Most late-night show hosts keep their family lives private. Take Jimmy Fallon and his film producer wife, Nancy Juvonen, for instance.Then, of course, there's James Corden's wife, Julia Carey who has managed to stay under the radar despite her husband being friends with famous stars like House of Dragon's Matt Smith, who also almost ruined their wedding in 2012.Here's what really happened there.
Who Is James Corden's Wife And What Does She Do?
Like Fallon's wife, Carey also works behind the cameras. Though she started out as an actress — appearing in the '90s sitcom Wings — when Corden met her, she was already a TV producer working with the non-profit, Save the Children. They actually met in one of the organization's events when actor Dominic Cooper invited Corden to come with him.
"I said, 'I'm really enjoying this sort of thing — like, cooking dinner, falling asleep, not really drinking,'" the host recalled to People. "And he [Dominic] said, 'Come on, let's go, it'll be fun.' Thank God he persuaded me."
When Cooper introduced Corden to Carey, he immediately expressed interest in her. "I said, 'Hi, Jules. You might be the most beautiful woman in the world,'" the Cats star recounted.
"She said, 'Well, thank you very much. That sounds like something you say a lot.' And I said, 'I've never said it before in my life.’ That was it. That was it, really. I was in. And by an absolute miracle, so was she."
An hour and a half later, the two were in a corner "jokingly" planning their future together. They ultimately clicked when Corden found out that Carey prefers quiet nights at home, too.
"I remember saying to her, 'Well, what about on Friday we could do nothing together? You could come over and we could just do nothing. And then maybe we could do nothing on the Saturday, and we could do nothing on the Sunday. And if our evenings are enough of nothing, then maybe this would become something,'" James told the publication.
"And she said, 'That sounds like a fun idea.'"
How Did Matt Smith Almost Ruin James Corden's Wedding?
The Cordens tied the knot on September 15, 2012, at Babington House in Somerset, England. There, Smith stole the spotlight when he got so drunk that Corden's dad had to send him home.
"I got a scar on my chin where I fell up the stairs," The Crown star remembered during a 2018 appearance on The Late Late Show.
"I fell in a fireplace — twice! It wasn’t alight, thank God. I danced with Kylie Minogue, which was glorious," he continued. "And then your dad put me in a car. At the end, he was like, 'Matt . . . Come on, son. It’s time. It’s time.' He put me in the car."
However, Smith wasn't ready to leave the party yet. "I closed the door, and I got around the side and ran back inside!" he shared.
In September 2011, Corden revealed that Smith was the "main reason" he returned to Doctor Who.
"I'm really taken by him, he is the main reason I went back to Doctor Who," he told TV Buzz at that time, days after telling Radio Times: "When I left last time, I thought it was a great experience, but it never crossed my mind that I would come back, because most people don't."
Who Are James Corden's Kids?
The Cordens are parents to three children: Max, 11, Carey, 8, and Charlotte, 4. In 2018, the English comedian opened up about the struggles of fatherhood.
"It's just a nightmare. I got back from Liverpool on Sunday, and we thought, 'Let's take the kids out. Let's go for lunch,'" he told People of taking their kids out to eat. "I mean, it's a joke. We actually went to a place at the end of our road for lunch, and we looked like we were fleeing the country. We had that much stuff. It's absurd."
Ahead of the Grammys that year, he also announced that he might be leaving The Late Late Show in 2023 after his contract expires, so he can spend more time with his family. "I really think in a year from now that will be a good time to move on and see what else might be out there," he said during an episode of his show on April 28, 2018.
