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At the start of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton lived together, but McElhenney kept that he was dating costar Kaitlin Olson a secret
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Upon learning about their relationship, Howerton recalled his shock and concern for the show’s longevity
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“If that goes south, you’re f—ed, and your whole show is f—ed, and you f—ed everybody,” Howerton revealed in a Wednesday, May 21, interview
At the start of Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson’s relationship, there was one person who wasn’t too thrilled by the news: Glenn Howerton.
Howerton, 49, McElhenney, 48, and Olson, 49, all star on the long-running sitcom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But in the early years of the series, which premiered in 2005, Howerton and McElhenney were roommates.
In 2006, McElhenney and Olson began secretly dating. But once McElhenney told Howerton, he recalled his initial confusion and concern.
“I thought he was doing a bit, because he knows that’s the stupidest thing you could possibly do is to date your co-star,” Howerton told Variety in a Wednesday, May 21, profile about the married couple.
“You’re compromising the show and everybody’s job. If that goes south, you’re f—ed, and your whole show is f—ed, and you f—ed everybody. So I laughed, and he was like, ‘No, I’m serious. We both tried to stop it, but it was inevitable. We’re in love.’ “
“All of this is happening while I’ve got a f—ing cat pooper-scooper in my hand,” Howerton, who was cleaning the cat litter box at the time, said. “I was like, ‘You idiot! You’ve got to be f—ing kidding me. You know this is the stupidest possible thing you could be doing, right?’ “
Paul Archuleta/Getty
Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson on April 30, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.
Despite Howerton’s concerns, the couple would tie the knot in 2008 and later welcome two sons: Axel Lee, 14, and Leo Grey, 13. The series would become the longest-running live-action sitcom in TV history.
Howerton also confessed to Variety that although he was living with McElhenney, he never realized the two were romantically linked. “How did I not see this was happening?” the actor asked.
“She would always come over and then would get too drunk and sleep there. In retrospect, she wasn’t really that drunk; She was just using that as an excuse to stay at our apartment,” he explained. “And then Rob would disappear for a couple of nights, and I’d be like, ‘What’s going on?’ He’d tell me he went out with some girl, just making s— up!”
Like Howerton, Charlie Day told the outlet, he “had zero suspicion.”
“I didn’t see it coming at all. And conversely, didn’t care one way or the other,” Day, 49, said before explaining that he and costar Mary Elizabeth Ellis were dating. “I thought, ‘Well, what’s the big deal?’ I think I remember Glenn was a little more thrown off.”
Danny DeVito was the couple’s only costar who suspected sparks.
“When we were going on a trip or something like that, you got the feeling that they were kind of gravitating toward each other in a cool way,” DeVito, 80, said. “Every once in a while, people who are supposed to be together wind up together.”
Michael Buckner/Getty
Actors Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito and Charlie Day in “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”
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It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 premieres on Wednesday, July 9, on FXX, with episodes streaming on Hulu the next day.
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