Photo: Randy Holmes/Disney
When Jimmy Kimmel’s show was abruptly pulled from the air in September, neither he nor his wife, Molly McNearney, knew it was only a suspension. In fact, they initially feared that Jimmy Kimmel Live! was gone for good—and had to figure out how to explain that to their kids.
In a new joint interview on the podcast We Can Do Hard Things, the couple is opening up about how they broke the news at home.
“We had to do that thing that parents do so well, which is just immediately put on a mask,” said McNearney, who also serves as executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Eventually, Kimmel and McNearney realized they’d have to tell their children, lest they hear about it from other kids at school.
“We sat them down on the couch and we told them… And we realized in that moment that any other time we’ve sat them down to talk about something, I guess it’s been good,” McNearney continued, recalling how their daughter Jane expected the news to be something fun—like a trip to Disneyland.
But when Kimmel told them his show had been suspended, their kids’ reactions were surprisingly poignant. “Our daughter immediately burst into tears,” said McNearney. “And she said, ‘I’ll sell my Labubus.’”
After calming their daughter, the couple’s son, Billy, asked a particularly astute question. “Our son asked if the President had done this,” McNearney revealed. At the same time, Kimmel and McNearney both answered “yes.”
“It’s certainly not an experience I had with my family in Las Vegas,” Kimmel joked.
Kimmel added that some of his daughter’s sadness came from her belief that she’ll one day take over her father’s show. “We’ve never said this to her. We don’t know where she got [this idea]. She has three other siblings. Two of them are actually adults and would be more qualified to take over, if it was indeed a family business that you could hand down to your kid.”
Before wrapping up their talk, McNearney tried to put the moment in perspective for their kids. “It’s really important to remember this moment,” she recalled telling them. “Your dad and his show are on the right side of history. I want you to remember that.”
“And my daughter, very earnestly, paused,” McNearney recounted, “and she said, ‘I thought we were on the left.’”
While Kimmel and McNearney assured their children that everything would be fine, McNearney admits she wasn’t as hopeful in reality. “Jimmy and I really both believed that night the show was never coming back.”
The sit-down with their children wasn’t the only story the couple shared on We Can Do Hard Things. McNearney also revealed that Kimmel had a special guest in attendance the night his show was pulled off the air.
During a trip to Mexico, Kimmel had met a hotel waiter named Moises. After complimenting Moises to the hotel’s owner, the couple returned on a subsequent trip to find that Moises had been promoted to manager. Later, Kimmel wrote a letter in support of Moises’s work visa to come to the United States. Moises eventually obtained his visa—and had come to Jimmy Kimmel Live! that night to thank Kimmel in person.
When news of Kimmel’s suspension came down, JKL audience members were about to begin seating, only to be sent home without explanation.