The Bear star Abby Elliott has been in the spotlight since the early 2000s, when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Her husband, Bill Kennedy, is also in the industry, working as a successful screenwriter and producer. They’ve been married for eight years now, and their love story began on set.
Ahead, everything to know about Primetime Emmy award-nominated Bill Kennedy and his relationship with Elliott.
Kennedy and Elliott met while working together.
The couple met on the set of Sex Ed, a 2014 comedy movie written by Kennedy and starring Elliott, per The Knot. At the conclusion of filming, the cast went out to dinner, Entertainment Tonight reports, and Kennedy and Elliott shared a lobster mac and cheese. Their romantic connection wasn’t immediate though. They separated after the project, then reconnected in 2014 when Kennedy reached out to her to “go over a scene in the film,” according to ET. That meeting became a date.
Elliott and Kennedy got married in 2016.
Elliot told The Knot that Kennedy proposed to her on Oct. 28, 2015.
“We’ve been dating for a year-and-a-half, I think. It was a surprise,” she shared. “He did it in our apartment, and it was beautiful. There were flowers everywhere.”
They got married in late September 2016. According to People, they made their day more personal by including their families in special ways. Not only did Elliott’s engagement ring previously belong to Kennedy’s grandmother, but the actress also had a performance by her sister, Bridey Elliott, and commissioned her uncle to do calligraphy for the menus and table numbers.
Elliott told Martha Stewart Weddings that she got married at her parents’ house in a tulle gown by Leanne Marshall. Kennedy was her “something blue,” wearing a custom blue Duca Sartoria suit.
They have two children together.
On Oct. 23, 2020, Elliott shared news of her welcoming her first child with Kennedy on Instagram.
“❤️Edith Pepper Kennedy❤️,” she wrote in the caption along with a black-and-white photo of her and Kennedy holding their newborn. “The love of our lives.”
She announced her pregnancy the month before, in a post celebrating their four-year anniversary.
The caption read, “Happy 4 Years my love! Here’s to many more wonderful adventures with you—the greatest one of all coming next month❤️.”
Shortly before announcing her pregnancy, Elliott opened up about undergoing IVF treatments on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“It’s hardcore. So this Valentine’s Day, I’ll be getting shots in my butt by my husband. Very romantic,” she joked, before adding more seriously, “The hormones are very intense, and so many people go through this, and we don’t talk about it enough, I think, as women. We need to raise more understanding and awareness.”
In January 2023, she revealed she was pregnant again. Then on June 12, 2023, the actress shared an Instagram revealing that their second child was born.
“🩵William ‘Billy’ Joseph Lunney Kennedy IV🩵 6 lbs 7 oz June 9 2023 5:10pm🩵 hearts bursting we love you so much,” she wrote.
Kennedy is a TV writer and a producer.
Kennedy is credited as a writer for House of Cards, The Morning Show, Tell Me Lies, American Odyssey, and the film Sex Ed. He also has worked as a producer on House of Cards and Life on the Line, and as a supervising producer on The Morning Show and Tell Me Lies.
In conversation with Duke University’s alumni magazine, he revealed he was originally pursuing a career in finance before two of his creative writing professors encouraged him to pursue his first love of writing.
He participated in the university’s Duke in New York program, where he interned at The Weinstein Company and spent his summer “working 10 hours a day without pay and reading all the scripts he could,” the magazine wrote. After graduating college in 2007, Kennedy moved to Los Angeles and got a job at production company Media Rights Capital.
Kennedy initially sought to become a producer, although he never stopped writing on the side. He met director Isaac Feder on his second day in L.A., the magazine reported, and Feder asked him to write the screenplay for Sex Ed. It took him three years to perfect the script, and during that time, he wrote at night after his day job.
“I was still thinking to myself, if this doesn’t work out, I’m going to go law school,” he told the magazine. “But I didn’t want to be in a situation where I was working in the business for eight years and hadn’t gotten any traction, and it was because I hadn’t been writing or I hadn’t been working hard.”
Kennedy quit his Media Rights Capital job after three years there and asked his bosses if they would set up a meeting for him with House of Cards creator, Beau Willimon, as the company was producing the Netflix series. They did, and Willimon and him connected. A month later, Willimon hired Kennedy as an assistant writer on House of Cards.
He told Creative Principles podcast host Brock Swinson that the opportunity marked a pivotal moment in his career.
“That was an extremely formative experience for me,” he said. “I got to pitch a lot in the room and got promoted to staff writer season two [for House of Cards].”
Kennedy is also credited with producing work on the show for all 13 episodes in season 5 (2017). In September that year, Kennedy was nominated for an Outstanding Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award for his work on House of Cards. He walked the carpet with Elliott, who wore a shimmering dress with a leg slit. Kennedy wore a black tux with a bow tie.
Elliott frequently posts about Kennedy on social media.
While Kennedy is private on Instagram, Elliott uses her social media to support her husband.
On June 18, 2023, Elliott shared a Father’s Day tribute to him. She posted several photos of Kennedy with their children.
“Happy Father’s Day to this amazing dad 🩷🩵 we love you more than anything,” she wrote in the caption.
She also posted about him the year before.
Kennedy and Elliott attend events together.
Elliott and Kennedy have their fair share of red-carpet date nights. In February 2024, they went to a SAG celebration for Netflix, coordinating in black looks. Elliott’s fitted dress featured embroidered detailing going down the sides.
They also went to the 2024 Golden Globes together, matching in black once again.
