Christine Baranski is best known for her roles on shows like The Good Wife and Cybill, but she actually got her start in theater, and that’s how she met her late husband, Matthew Cowles.
Baranski, a Buffalo native and Julliard grad, spent the 1970s as a stage actress in Shakespeare productions and other classics like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Then, in 1982, she did a Henrik Ibsen play in Garden City, New York, where she starred alongside Cowles.
The two were married a year later and soon welcomed two kids. They stayed together for more than 30 years until Cowles’ sudden death in 2014 at age 69.
Baranski has kept her love life relatively private since then, but in August 2025 she walked the red carpet at the Mama Mia! Broadway opening hand-in-hand with singer King Princess. Princess shared a photo of the pair via her Instagram with the caption “#LoveIsLove.”
As Baranski’s life and career continues to evolve, keep scrolling for a look back at her relationship with Cowles.
1982
Baranski and Cowles met while working on an Ibsen play together in Garden City, New York, she told The New York Times in 2011.
“And he asked me if I wanted to ride home on his motorcycle one night,” she said. “He was this shaggy blond-haired guy who smoked unfiltered Mexican cigarettes. He was really exotic. I was in my early 30s. He loved riding around lower Manhattan — back when SoHo was a little dark.”
1983
The couple married in 1983 and moved to Connecticut one year after Cowles’ two-year-long marriage to actress Kathleen Dezina came to an end.
1984
Baranski and Cowles welcomed their first child, daughter Isabel. Isabel initially pursued acting, like her parents, before becoming a prosecutor and eventually a writer.
“There’s nothing like growing up around a successful actor to make you realize how unglamorous of a life it really is,” Isabel wrote in a 2014 essay for Elle. “Obviously there are more perks to being a celebrity than there are for most professions, but, if you’re lucky enough to find regular employment, you work hard. You spend your days on a windowless soundstage, take most meals alone, mutter lines to yourself like a madwoman, and live apart from your family when opportunity strikes.”
1987
Three years after having Isabel, Baranski and Cowles welcomed daughter Lily. Like her sister, Lily also pursued acting — something she has made a career out of. Lily starred in The CW drama Roswell, New Mexico, appearing in all 52 episodes over four seasons from 2019 to 2022. She has also done voice-over work for the Call of Duty video game franchise.
Lily opened up about how her mom inspired her acting career in a 2019 interview with Town & Country.
“My mother has always been so professional and always kept her nose to grindstone,” she said. “She taught me it takes a lot to gain a reputation, and it can also be ruined very quickly.”
2014
Cowles died in 2014 of congestive heart failure. Baranski reflected on his death in a 2018 story for Parade, where she credited her job with helping her cope.
“A few months after Matthew passed away, I had to be back in front of a camera — but it helped to be with my community of people,” she said. “They all knew and loved me, so going back to work was good.”
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