Who Is Jane Kaczmarek’s Husband? Meet Her High School Love Rusty Long
What To Know
- Jane Kaczmarek recently married her high school boyfriend, Rusty Long.
- Kaczmarek was previously married to actor Bradley Whitford.
- Kaczmarek is set to star in Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, reprising her role from the original series.
Jane Kaczmarek is having more than one full circle moment. In addition to reprising her role as Lois in Hulu’s Malcolm in the Middle reboot, the actress recently reignited a romance with an old flame, reconnecting with her high school boyfriend after decades apart and marriages to other people.
“It’s at that part of your life now where we both had other spouses,” she told People of her second husband, Rusty Long. “Our children are raised, our careers have gone well. It’s like a fairy tale.”
“There’s one Linda Ronstadt song, ‘I think I’m gonna love you for a long, long time,’” she added. “I mean, for 50 years that song always took me back to Rusty Long.” Get the full scope of Kaczmarek’s love story and learn more about her husband below.
Who is Jane Kaczmarek’s husband?
After going to high school with his future wife in Greendale, Wisconsin, Rusty Long became a lawyer, earning his law degree from Southwestern University. The 71-year-old has worked as an advisor to financial institutions for over 40 years, per Amudsen Davis‘ website. Kaczmarek told People that Long was “the big star” on their high school tennis team, which he’s kept up ever since. He’s a top-ranked tennis player for his age range and region, according to USTA. In the past 10 years, he’s won national tennis tournaments and two state championships in his age group in Pickleball.
How long have Jane Kaczmarek and Rusty Long been together?
Kaczmarek was “nuts about him” when they dated in high school, but they went their separate ways after graduation. They picked up where they left off, however, in 2024. The actress returned to her hometown for her 50th high school reunion, during which her best friend asked if she wanted to see Long again. They went out to dinner as a group and clicked again immediately.
Afterward, Long took Kaczmarek back to her mom’s house. “We went in the living room that hasn’t been redecorated since 1968 and just made out on the couch,” she recalled to People.
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It led to them talking on the phone every night for hours, about everything from books to poetry. “I couldn’t believe how interesting he’d become,” Kaczmarek said. “I said to him, ‘I could not make up a better man in my life right now than you.’”
Long proposed in February 2025, at a gathering to honor Scottish poet Robert Burns. When the group made toasts, “Rusty said, ‘I would like to toast to romance. I’ve been in love with Jane my entire life, and I want to ask her to marry me,’” Kaczmarek recalled. “It was heaven.”
The couple married that July, in a barn in their home state. Kaczmarek’s three kids — Frances, George, and Mary Louisa, all in their twenties — were in attendance, as were Long’s two kids and two grandsons.
Kaczmarek’s kids “loved [Long] from the minute they met him.” She added, “Their father [Bradley Whitford] had gotten married a couple years earlier. And the thing children want, they really want their parent to be happy.”
Who was Jane Kaczmarek’s first husband?
Kaczmarek’s new love story comes almost 15 years after she divorced fellow actor Bradley Whitford. They were married from 1992 to 2010 and share three children. Whitford has also found love again with actress Amy Landecker.
Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair Premiere, Friday, April 10, Disney+ and Hulu
