Carrie Coon put laughter first when she was asked what keeps her marriage to Tracy Letts going. At the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on November 2, the Gilded Age actress told E! News that a sense of humor was especially useful once they had children.
“Number two is you tell the truth,” Coon said. That had been their understanding from the start. She and Letts celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in September, though she joked that “it feels like longer.”
Letts gave an example earlier this year on CBS Sunday Morning. If Coon asks what he thinks of a dress and he dislikes it, he says so. By his reasoning, that gives her good reason to believe him when he tells her how much he admires her acting.
Letts and Coon had been photographed together a week earlier at the New York premiere afterparty for The Gilded Age. For the fashion awards, Coon went with Nellie Partow, the designer who made her blue silk organza gown.
What Coon’s Son Asks When She Comes Home in Makeup
Partow’s gown took more than 100 hours to make, according to Vogue. At home, Coon said, her children have their own way of looking at a fitting. To Haskell, 8, and his 5-year-old sister, seeing their mother try on clothes or put on lipstick means she’s about to go somewhere. They’d prefer she stay.
Coon rarely wears makeup around the house, and Haskell has a request when she gets back from a night out. She said he tells her she looks like a clown and asks if she’ll wash it off so they can snuggle.
What Coon Meant When She Talked About Attraction on Set
Settle down, internet! I said “open minded” not “open”. 😂❤️🙉🙈🙊
Carrie Coon (@carriecoon) February 25, 2025
On the February 24, 2025, episode of WTF with Marc Maron, Coon said she and Letts talk freely about the people they find attractive on set. Neither is particularly jealous, she said, and both enjoy hearing the answer.
When the conversation turned to monogamy, Coon questioned whether it suited everyone. Some listeners took that as a statement about the terms of her own marriage. She corrected that reading the following day on X.
Why Letts Wanted Coon to Keep an Old Red T-Shirt
The two met in 2010 at Coon’s callback for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. They told The New Yorker that their first date came after the production moved to Washington, D.C. They went to see the Nationals on Opening Day.
In 2013, Coon flew home from filming Gone Girl with one day left on their marriage license. That night, Letts needed emergency gallbladder surgery. Coon brought the rings to the hospital, where a chaplain married them. The bride wore stretch pants and one of Letts’ T-shirts.
Years later, cleaning out a closet, Coon came across the red shirt. Letts recognized it immediately. As she recalled, he told her, “That’s your wedding dress! Don’t throw that away!”