Whitney Cummings is one of the most recognizable women in comedy. However, unlike most women in the spotlight, she’s managed to keep her love life mostly under the radar. Here’s everything we know about Cummings’ dating history.
She Met Her Current Boyfriend When He Treated Her Injured Dog
Since late 2021, the 2 Broke Girls creator has been dating an emergency veterinarian eight years her junior named Alex Barnes. The vet is an Arizona native who earned his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Colorado State University.
The two lovebirds had a chance meeting when Cummings’ dog sustained a gruesome injury. “Right at the beginning of the pandemic, I was fostering a dog that attacked another one of my dogs, and the small dog’s eyes came out,” Cummings revealed on Live With Kelly and Ryan. “I had to rush to the veterinarian.”
She recalled panicking, trying to get into the veterinary office despite COVID protocols prohibiting her from entering the building. Thankfully, Barnes came outside to aide Cummings and her injured pup. The comedian compared Barnes to the veterinarian character in the show Schitt’s Creek, explaining how she was immediately struck by his good looks.
The pair has been inseparable ever since. In addition to his love of helping animals, Barnes is also an avid rock climber. The vet has traveled to multiple countries to pursue the daring sport, and he’s worked as a professional route setter in indoor climbing gyms in several states. Cummings even installed a giant rock wall in her backyard for her new beau. In a standup routine in fall of 2021, Cummings joked that she and Barnes were already thinking about marriage.
“Here’s something I want to announce to you guys I’ve never said before, like no one knows,” Cummings told the crowd. “I’m dating someone and I want to be the one to propose to him. Look, I’m 39. I don’t have time for him to plan a f**king scavenger hunt proposal. ‘So Alex, will you make me the happiest girl in the world and let me buy my own engagement ring since you can’t afford the one that I want?’”
Of course, there hasn’t been any engagement news in the year following, but, from what we can tell, the pair is still together.
She Was Previously Engaged To Miles Skinner
Before meeting Alex Barnes, Whitney Cummings had a long relationship with creative director Miles Skinner. During their time together, Skinner worked as the executive creative director of special projects at VICE Media. In November of 2017, Cummings revealed during an appearance on Conan that she met Skinner on the internet ten months prior. “You either find a husband or you get murdered,” she joked about the online dating scene.
They kept their romance under wraps. Cummings joked at one point that she wouldn’t let Skinner see her stand-up comedy, although it’s unclear if she held out for the duration of their relationship. They got engaged in 2018, and Cummings initially expressed excitement. “Today I got engaged. I handled it great! This just goes to show that if you work on yourself, trust your gut, and keep your ego in check you too can find love on a dating app,” Cummings announced on Instagram.
Unfortunately, the pair called things off in 2020. “I’m not wearing an engagement ring,” Cummings revealed in a February episode of her podcast, Good For You. “I am no longer engaged. Nothing nasty, no drama. It just wasn’t—I feel like nobody will believe me—I truly just was not ready to plan a wedding; the whole thing really overwhelmed me.”
Cummings also noted that her mother’s recent stroke played a part in her decision to call the wedding off. “My mom is in bad shape health-wise. The idea of planning was just really overwhelming and kind of sad to me. I feel like planning a wedding should be fun and not a complete bummer,” she explained.
She Dated Peter Berg For Over A Year
One of Cummings’ more public relationships was with filmmaker Peter Berg. Berg has worked on multiple blockbuster films as a producer, writer, actor, and director. He created the hit drama show Friday Night Lights and directed the 2012 action movie Battleship.
He and Cummings dated for about a year and a half before announcing their split in the fall of 2013. The couple remained extremely private throughout their relationship, although there are plenty of photos of the couple cuddled up in public.
It doesn’t seem like their relationship ended well. Multiple reports say her relationship with Berg was the subject of scorn in her subsequent comedy shows. In the years following their split, Cummings repeatedly touted her co-dependency and poor taste in men as the reason for her failed relationships in the past. Although, she’s since sought out therapy and has a much healthier outlook toward love and relationships.