Jerry O'Connell's Honest Take on Marriage, Body, and What Real Love Smells Like

Most people don’t go on podcasts to wax poetic about their spouse’s body odor. But then again, Jerry O’Connell isn’t most people.

During an appearance on the“Thanks Dad With Ego Nwodim”podcast on Monday, June 29, the actor opened up about his wife Rebecca Romijn in a way that’s refreshingly unfiltered. While discussing deodorants and antiperspirants, O’Connell revealed that Romijn—the 53-year-old model and actress—relies on crystal deodorant to manage perspiration. His verdict? It doesn’t work. But here’s where it gets interesting: he didn’t seem to mind one bit.

“I kind of like it when I can smell my wife’s body odor,”O’Connell, 52, explained.“It’s kind of like, yeah, she’s alive, we’re alive, we’re living.”He continued with characteristic charm, calling it“a little funky town”—a comment that somehow manages to be both goofy and oddly romantic at the same time. It’s the kind of statement that might make some people cringe, but it also reveals something deeper about how O’Connell views his 19-year marriage to Romijn (they’ve been together since 2007 and share twin daughters, Charlie and Dolly, 17).

This isn’t the first time O’Connell has shown his playful, candid side when it comes to his relationship. Just days earlier, on June 23, he appeared on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live and recounted a recent party encounter with Romijn’s ex-husband, Full House icon John Stamos. Rather than any awkwardness, O’Connell seized the moment for humor—introducing himself with warmth and even cracking jokes about his wife’s shopping habits (all in good fun, of course). He made sure to include Stamos’wife, Caitlin McHugh, in the moment, keeping things light and inclusive.

Interestingly, Stamos himself had recently opened up about the end of his marriage to Romijn on Bobbi Althoff’s“The Really Good Podcast.”The actor admitted the divorce“broke my heart,”but he’s since made peace with how things turned out. He even praised Romijn and O’Connell’s life together, saying they’re“doing great”with their kids. When the two men crossed paths at the party, Stamos described O’Connell as“super nice,”“very funny,”and“very charming”—a far cry from the tension that could define such encounters.

What O’Connell’s podcast appearance really highlights is a willingness to be genuinely, unabashedly himself. In an era where celebrity relationships are often packaged and polished for public consumption, his off-the-cuff remarks about finding authenticity and vitality in his wife’s natural scent feel almost radical. He’s not pretending marriage is Instagram-perfect; he’s celebrating the messier, more human reality of being alive with another person. That’s the real story here.