The most important thing in Stephen Colbert’s life is his family. Stephen Colbert, who hosts The Late Show on CBS and comes from a large Irish Catholic family, is the eleventh and youngest of twelve children. When Colbert was only ten years old, in 1974, Eastern Airlines Flight 212 crashed into a cornfield in North Carolina, taking the lives of his father, James, and two of his brothers. The accident occurred when Colbert was only ten years old. In the wake of such a terrible event, Colbert and his mother, Lorna, grew closer and closer to one another until they eventually became inseparable. Colbert’s older siblings mostly lived elsewhere.
The future host of late-night television had a girlfriend named Ann years before he became known for his work on The Colbert Report, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, and a multitude of Emmy Awards. Ann presented Stephen Colbert with an unavoidable choice: either get married or end their relationship. Colbert stated that he did not know what to do, but he did know that he needed to go back to Charleston, South Carolina, which is his hometown. This was done in order to seek guidance from the person who knew him best: his mother.
In 2019, during one of The Late Show’s Q&As, Stephen Colbert provided a comprehensive retelling of the event in question. On the first day that Colbert returned to Charleston, his mother questioned him about his intentions regarding Ann. “I don’t know,” he responded. And Lorna responded by saying, “I don’t know is not good enough.” As Stephen Colbert joked in front of his live audience when he was relating the story, “Suddenly I had a week to kill!”
Enjoy Stephen Colbert’s stunning recitation of his romantic story.
It was during that week that Colbert first met Evelyn McGee, and it was at an event for Philip Glass and Allen Ginsburg’s The Hydrogen Jukebox that was being held at the Spoleto Festival. When Colbert first saw Evelyn, he described her as “a beautiful woman in a black linen dress,” and he knew immediately that they were meant to be together. After she skipped the line to stand next to him, the two of them realized that they had known each other since they were children. Even Evelyn spent her childhood in Charleston. As the two began to talk about Philip Glass and poetry, Colbert mentioned that he was disappointed that his favorite poet from North Carolina, Chuck Sullivan, was no longer available in print. When one of the other men in line noticed what was going on, he turned around and said,
It was kismet. The host of The Late Show has compared the fortuitous coincidence of the moment to Homer’s The Odyssey, specifically the scene from the Nausicaa book in which Odysseus becomes shipwrecked and tells his tragic tale to a new audience of islanders. The islander sneezes, unsure of whether or not to believe the fantastic stories he’s been telling. This line is rendered as “sneezed a blessing on his story” in Robert Fagel’s translation of the poem. According to an old custom, this indicated that a fantastic story was actually true. Stephen Colbert, who is known for being a classics nerd, once joked that Chuck Sullivan’s son gave him and Evelyn McGee a blessing by sneezing on them while they were waiting in line.
It didn’t take long for Stephen Colbert and Evelyn McGee to start dating, which was quickly followed by marriage, and they went on to have three children together after that. They were both aware that the interaction was so unique and special.
Evelyn McGee-Colbert
Evelyn “Evie” McGee-Colbert, who is married to Stephen Colbert, is the daughter of a well-known attorney in Charleston named Joseph McGee. She spent her childhood in Charleston, where she went to the all-girls sister school to Stephen Colbert’s Catholic boys high school. As a result, when she met the couple, she discovered that they had a large number of friends in common.
McGee-Colbert has appeared in a few films and has had a part in both Stephen Colbert’s show on Comedy Central and the film that was based on that show, Strangers with Candy. In addition, she appeared in a cameo role in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, appearing alongside her husband Stephen, as well as her sons John and Peter, and, of course, her husband. Stephen is the most devoted fan of The Lord of the Rings, and his entire family got involved in the production by playing supporting roles.
The famous couple can be found living in the suburbs of New York City, more specifically in Montclair, New Jersey. Madeline Colbert, Peter Colbert, and John Colbert are their three children, and all three of them are now young adults.
