Originally appeared on E! Online
Since Bobby Cannavale does, indeed, have legs, he might just be kicking himself for missing partner Rose Byrne’s win for Best Female Actor – Musical/Comedy at the 2026 Golden Globes Jan. 11.
Though the reason for his absence is rather, uh, wild.
“I want to thank my husband, Bobby Cannavale,” the If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You star said while accepting her trophy at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. “He couldn’t be here because we’re getting a bearded dragon, and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey.”
It was a plan hatched by their sons Rocco, 9, and Rafael, 8.
“He can’t come, which is such a bummer,” the actress said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ahead of the Nikki Glaser-hosted ceremony, explaining why brother George Byrne would serve as her plus-one. The expo “is the place to go,” she detailed, noting it’d be a “parent fail” if they didn’t follow through on their promise.
And speaking of vows, the two have taken to using the terms husband and wife rather colloquially some 14 years into their romance, and a decade after Byrne began wearing a rather sparkly ring on her left hand.
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“I hate all the other words! It’s just easier to say ‘husband and wife,'” Cannavale explained to Vulture in January 2020. “‘Boyfriend and girlfriend’ feels so young. ‘Partner’ feels so sterile.”
Though Byrne wasn’t totally opposed to one unstuffy suggestion, joking, “My lover, Bobby.”
They’d been planning to wed, she noted, “and then another baby, and then—”
Bottom line, Cannavale summed up, “Who gives a s–t. It’s just funny what people care about.”
And though the Cuban-Italian New Jersey native and the Australian actress would describe themselves as decidedly private—”It’s way more interesting for other people than it is for us,” he told Vulture of their romance—fans have been invested in their journey from the beginning.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
Introduced by mutual friends in 2012 when Byrne, now 46, was wrapping her five-season run in the legal psychodrama Damages, “the chemistry between them, it’s just so remarkable,” her costar Glenn Close told Vanity Fair in 2019. Not to mention, “they’re both kind of universally loved.”
Soon they were teaming up for both business and pleasure, playing a married couple in the 2014 indie Adult Beginners, co-starring in a remake of Annie that same year, portraying villains in 2015 comedy Spy and finally taking to the stage mere blocks from their house in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill for Simon Stone’s adaption of Euripides’ tragedy Medea.
Despite the dicey material, the two maintain a burning desire to play off one another more frequently.
“It’s hard,” Byrne told Vulture of finding the right opportunities. “You have two parents not putting kids to bed. That’s the biggest part of the decision.”
But when it works…
At this point, “We’ve worked together in TV and film,” the 55-year-old told Us Weekly in October of making a cameo on her Apple TV+ series Platonic. “We have done a play together and we’ve made commercials together. It’s nice and it’s unusual to get to go to work together in any capacity—in any profession. We’re parents of small children and it’s nice to be able to go to work together and the kids know where we are. We’re together. It’s good and just a family band.”
Though, admittedly, there are times they’re not convinced everyone in their household is in perfect harmony.
“We hear them talking about us in the room,” Cannavale—also dad to actor Jake Cannavale with ex-wife Jenny Lumet—revealed to Stephen Colbert during a January 2020 appearance on The Late Show. “Like, in the morning before we come in. You know, the 4-year-old helps the 2-year-old out of the sleep sack so he can climb out of the crib. He pulls him out.”
David Fisher/Shutterstock
In other words, “They’re conspiring,” he continued. “And it sounds like they’re upset about something.”
Their eldest is “very sensitive,” Cannavale added, while his little brother has earned the nickname Seal Team 6 “because he’s crazy and he’s a killer.”
A particularly brute one at that.
After a stint in Toronto, where Byrne was portraying Gloria Steinem in the FX miniseries Mrs. America, the family was packing for their return to NYC “and we had this big moving box,” Cannavale detailed. Rocco climbed in and attempted to keep his brother out, “So, Rafa grabbed him by the hair and he pulled him down with the box. Pulled him out by the hair and crawled in.”
Theirs is a particularly ordinary existence, with Cannavale taking on the role of family planner while Byrne is “a little bit more moment to moment,” she admitted to Vulture. “That’s why we’re a good yin and yang.”
But they have no issue acting as unmistakably dysfunctional couples.
Joe Schildhorn/BFA/REX/Shutterstock
Because no doubt, the Emmy winner is her favorite co-star.
“He is one of a kind, man!” she gushed to In Style in 2017. “He’s endlessly interesting and entertaining. When something is special, it’s hard to articulate it, but I feel really lucky.”
Same, same for Cannavale.
“Rose is my favorite actor on the planet,” he stressed to Us Weekly. “I’m always surprised and amazed at her work. The different qualities that she brings to all these characters—I never see her the same way twice. I would like to show up for her—unequivocally—for anything that she’s a part of.”
You know, as long as there’s not a bearded dragon to fetch.
“It’s going well,” Byrne told Extra after scooping up her trophy. “We’ve got the guy. He’s really cute and he’s in the house.”
“Bobby is doing God’s work,” she added. “This is easy.”
Of course, Byrne wasn’t the only one to walk away from the Golden Globes as a winner. Check out the full list of victors below.
