“Weird Al” Yankovic has been remarkably successful as a humorist, singer, record producer, musician, author, and songwriter. His musical parodies of superstars like Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson established his reputation for witty riffs on pop tunes we all know.
One writer deconstructed the essence of Yankovic’s magic: “Whatever is popular at the moment, Yankovic can hack into its source code and reprogram it” (via The New York Times).
There’s a special woman who shares in Yankovic’s life and success. He married Suzanne Krajewski in 2001 and they have been together ever since. We took a peek into the background of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s wife. Here’s what we learned about her.
Who Is Suzanne Yankovic?
“Weird Al” Yankovic (born Alfred Matthew Yankovic) met his wife when they were each settled into their professional lives, he as a musician and parodist extraordinaire, she as a 20th Century Fox marketing executive and skilled photographer.
They seemed, at least on the surface, to have been an unlikely match. That was actually not totally the case. Many who know Yankovic have said that he is reserved, respectful, and agreeably low-key when he is offstage.
It was Bill Mumy, the actor/writer/musician from the campy 1960s TV series Lost In Space who got Yankovic together with the lady who became his bride. She balked a bit at first. According to Rolling Stone, Krajewski had some misgivings about meeting him.
“I thought to myself, ‘Oh, I don’t know about this,’” she reflected. “Then I thought, ‘That’s kind of shallow of me to just be looking at a persona. People are often so different than how they appear.’ And we clicked immediately.”
The pair took things slowly. They chatted by phone a lot before they met in person. When they did finally see each other, Yankovic was clearly smitten.
“I hadn’t even seen her, but I already had a major crush,” he admitted. “She was asking me all these questions about my life and I said, ‘You can just watch my VH1 Behind The Music tomorrow.’ I guess we did get married a little late in life, but neither one of us had been married before and neither of us intends to be married again.”
Yankovic and Krajewski tied the knot on February 10, 2001 and share a daughter, Nina, who was born in 2003.
Yankovic seems to worship her. “She’s such an ideal kid,” he said. “She likes playing outside, animals and nature. I was always watching TV at her age. Where did we go right?”
In Many Ways, The Yankovics Are Complete Opposites
This is a celebrity couple whose differences work for them, rather than pulling them apart. According to The New York Times, they “are classic opposites: He is internal and unobservant and can disappear into his head for days at a time; Suzanne is chatty and social and hyper-present.”
Yankovic doesn’t throw tantrums. He won’t even swear. His wife has tried to lovingly goad him into uttering a naughty word now and then, but he steadfastly refuses. She might say to him, “C’mon, honey, it’s just us” to persuade Yankovic to speak a profanity or two at home, but his lips remain sealed.
The whole family, including their dog, savors the outdoors. The Yankovics live in the Hollywood Hills, and they love hiking as well as basking in the open air on their deck.
Their daughter described what they typically do. “All four of us get into the tent,” which is situated on the deck, she said. “We take out mini marshmallows and put them on sticks and roast them over a candle. It’s really fun. Sometimes an owl comes onto a tree and we look at him with binoculars.”
Suzanne Has Helped Weird Al Overcome A Tendency To Hoard
As Vice reported, Yankovic seems to hate parting with anything. That habit can lead to massive, uncurated piles of objects. His wife has gotten him to pare down his vast collections of things, however, such as shirts—hundreds of which she sent to Goodwill—and piles of old fan mail he kept stashed in a storage locker.
“We live in a nice house on the Hollywood Hills and we’re trying to not have it cluttered full of my junk,” Yankovic explained. “I have a lot, and some I need to hold onto for sentimental reasons, but we’re trying to live uncluttered lives and that’s difficult when you’ve had a long life and career, and there’s so many trinkets and mementos that you want to keep with you.”
Their Home Has Quite A History
The Yankovics’ home has a pretty intriguing backstory. The late rapper Heavy D formerly lived there, as did “marijuana advocate” Jack Margolis, Wired reported.
“I don’t know if he remodeled it, but a lot of things here in this house are very Heavy D-sized,” Yankovic noted to Rolling Stone. “My wife is a wee woman, she’s not very tall, and it’s difficult for her to stand at our bathroom counter because they’re a little taller than normal. So everything in this house is a little oversized.”
Yankovic also thinks that the house may have served as a set for adult films. A film starring Andy Garcia called Internal Affairs (1990) could have been filmed there, too.
Weird Al Yankovic has eked out a unique niche in pop culture for himself. His is a classic “nice guy makes good” tale, rounded out by the caring presence of his wife and daughter. In Suzanne Yankovic, he seems to have found the perfect mate.