Ali Wong tells how Bill Hader wooed her after divorce: 'I fell in love again'

It can be called Single lady, But Ali WongThe fourth Netflix special, which premiered on Netflix on October 8th, is accompanied by their love story Bill Hader. After her eight-year marriage ended Justin Hakuta In 2022, Wong and Hader briefly dated before confirming their relationship in April 2023. Since then, the couple has attended the Golden Globes and Emmys, where Wong won respective awards for her performance in the Netflix series Beef.

At the start of her new special, Wong said she was surprised by the interest in her split from Hakuta, with whom she has two children. “I didn’t expect the news of my divorce to be so widespread and public,” Wong begins. “I was really embarrassed and ashamed, but I didn't realize that all this media was acting like a bat signal, letting all potentially interested men know that I was suddenly available. I’ve never been so persecuted in my life.”

One of those suitors contacted the comedian after they “met at like two dinner parties in the past.” After getting her number from a mutual friend and colleague, the man – who Wong later revealed to be Hader – confessed his feelings. “Hey, Ali. I happened to hear the news of your divorce today, and I have to tell you…I'm excited,” Wong remembers Hader saying. “I am, Ali, because I've always had a crush on you and I actually told my best friend years ago that you were the woman of my dreams. And I know this sounds crazy, but I want you to be my girlfriend.”

The only problem? Wong had joined a dating app just the day before. “And I thought, 'I just paid $250.' “You seem really nice, but I have to get my money’s worth,” she jokes.

“Shortly after that call, I’m flying to Europe,” Wong continues. “I arrived in London and found that this man had sent me a bouquet of flowers.” Wong then made increasingly elaborate floral arrangements in Amsterdam, Cologne and Copenhagen. “I told all my friends and they said, 'Oh my God, that's so cute.' “I’m so jealous,” Wong says. But when she told her male friends, “they said, 'That guy sounds like a psychopath.' This is how cheap and lazy men have become – if a fellow human being commits any kind act or romantic gesture today, it must be a symptom of an undiagnosed mental illness,” she says.

These vastly different interpretations of Hader's grand romantic gesture reflect a debate Hader once recounted in the writers' room of his HBO series: Barry. During the show's first season, Sally (Sarah Goldberg), Haders Barry replaced her broken laptop. As Hader previously recalled, the show's male writers viewed Barry's gift as romantic. However, the team's female writers felt the action was far too much, too soon. “We asked ourselves, 'Is this it?'” Hader later recalled. “They said, 'You sleep with a man once and he buys you a laptop?' I'm going to the mountains.' And we said, 'Okay, that's interesting.'” (In the final scene, Sally finds Barry's laptop purchase more creepy than cute.)

As Wong's single life continued, she was courted several times, including with a “big, fancy film director” who is not named in the special. “I think for the longest time I was so focused on getting cock,” she explains, “because the task of finding a boyfriend, someone I think is talented, someone who makes me laugh, someone… someone I have a real connection with, someone I look up to as an artist, someone I would be proud to introduce to my children, my peers, my friends, my mentors, I mean, that seemed impossible, you know?”