Jenny Mollen on Marriage to Jason Biggs: The Spare, Not the Heir

Being married to fame is a different kind of spotlight—and not always the one you want to be standing in.

Actress Jenny Mollen recently opened up about a struggle that defined much of her 18-year marriage to Jason Biggs: the feeling of being perpetually overshadowed. During a Wednesday, May 27 appearance on the What Matters With Liz podcast with Woman’s World Editor-in-Chief Liz Vaccariello, the 46-year-old didn’t hold back about the sting of watching her own identity fade into the background.“When I got together with Jason, I always had a chip on my shoulder in the beginning because I felt like suddenly I went from being the oldest daughter and I felt like I had my s*** together and then suddenly, I married this guy who in a lot of ways — career wise — totally eclipsed me,”she shared candidly.

It’s a dynamic that plays out in a thousand small moments: the way conversations shift at parties, how Instagram followers respond differently, the weight of always being introduced as someone’s spouse rather than someone in your own right. For Mollen, it was corrosive enough that she drew a wry comparison to Prince Harry and his memoir Spare, where the British royal detailed his complicated relationship with Prince William and the extended royal family. The title itself became her shorthand for the existential frustration:“To be the spare and not the heir. It was like,‘What is happening?’I was the spare. I was the American Pie spare. I relate to Harry. That drove me mad and I always had this feeling.”

The timing of these comments is worth noting. The interview aired days before Us Weekly confirmed on May 14 that Mollen and Biggs, 48, had separated after nearly two decades of marriage. Both parties said they remain on great terms and are committed to coparenting their sons, Sid, 12, and Lazlo, 8. While the podcast episode was recorded before the split became public, the vulnerability in her words suggests a woman processing something deeper than career envy—the psychological toll of subordinating your own narrative.

Mollen touched on another layer: she grew up with narcissist parents and later married someone wildly more famous, creating a perfect storm of invisibility.“Nobody was listening to what I was doing anyway. I could get away with saying whatever the f*** I wanted,”she said.“Nobody cares so I just said whatever I wanted.”It’s a coping mechanism born from being seen as background noise.

Shortly after the separation made headlines, Mollen posted a reflective essay on The Best Friend Experience substack about the inability to savor the present moment while chasing validation. She wrote about the highest highs of her life feeling like“pennies disappearing into a bottomless well,”always reaching for the next thing that might finally cure her, make her feel worthy. Whether that search extended into the marriage itself remains between her and Biggs. But what’s clear is that being the spouse of someone famous can feel like a kind of invisibility—and sometimes, that invisibility becomes impossible to ignore.