Chelsea Handler's 'Faith In Men' Has Been 'Renewed' Thanks To Jo Koy

Actress and comedian Chelsea Handler admits that her relationship with co-comedian Jo Koy renewed her faith in men and love. Before dating Koy, Handler was involved with former E! executive producer Ted Harbert. She went on to date hotelier Andre Balazs on and off for two years before ending things with him in 2013.

Koy is Handler's most recent relationship, and the duo was only together for a few months before calling their relationship off. The stars were good friends with each other for almost two decades before becoming romantically involved in late 2021.

Since splitting, Handler and Koy have only had good things to say about each other, with the former recently claiming that their romance made her believe in love and men once again.

Read on to learn more.

Handler spoke about her relationship with Koy and had only good things to say about her fellow comedian. The duo started seeing each other romantically in late 2021 and alerted the public of their romance in September of that year. By July 2022, they announced that their almost one-year relationship had ended.

While talking to Entertainment Tonight in a recent interview, Handler disclosed that prior to her relationship with Koy, she had "lost my faith in men." She continued per People, "And then, I got into a relationship, and that faith was renewed, and it made me open-minded and open-hearted, and I remain that way."

The actress went on to talk about how grateful she was for their relationship, both work and romantic. Koy directed "Revolution," Handler's most recent Netflix special. She admitted, "I'm glad that we did that special together. That was a great experience."

"The Chelsea Handler Show" host explained that she did not think being in a relationship was an "end all, be all" situation. Handler also mentioned the importance of being the best and most authentic version of oneself in a relationship.

"It can be beautiful as long as you are really delivering up your best self in that relationship," the actress said. "You don't want to ever have to be anybody that you're not... and everybody has the ability to make other people be better and be stronger."

Handler further stated that she knew the value of finding love and companionship and listed some attributes of a loving relationship she appreciated. She said via People, "I believe in love, and I love the way that love can light you up."

The comedian continued, "I liked the togetherness, and I liked the constant camaraderie and having a buddy. And I just thought, 'Oh yeah, you can find somebody that you have a lot in common with, and that can work as well.'"

In an episode of Brooke Shields' "Now What?" Podcast, Handler went into detail about her previous relationship with Koy and what made them part ways. According to the actress, during the romance, she thought he was her "guy" but was eventually confronted by a number of things she couldn't agree on.

She said, "I really believed that this was my guy. I thought, 'Oh my God, I won.' Like I got everything. I have my career; I have respect; I have my family; I have so many friends; I have all of these things. And then I thought this was gonna be the person I spend my life with."

Towards the end of their relationship, Handler, however, realized that Koy was not her person. Despite the couple's numerous attempts to make things work, such as therapy, their efforts were futile.

The "Chelsea Lately" continued, "There were just some behaviors that we couldn't agree on… It felt to me like I would have to abandon myself, which maybe I would have been OK to do if I were 20 or 25, but I wasn't willing to do that. No matter how much I loved this person — and I loved him so much — I was not going to abandon myself."

Koy and Handler met via a mutual friend almost decades ago and maintained a platonic relationship until 2021. Koy has been a regular part of Handler's "Chelsea Lately," which aired from 2007 to 2014. Handler announced their break on July 18, 2022, via a video that was supposed to celebrate their first anniversary.

In the post's caption, Handler called Koy's love "one of the greatest gifts of my life." She continued, "Jo- you blew my creativity open, my lust for working hard again, being on the road again, and you reminded me who I was and always have been, and my feet have never been more firmly planted in the ground."

While talking to Shields, Handler admitted that she was in a lot of pain at the time and that "walking away from him was one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do."