Who Is Ricky Gervais' Girlfriend? All About Jane Fallon

Ricky Gervais and Jane Fallon first met at university four decades ago

Ricky Gervais has been in a relationship with Jane Fallon since 1982.

The pair met at university and stayed together over the years as both rose to fame. Gervais is one of the most well-known comedians in the world, rising to prominence as co-creator and actor in The Office — which was later remade in the U.S. — while Fallon found success in the 2000s as a bestselling author.

He’s known for hosting the Golden Globes too — he’s done so five times — and admitted that he gives his jokes a run-through with Fallon first. “A couple of times I’ve said, ‘Nope, please don’t,’ ” she told co-host Ryan Seacrest in 2020, with Gervais joking that she uses “emotional blackmail."

And he even said in an interview with The Mirror that Fallon was the inspiration for his hit Netflix show After Life, in which his character’s wife dies from cancer. He said that, while he’d seen loved ones die over the years, “the ultimate for me would be losing my soulmate. That’s the worst thing that could happen to me. So, it’s an imagination, a fiction, that stems from that.”

So, who is Ricky Gervais’ girlfriend? Here’s everything to know about Jane Fallon.

She was born in London and grew up in Buckinghamshire

As Fallon told The Independent in a 2010 interview, she was born in Harrow, a large town in London, but moved to the county of Buckinghamshire in South East England with her family as a child. Her parents owned a shop, and she lived in the flat above it.

She went to St. Bernard’s Convent School in Slough, Berkshire.

She met Gervais at University College London

Per her website, Fallon studied at University College London, and graduated with a degree in History in 1982. It was here that she met Gervais, also a student at UCL. They began dating the year Fallon graduated.

While at university, she began writing for the history department’s magazine, the university newspaper London Student, and for Pi Magazine. In 2020, she was awarded an honorary fellowship of UCL.

She’s lived with Gervais since 1984

After a couple of years of dating, Gervais and Fallon moved in together, and they’ve lived together ever since. Speaking to PEOPLE in 2017, Gervais explained that their first apartment together was tiny and “above some sort of seedy sauna,” where they shared a bathroom with neighboring apartments.

According to The Mirror, Fallon said in 2020 that she and Gervais “went through a good few years when we had absolutely no money, and I've talked about this before - the brothel we lived above in Kings Cross - I always knew I had a plan to build up a career and I think once you do that it does mean a lot more because you've worked for all of it.”

They decided not to have children or get married

Fallon and Gervais made the decision not to get married or have children. Gervais described having children as “too much hassle," as they "just didn't fancy dedicating sixteen years of our life to it."

Similarly, Fallon told the Daily Mail in 2018, “We're not married because neither of [us] are fussed. I think if one of us really cared then we would probably do it but it's not really been anything that either of us have ever really needed.”

Gervais said in an interview with The Times in 2010 that, “We are married for all intents and purposes, everything's shared and actually our fake marriage has lasted longer than a real one. But there’s no point in us having an actual ceremony before the eyes of God because there is no God."

She worked as a TV producer

According to her website, Fallon’s first “real job” was working at a theatrical and literary agency, before she left to work in TV. She became a freelance script reader and then a script editor.

She later produced a number of TV shows, including This Life, Teachers, and 20 Things To Do Before You’re 30.

She changed career and became an author in 2006

Per her website, after working in TV for a number of years, Fallon decided to fulfill her ambition of writing a novel in 2006, and Getting Rid of Matthew became a UK bestseller in 2007. Her 2008 book Got You Back is being adapted into a musical, set to launch in Malmo, Sweden, in 2024.

Her books have been nominated for awards, too. Foursome was nominated for the Melissa Nathan Award for Romantic Comedy Fiction, while Faking Friends was nominated in the National Book Awards, and longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize.

She has lots of pets with Gervais

Gervais is well known for his love of animals, and Fallon has had a number of pets with her partner over the years. They include Pickle, a cat, who Fallon has previously posted photos of on Instagram.

In 2020, both Fallon and Gervais announced the death of their cat Ollie, 16, on social media, with Fallon tweeting, “I have awful news. My smart, funny, feisty, beautiful sidekick of the last 16 & a half years @myleftfang has passed away after a sudden downturn in her health at the weekend. My heart is broken in two. I have no idea what I’m going to do without her by my side.”

She often accompanies her boyfriend to awards shows

Gervais is a frequent attendee at awards ceremonies — sometimes even hosting them — and Fallon will often accompany him. She joined him at the 2015 Golden Globes, revealing that she liked the beard he was sporting, and again at the Golden Globes five years later, in 2020.

They also attended the National Television Awards together in 2022, while Gervais thanked Fallon when he won the Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy at the 2016 BAFTA Awards.

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