whole thing? We never move past that.' "

She continued, "We're at the playground with the kids, and pictures are taken of us, and we say, 'No, she's my friend?' "

Eventually, Nixon's manager introduced the actress to openly gay celebrity publicist Kelly Bush, who not only became Nixon's new publicist but also suggested to Nixon that she confirm the dating rumors. And that's exactly what Nixon did.

They got engaged at a rally

Marinoni and Nixon got engaged at a rally to support gay marriage in New York in 2009. "It's time already," Nixon said while flashing her diamond ring to the crowd, PEOPLE reported at the time.

Nixon, who was born and raised in New York City, declared that she would wait to wed her partner until same-sex marriage was legalized throughout the entire state.

"I'm enjoying being engaged very much. I don't mind a long engagement, which this one is surely turning out to be," she told PEOPLE.

Nixon stayed true to her word and a few years later, after same-sex marriage was legalized, the actress revealed that she and Marinoni had gotten married in N.Y.C. on May 27, 2012. The actress wore a pale green Carolina Herrera gown and Marinoni sported a suit with a darker green tie.

She shares one son with Nixon

On Feb. 7, 2011, Nixon and Marinoni welcomed their son, Max. Nixon also has two children from her previous marriage.

However, the journey to motherhood was not easy for Marinoni, who had several miscarriages, according to the New York Times. Marinoni told the publication she never thought she would be able to have a child, so she was thrilled when she gave birth to Max.

“I always just pictured myself like a little worker bee my entire life,” she said. “But it’s like this amazing gift.”

In December 2021, Nixon shared a cute picture on Instagram of her youngest son Max next to actor Niall Cunningham — who plays her on-screen son, Brady Hobbes — at the And Just Like That premiere in 2021.

"Miranda and Cynthia's little loves. #AndJustLikeThat," she captioned the post.

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