The Moment
Will Arnett is over the drama you’ve written in your head about his relationship with ex-wife Amy Poehler – and he’s not being coy about it.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the 55-year-old actor says the rumors about bad blood with Poehler are “f-king hilarious,” because the reality is that the two are on solid, friendly terms.
Will Arnett claps back at ‘f–king hilarious’ rumors about his dynamic with ex-wife Amy Poehler https://t.co/SfVqDkXBk3 pic.twitter.com/QuPvHa8uEa
— Page Six (@PageSix) December 24, 2025
Arnett explained that he came up with the idea for a secret-guest format on his hit podcast SmartLess, where one host surprises the other two with an unannounced celebrity. The twist? Back in April, co-hosts Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes turned the concept on him by booking Poehler as the surprise guest.
Instead of icy awkwardness, the episode was easy and warm. Arnett now reveals that just this morning, Poehler texted him and Hayes, joking about all of them being nominated for Golden Globes and writing, “Let’s party,” before adding that she doesn’t have Bateman’s number – “that’s probably for the best.” Very exes-who-still-share-group-chats energy.
Arnett’s only real complaint? Their teenage sons were in on the surprise and never spilled. He joked that what really rattled him was that his kids “lied” – or as he corrected himself, “omitted the truth.”
Pressed on whether Poehler’s appearance cleared up the speculation about their post-divorce dynamic, Arnett didn’t mince words: people who think they know what went down between them, he said, have “zero idea,” and the stuff they make up online is exactly what he called it – “f-king hilarious.”
He also admitted he has a conflicted relationship with fame itself. Celebrity culture has been good to him, he said, but he still “struggles with it,” especially when strangers act like they were in the room for his most painful life moments.
The Take
I’ll be honest: this is a little role reversal moment. Will Arnett is doing the eye-rolling, and we’re the ones getting called out for being dramatic.
For years, fans treated the Arnett-Poehler split like a prestige TV show: there had to be a secret villain, a shocking twist, a messy finale. The internet basically turned their divorce into fan fiction, filling in every blank with the worst possible plot line because “we just know.”
Now Arnett is gently – OK, bluntly – saying we don’t know. At all. And he’s laughing about how confidently wrong people can be. It’s the celebrity version of that friend who says, “You think you know my marriage because you saw three Instagram posts and one blurry paparazzi shot?”
What’s striking is how utterly normal their rapport sounds. Group texts. Kids in on a prank. Shared work circles. Very 2020s “we’re-divorced-but-our-lives-are-still-mixed” reality. For a lot of people in their 40s and 50s, that’s familiar. The neat, clean divorce where everyone vanishes into separate universes is kind of a fantasy now.
There’s also a bigger culture shift here. We say we want “healthy co-parenting,” but the clicks still go to the mess. When exes like Arnett and Poehler are still joking and collaborating, it doesn’t fit the drama template. So the rumor mill invents a darker story to make it feel more like the movies we grew up on.
Arnett calling that out – and framing the wild theories as comedy, not trauma – is a subtle power move. It’s like he’s saying, I’ve already done the real emotional work. You’re the ones stuck in season two.
If anything, his tone suggests something fans often forget: by the time we finally get the “inside story,” the people living it are usually years ahead of us emotionally. We’re rehashing a breakup they processed ages ago, while they’re just trying to text about the Golden Globes and get through carpool.
Receipts
Confirmed:
- In a Rolling Stone interview published in December 2025, Will Arnett said rumors about his dynamic with Amy Poehler are “f-king hilarious” and insisted they’re on good terms as friends and co-parents.
- Arnett confirmed he originally conceived the surprise-guest idea for the SmartLess podcast he co-hosts with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes.
- He stated that in April 2025, Bateman and Hayes surprised him by bringing Amy Poehler on as the secret guest, with their sons helping keep the appearance a secret.
- Arnett shared that Poehler recently texted him and Hayes about them all being nominated for Golden Globes and joked about not having Bateman’s number.
- He acknowledged that celebrity has been “good” to him but said he still struggles with aspects of fame and public speculation.
- Public records and prior reporting show Arnett and Poehler were married from 2003 until their divorce was finalized in 2016, and they share two sons.
Unverified / Rumored:
- Specific fan theories about why their marriage ended or claims of ongoing hostility have circulated online for years, but Arnett directly rejected those narratives in the interview and did not confirm any dramatic backstory.
- Any suggestion that the SmartLess episode with Poehler was staged as “damage control” has not been supported by on-the-record statements; Arnett describes it simply as a surprise guest bit.
Sources: Will Arnett interview in Rolling Stone (December 2025); SmartLess podcast episode featuring Amy Poehler as surprise guest (April 2025); publicly available marriage and divorce records reported in prior coverage.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you’re more Frasier than binge-podcaster, here’s the quick refresher.
Will Arnett is the Canadian-born actor best known for playing chaotic man-child Gob Bluth on Arrested Development, voicing the gravelly superhero in The Lego Batman Movie, and co-hosting the celebrity interview podcast SmartLess. Amy Poehler is a comedy powerhouse from Saturday Night Live and the endlessly rewatchable Parks and Recreation, where she played optimistic government warrior Leslie Knope.
The two met in the early 2000s, married in 2003, and became one of those comedy power couples everyone rooted for. They separated in 2012, with their divorce finalized in 2016, and they share two sons whom they’ve largely kept out of the spotlight. Over the years, both have occasionally spoken about the breakup as painful but private, without airing details.
Publicly, they’ve appeared at events without visible tension, and Poehler has written about her life (including the divorce years) in her 2014 memoir Yes Please, while still keeping the core of their split off-limits.
What’s Next
On a practical level, don’t expect some dramatic tell-all. If anything, Arnett’s comments feel like a line in the sand: the story he’s willing to share is “we’re fine, and you don’t know what you think you know.”
In the short term, the next chapter is likely more of what we’ve already seen: occasional overlap at industry events like the Golden Globes, the odd podcast or panel, and quietly coordinated co-parenting behind the scenes. Given the success of SmartLess, it wouldn’t be shocking if Poehler pops up again down the line – not as a stunt, just as a comedy friend who happens to be an ex-wife.
The bigger “what’s next” is for us, the audience. Hollywood is slowly normalizing the idea that divorce doesn’t have to mean scorched earth. From Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s much-mocked “conscious uncoupling” to Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s united front, the glossy, friendly ex is becoming more common.
Arnett and Poehler seem to be in that camp: two working parents, still in each other’s professional orbits, choosing private healing over public mess. It’s not as spicy as the rumors, but it’s a lot closer to how regular people actually live.
So maybe the real twist ending is this: after all those years of speculating, the big reveal is that there is no big reveal – just two grown-ups doing their best.
Your turn: When celebrities insist their breakup was boring and grown-up, do you believe them and move on, or do you think the public will always go looking for a messier story underneath?
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