Best Male Actor – Television – Musical/Comedy
Adam Brody—Nobody Wants This
Steve Martin—Only Murders in the Building
Glen Powell—Chad Powers
WINNER: Seth Rogen—The Studio
Martin Short—Only Murders in the Building
Jeremy Allen White—The Bear
Best Male Actor – Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy
WINNER: Timothee Chalamet—Marty Supreme
George Clooney—Jay Kelly
Leonardo DiCaprio—One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke—Blue Moon
Lee Byung-Hun—No Other Choice
Jesse Plemons—Bugonia
Best Female Actor – Television – Drama
Kathy Bates—Matlock
Britt Lower—Severance
Helen Mirran—Mobland
Bella Ramsey—The Last of Us
Keri Russell—The Diplomat
WINNER: Rhea Seehorn—Pluribus
Best Male Actor – Motion Picture – Drama
Joel Edgerton—Train Dreams
Oscar Isaac—Frankenstein
Dwayne Johnson—The Smashing Machine
Michael B. Jordan—Sinners
WINNER: Wagner Moura—The Secret Agent
Jeremy Allen White—Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: Jessie Buckley—Hamnet
Jennifer Lawrence—Die My Love
Renate Reinsve—Sentimental Value
Julia Roberts—After the Hunt
Tessa Thompson—Hedda
Eva Victor—Sorry, Baby
Best Picture – Musical or Comedy
Marty Supreme
Bugonia
Blue Moon
No Other Choice
Nouvelle Vague
WINNER: One Battle After Another
Best Female Actor – Television – Musical/Comedy
Kristen Bell—Nobody Wants This
Ayo Edebiri—The Bear
Natasha Lyonne—Poker Face
Selena Gomez—Only Murders in the Building
Jenna Ortega—Wednesday
WINNER: Jean Smart—Hacks
Best Picture—Drama
Sentimental Value
WINNER: Hamnet
Frankenstein
It Was Just an Accident
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Best Drama Series—Television
The Diplomat
WINNER: The Pitt
Pluribus
Severance
Slow Horses
The White Lotus
Best Male Actor – Television – Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture
Jacob Elordi—The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Paul Giamatti—Black Mirror
WINNER: Stephen Graham—Adolescence
Charlie Hunnam—Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Jude Law—Black Rabbit
Matthew Rhys—The Beast in Me
Best Supporting Female Actor – Television
WINNER: Erin Doherty—Adolescence
Carrie Coon—The White Lotus
Hannah Einbender—Hacks
Catherine O’Hara—The Studio
Parker Posey—The White Lotus
Aimee Lou Wood—The White Lotus
Best Supporting Male Actor—Motion Picture
Benecio del Toro—One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi—Frankenstein
Paul Mescal—Hamnet
Sean Penn—One Battle After Another
Adam Sandler—Jay Kelly
WINNER: Stellan Skarsgard—Sentimental Value
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Sterling K. Brown—Paradise
Diego Luna—Andor
Gary Oldman—Slow Horses
Mark Ruffalo—Task
Adam Scott—Severance
WINNER: Noah Wyle—The Pitt
Best Supporting Male Actor – Television
WINNER: Owen Cooper—Adolescence
Billy Crudup—The Morning Show
Walton Goggins—The White Lotus
Jason Isaacs—The White Lotus
Tramell Tillman—Severance
Ashley Waters—Adolescence
Best Original Song—Motion Picture
“Dream as One”—Avatar: Fire and Ash; Miley Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Simon Franglen
WINNER: “Golden”—K:Pop Demon Hunters; Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Park Hong Jun, Kim Eun-jae (EJAE), Mark Sonnenblick
“I Lied to You”—Sinners; Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson
“No Place Like Home”—Wicked: For Good; Stephen Schwartz
“The Girl in the Bubble”—Wicked: For Good; Stephen Scwartz
“Train Dreams”—Train Dreams; Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner
Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture
WINNER: Adolescence
All Her Fault
The Beast in Me
Black Mirror
Dying for Sex
The Girlfriend
Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy
WINNER: Rose Byrne—If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You
Cynthia Erivo—Wicked: For Good
Kate Hudson—Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti—One Battle After Another
Amanda Seyfried—The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone—Bugonia
Best Female Actor – Television – Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture
Claire Danes—The Beast in Me
Rashida Jones—Black Mirror
Amanda Seyfried—Long Bright River
Sarah Snook—All Her Fault
WINNER: Michelle Williams—Dying for Sex
Robin Wright—The Girlfriend
Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture
Emily Blunt—The Smashing Machine
Elle Fanning—Sentimental Value
Ariana Grande—Wicked: For Good
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas—Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan—Weapons
WINNER: Teyana Taylor—One Battle After Another
Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
KPop Demon Hunters
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
WINNER: Sinners
Weapons
Wicked: For Good
Zootopia 2
Best Animated Motion Picture
Arco
Demon Slayer: Kimestu No Yaiba Infinity Castle
Elio
Little Amelie or The Character of the Rain
WINNER: KPop Demon Hunters
Zootopia 2
Best Musical or Comedy Series—Television
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Hacks
Nobody Wants This
Only Murders in the Building
WINNER: The Studio
Best Director – Motion Picture
WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson—One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler—Sinners
Guillermo del Toro—Frankenstein
Jafar Panahi—It Was an Accident
Joachim Trier—Sentimental Value
Chloe Zhao—Hamnet
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
WINNER: One Battle After Another—Paul Thomas Anderson
Marty Supreme—Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein
Sinners—Ryan Coogler
It Was Just an Accident—Jafar Panahi
Sentimental Value—Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Hamnet—Chloe Zhao, Maggie O’ Farrell