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put a ring on it

Is that a wedding ring on Cooper Koch’s finger? The ‘Monsters’ star opens up about his love life

By Cameron Scheetz October 18, 2024 at 1:00pm
Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Cooper Koch charm offensive continues—and we love having front-row seats!

Earlier this week, the breakout star of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story popped by Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, where host Andy Cohen rattled off a ranking of the most iconic full-frontal scenes ever.

During the segment, Koch—who has his fair share of them throughout Monsters—was eager to point out that he wasn’t using a prosthetic, answering the question we all had after bingeing the series. All natural, baby!

“Congratulations to you, Cooper,” an excitable Cohen responded. “You’re very blessed, aren’t you?”

Now, look, we’ve been watching Cohen and WWHL for years at this point—enough to know that the host certainly tightened perked up at this reveal. He was smitten, and who wouldn’t be?

But later that same episode, a fan called in to ask Koch if he had a boyfriend (which Cohen admitted was “a good question”), at which point the actor confirmed he was, indeed, taken. “Sorry,” he said to camera, realizing he’s probably breaking quite a few hearts with that reveal.

Despite his big moment in the spotlight, the social media-averse star has kept his private life private, so there’s very little out there about who the special man might be.

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Wait a minute: Is Cooper Koch engaged?

Well, leave it to Cohen—ever the intrepid reporter—to dig a little deeper into the relationship. Following up the WWHL appearance, Koch popped by the SiriusXM show Radio Andy, and the host couldn’t help but notice something shiny on the actor’s finger…

“You’re wearing a wedding ring,” Cohen notes in a clip from their conversation. “Talk to me about that.”

“We were going to the Emmy Awards with my [twin] brother Payton, who was nominated for an Emmy for editing for Only Murders In The Building,” Koch shares, hinting at his family’s Hollywood pedigree (though more on that in a minute).

He recalls not having any jewelry on, so he and his boyfriend went to his room to find something, only to stumble on a ring that belonged to his grandfather (which isn’t just any grandfather—he’s Tinsel Town royalty). So Koch decided to put the ring on, but not only for that night.

“It just kind of became this little… romantic, protective mechanism. I just wanted to trip people out a little bit and see what they would say.”

In other words: No, Koch isn’t engaged to be wed… yet. It’s effectively a promise ring, just—you know—without all the heteronormative purity baggage attached.

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Then, Cohen asked what we were all wondering: Does the boyf have one on, too?

“No. But he’s very much committed to me as much as I am to him. We have talked about that, and we do need to get him a ring. But it’s really more of a nice totem.”

Oh wow, that’s…. incredibly sweet! Koch has been acting for a while now—we’ve previously interviewed him for his past roles in queer horror movies Swallowed and They/Them—but suddenly being thrust to a new level of fame thanks to Monsters can’t be easy, so it’s lovely to hear he’s got a great support system by his side, and vice versa.

Cooper Koch’s family is Hollywood royalty

Now, back to that family we mentioned. Koch was born and raised in Los Angeles, the son of Billy Koch, who has worked in the visual effects department for a number of films, from Jerry Maguire to Space Jam.

His grandfather—presumably the one whose ring he’s wearing—is Hawk Koch (what a name!), a longtime Hollywood producer who also formerly served as the president of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, overseeing the Oscars. He also served as the assistant director on some stone-cold classics like Chinatown and The Way We Were.

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And then Hawk’s father—Cooper’s great grandfather—Howard W. Koch was once the head of film production at Paramount Pictures, who directed a number of movies of his own, and also produced quite a few timeless gems, from The Manchurian Candidate to Ghost.

By the way: Cooper Koch’s first screen role? He was credited as “Kid” in the 2007 Anthony Hopkins-Ryan Gosling legal thriller Fracture, which happened to be produced by… Grandpa Hawk! And here’s another fun fact: His second role was as the love interest in the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus video for “Ordinary Girl.” Adorable!

We don’t necessarily want to stick Koch with the “nepo baby” label—it has too many negative connotations and he’s certainly put the work in to get to this point and has the chops. How about: Nepo Babygirl? There, that’s more like it!

As for Koch’s siblings, he has a brother named Walker who is a musician, and then he’s got the aforementioned twin named Payton who, yes, is also gay and, yes, is also extremely handsome.

Payton recently received his first Emmy nomination for his work on Only Murders In The Building, and has previously worked in the editorial department plenty of projects, including Ratched, American Crime Story, The Politician, and The Boys In The Band remake. Sensing a theme here? Yup, they’re all Ryan Murphy productions—just like Monsters!

Anyway, unlike Cooper, Payton isn’t shy about social media, and has shared plenty of photos on Instagram—with and without his twin. And, for that, we are grateful! Long live the hunky Kochs of Hollywood!

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