{"id":384802,"date":"2026-04-10T09:54:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/384802\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:54:22","slug":"hacks-queen-jean-smart-74-and-her-boyfriend-are-the-most-romantic-couple-on-the-red-carpet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/384802\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hacks\u2019 Queen Jean Smart, 74, and Her Boyfriend Are the Most Romantic Couple on the Red Carpet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jean Smart and her boyfriend<\/a>, Joe Pacheco, are the sweetest couple on the red carpet.<\/p>\n

The Hacks star, 74, first rose to fame on the popular series Designing Women, and continued her reign as a comedy queen on Frasier<\/a>. She nailed more dramatic roles on 24 and Fargo, and became a romcom favorite thanks to Sweet Home Alabama. But it’s her turn as stand-up comedian Deborah Vance on Hacks that solidified her as Hollywood gold, and with season five right around the bend, it’s great to see her thriving on the red carpet.<\/p>\n

Smart, who lost her husband in 2021, looked so happy while holding hands with Pacheco at Hacks season 5 premiere in Los Angeles, California. With their arms interwoven, the duo is certainly lucky in love.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo by Amy Sussman on Getty Images<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfac\u00a0SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/a>\u00a0\ud83c\udfac\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Did Jean Smart’s Husband Die?<\/p>\n

As Smart approached the end of filming season 1 in March 2021, her husband, Richard Gilliland,\u00a0died at the age of 71<\/a>. He had a heart condition and suffered a “brief illness\u201d before his death, PEOPLE reported.<\/p>\n

Smart was \u201cstill kind of in shock\u201d but decided to continue filming the season. However, there was one scene she couldn’t bring herself to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Let\u2019s just do it.\u2019 The only day that got me was when we shot Ava\u2019s father\u2019s funeral,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI suddenly thought, \u2018I can\u2019t do a funeral scene \u2014 I can\u2019t.\u2019 I\u2019m not prone to anxiety<\/a> at all, but that was not a pleasant day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart Leaned on Hannah Einbinder To Get Through<\/p>\n

To navigate her grief<\/a>, Smart leaned on her co-star, Hannah Einbinder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really turned to [Einbinder] for comfort and support, and she was amazing,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI mean, she\u2019s very wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, I remember everything,\u201d Einbinder told PEOPLE. \u201cEvery moment of it. I remember getting calls from the hospital on set, and it just was so painful. And I remember the way that everybody around sprang into action to care for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

After going through so much together, it’s great to see Smart and Einbinder back together. Check out the trailer for season 5!<\/p>\n

Related: ‘Hacks’ Star Jean Smart Shares Bold Message After \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u2019 Suspension: \u2018I\u2019m Horrified\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Apr 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jean Smart and her boyfriend, Joe Pacheco, are the sweetest couple on the red carpet. The Hacks star,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,183592,183593,146,16757,85,46,127775,183590,183591],"class_list":["post-384802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-deborah-vance","tag-designing-women","tag-entertainment","tag-hannah-einbinder","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jean-smart","tag-joe-pacheco","tag-sweet-home-alabama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}