Zooey Deschanel’s Ex Says ‘Secret Service Agent’ Life With ‘New Girl’ Star Reshaped His Songwriting
Zooey Deschanel’s ex-husband Ben Gibbard wasn’t prepared for life in the spotlight.
The Death Cab for Cutie frontman said “I do” to the New Girl star in September 2009. The marriage was short-lived. By November 2011, they’d announced their split, with Deschanel filing for divorce a month later. The divorce was finalized in December 2012.
Ben Gibbard says there were ‘scary people around’ when he was married to Zooey Deschanel
During his time with Deschanel – whose star was on the rise thanks to roles in movies like (500) Days of Summer and Yes Man – the indie rocker had to get use to an uncomfortable level of attention from other people.
“Without going into detail, there were some scary people around, and that changed how I had to live my life,” he told The Independent in a recent interview about the band’s new album, I Built You a Tower. “I felt like I was living my life in public like a Secret Service agent.”
Gibbard, who is also a member of The Postal Service, shared that he would scope out exits when he and Deschanel were on dates, and that they had a code word for emergencies.
Death Cab for Cutie frontman says romance with ‘New Girl’ star changed his songwriting
The attention Gibbard received while one half of the aughts indie power couple had an affect on his songwriting.
“When you’re with someone who’s recognisable, you start taking on some of that reticence as well,” he said. I found myself deferring to her level of reticence because, well, it was different for her than it was for me. I think I retreated as a writer as a result of that.”
But once he and Deschanel broke up, Gibbard processed the split through music. Several tracks on Death Cab’s 2015 album Kintsugi referenced Deschanel and their life together in Los Angeles, with lyrics like “Was I in your way when the cameras turned to face you?” (from the song “No Room In Frame”).
“Being around people in entertainment who are fairly well-known, I noticed all these neuroses and psychoses,” he told Billboard at the time when speaking of the song “Good Help (Is So Hard to Find).”
Looking back, the now 50-year-old musician – who split from his second wife, Rachel Demy, in 2023 – says he’s no longer the same person that wrote those songs.
“I’ve long since realised that painting yourself as the aggrieved narrator… well, there is a time and place for that, but at a certain moment in life, you’ve got to grow out of it,” he said.
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