Wanda Sykes and her wife, Alex
Wanda and Alex Sykes (Photo: Shutterstock)

Comedian, actor and writer Wanda Sykes is currently in the middle of a year-long stand-up tour. Her “Please and Thank You” jaunt across the US is her first tour in six years. The first dates took place in spring and early summer. The next set of dates commence on September 14 in Connecticut. 

The funny lady first came to attention when she won a Primetime Emmy as a writer for The Chris Rock Show in 1999. She quickly became a star in her own right. She’s also one of the most high-profile lesbians in the entertainment industry, after coming out in 2008 as California mulled Proposition 8. 

Wanda felt strongly about Proposition 8 for personal reasons. She revealed to the crowd at a same-sex marriage rally in Nevada that she’d got married herself just a few weeks earlier to her wife, Alex. 

Coming out in her 40s

Wanda was raised in a very religious household and didn’t come out to her parents until she was 40, in 2004. They did not take the news well. Wanda has said her mom was devastated and asked her to stay in the closet. There was a subsequent period of estrangement between them. 

In 2006, on a ferry trip to Fire Island, Wanda was introduced to her future spouse, French woman Alex Niedbalski. Wanda was looking to remodel her kitchen and Alex sold granite countertops. The two women immediately hit it off. 

“Something really said to me — like, audibly — ‘Wow, that’s what you need, Wanda’,” the comedian later recalled to The Guardian. 

Marriage and parenthood

The two married on October 25, 2008. Wanda’s parents declined to attend although they reportedly later reconciled with their daughter and embraced the role of grandparents.

Wanda routinely marks their anniversary online.

In 2009, the couple became parents when Alex gave birth to twins, Olivia Lou and Lucas Clyde. Wanda has said she hadn’t wanted children before she met Alex.

“I didn’t want kids. I had no vision of having kids at all,” she told NPR in 2019. “And when I met my wife, she — that was her thing. ‘Look. Right upfront, I want kids.’ And I was like, ‘Well, can you give me, like, six months to think about it? And let’s just continue dating, and then we’ll see. And if I know it’s not for me, then, you know, we’ll just call this quits, and you go on and find somebody who wants to have kids.’ “

“So [Alex] agreed, so — but after that six months, even before then, I quickly was, like, ‘You know? Why wouldn’t you want kids? Why wouldn’t you want to start a family with this person?’ And it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Wanda has spoken about raising French-speaking kids in the US and how her wife’s homeland had shaped her family. 

Wanda and Alex have enjoyed good times and challenging times during their married life. In 2011, Wanda discovered she had pre-cancerous cancer cells in her breasts. She opted to undergo a double mastectomy. 

Her most high-profile hosting appearance was also marred by controversy. She co-hosted the Oscars in 2022 alongside Amy Schumer and Regina Hall. The event will always be remembered for Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, an incident that Wanda said left her angry and “traumatized” for some time after.

Wanda and Alex often share photos of themselves on their social media, attending red-carpet events or enjoying vacations together. They also presumably still frequently take that Fire Island ferry as they have a home in Cherry Grove.

Below is a Valentine’s Day pic that Wanda posted earlier this year, demonstrating she’s still smitten with her other half.  

The two women also recently enjoyed spending time in Paris with their kids for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Related*

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Once Monthly Annually

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated