Elizabeth Banks & Her Husband Max Handelman Have Been Together Forever

Elizabeth Banks is one of those celebrities who feels like she has been around forever. Long before she was starring in the upcoming Apple TV+ movie Beanie Bubble, which premieres on July 28, she was gracing our screens in movies like Pitch Perfect, Hunger Games, and was even on Sex and the City back in the day. As an actress and producer, she is familiar but not all that known to us somehow. For example, did you know that she’s been married for 20 years and is a mom to two sons? Here’s what else you need to know about Banks’ family.

She met her future husband in college.

Banks met her future husband Max Handelman when they were both attending the University of Pennsylvania in the early ‘90s. They actually met on their very first day of college, and have been together ever since, marrying in 2003.

Max Handelman is a sportswriter and her frequent co-producer.

Handelman is a sportswriter and blogger, but the couple also formed their own production company called Brownstone Productions, putting out movies like Surrogates (starring Bruce Willis) and all three Pitch Perfect movies. As impressive as it is to have come so far in the industry, Banks is most proud of her long, happy marriage to Handelman.

“Twenty seven years. It’s the thing I’m most proud of,” told Net-a Porter in 2019 about her relationship “I do think people grow together or they grow apart. We definitely grew together. We were constantly making decisions that kept us close.”

Their son Felix was born in 2011.

Banks and Handelman welcomed their first baby, a son named Felix, in 2011 via surrogate. The new mom shared her fertility struggles in a blog post at the time. “The one true hurdle I’ve faced in life is that I have a broken belly. After years of trying to get pregnant, exploring the range of fertility treatments, all unsuccessful, our journey led us to gestational surrogacy,” Banks shared, going on to add that two miracles happened from that point forward. “The first was meeting our carrier and her husband who were truly humbling in their decency and generosity. And the second miracle was the birth of our baby boy, