Fans know Jesse Spencer for his work on TV shows like House and Chicago Fire. However, the actor has managed to keep his personal life under the radar. For example, audiences may not know that Spencer got married just a couple of years ago. Here’s everything we know about Spencer’s wife, Kali Carr.
Who Is Kali Woodruff Carr?
As it turns out, Kali Woodruff Carr’s professional life is a far cry from the acting world. Carr is an academic with a Ph.D. in developmental cognitive neuroscience. According to Carr’s profile on Research Gate, her research primarily centers around the study of how our life experiences shape our perceptions of the world.
She reportedly studied both psychology and music performance at the University of Florida before going on to study communication sciences at Northwestern University. According to her Twitter profile, she officially completed her Ph.D. in August 2021 and she’s currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health.
She’s also part of the Infant and Child Development Center and the Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences at her alma mater, Northwestern University. Of course, Carr’s impressive intellectual achievements aren’t lost on her famous husband.
“She’s smart, pretty, and way ahead of her years,” Spencer said of his wife after they tied the knot, per the Daily Mail.
Spencer also celebrated his wife after she finished her Ph.D. in 2021 by Tweeting, “Married up.”
Carr And Spencer Had A COVID Wedding
According to the Daily Mail, Spencer and Carr met at a Chicago music festival in 2014 and immediately hit it off. They dated for about five years before Spencer popped the question during a week-long hike in the Peruvian Andes, per The Daily Telegraph.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after their engagement. However, they made do and wed on June 27, 2020.
The ceremony took place in Carr’s hometown of Neptune Beach, FL. According to The Daily Telegraph, the couple chose their wedding date to pay homage to Carr’s grandparents’ wedding anniversary.
“Despite a spike in COVID, a venue change, a Saharan dust plume, not to mention a torrential thunderstorm, we made it across the line on our wedding day, and I’m a very lucky man,” Spencer told The Daily Telegraph after the news of their wedding broke. “What a silver lining to 2020.”
Spencer later told TV Line that despite leaving the series Chicago Fire after ten seasons, he and Carr had no plans to leave Chicago. It seems like Carr’s roots have been in Chicago ever since she attended Northwestern University.
“My home here with my wife is in Chicago, and so I’m still going to be here, but I’m just stepping back for right now,” Spencer told the publication at the time. As of 2022, it doesn’t seem like the couple has any children.
No, Spencer Was Never Married To Jennifer Morrison
Possibly the first time Spencer’s romantic life made waves in the press was when he began dating Jennifer Morrison. Spencer and Morrison portrayed on-screen love interests on the popular medical drama House, so the media watched their relationship closely. The couple went public with their relationship around the same time that the show premiered in 2004.
The couple reportedly became engaged over the holiday season with the news breaking in January 2007. According to People, Spencer popped the question in French while they were visiting the Eiffel Tower. Spencer told InStyle Weddings at the time that he had been planning his proposal for six months before ultimately settling on a trip to Paris.
They planned to wed later in 2007, although it turned out it wasn’t in the cards. The couple called off their engagement in August of that year, per People.
“After much consideration, we have decided not to get married,” the couple said in a joint statement at the time. “We are still very close, and we look forward to continuing to work together on House.”
It turns out that everything happens for a reason. In April of 2022, E! News reported that Morrison married her own longtime partner, Gerardo Celasco, in an intimate beach ceremony. So, it turns out everyone got their fairytale happy ending!
As of 2022, Jesse Spencer and Kali Woodruff Carr have been together for over eight years and are on track for many more.