Who Is Dave Chappelle’s Wife? All About Elaine Chappelle & Their Kids
Dave Chappelle is known for his candidness in his comedy specials, including Netflix’s newly released Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable. But he tends to keep the details of his personal life out of the spotlight. Though he’s shared anecdotes here and there over the years about his relationship with his wife, the comedian mostly covers social and political topics rather than personal ones.
So, it makes sense if you’re curious about Elaine Chappelle and her decades-long romance with her husband. How long have Dave and Elaine Chappelle been together? How many kids do they have? What have they said about their relationship? Swooon is answering all of your burning questions about Chappelle’s marriage and family life below.
Who is Dave Chappelle’s wife?
Not much is known about Elaine Chappelle (née Mendoza Erfe), but it’s been reported that she’s about a year younger than her husband and was born to Filipino parents. She’s also said to have grown up in Brooklyn and once aspired to be a professional chef. Her current occupation isn’t public knowledge, but she’s thought to be a homemaker on the 65-acre farm where she and her husband reside.
The couple made the decision to move to Yellow Springs, Ohio, away from the spotlight, in 2o06. The comedian told Time in 2005 about moving there: “Coming here, I don’t have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I’m interested in the kind of person I’ve got to become. I want to be well-rounded, and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well-balanced. I’ve got to check my intentions, man.”
In 2020, Dave confirmed that he and his wife were still staying under the radar. “We don’t live in Hollywood, there’s no paparazzi trying to get their picture,” he said during an appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.
How long have is Dave Chappelle and his wife been together?
The couple said “I do” back in the early 2000s, though there’s no clear evidence of when they started dating before that. Throughout their relationship, Elaine has occasionally stepped out with her husband at public events, supporting him when he was given the Mark Twain Award for American Humor in 2019 and at GQ’s Men of the Year awards in 2014. Most recently, the couple was spotted at a Dior fashion show in Paris in 2022.
In a 2017 interview, the comedian said his wife keeps track of what people are saying about him online, while he prefers to stay offline. “My wife, if it gets real bad, she’ll let me know, like, ‘Oh, you should look into this,'” he said in a 2017 Hot 97 interview. “But for the most part, I try not to pay attention to it … I try to keep my business small enough so it can still be authentic enough.”
How did Dave Chappelle and his wife meet?
Though the comedian has confirmed that he met his wife in Brooklyn in the ’90s, the specific details of how they crossed paths remain a mystery. “She was with me when I was poor,” Chappelle previously told Howard Stern.
Does Dave Chappelle have kids?
The couple has two sons, Sulayman and Ibrahim, and a daughter, Sanaa. They were born in 2001, 2003, and 2009, respectively. The comedian opened up about fatherhood on CBS This Morning in 2017, saying, “Everything changed after I had children. I took my professional life more seriously. And I think, as a dude, I had more depth after I had kids.”
He also spoke about being away from his family while touring. Chappelle had a “wakeup call” when he returned to an empty home after his last tour, which he recalled in On Dave Chappelle: Equanimity & The Bird Revelation in 2016. “I see my age in my children,” he explained. “When my kids were little, and the tour bus would pull up to the house, [they’d] spill out. ‘Dad is home, hooray!’ Then, as the years went on, they’d get less interested. ‘Hey everybody, look: It’s Mr. Promises back from the road.'”
Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable, Streaming Now, Netflix
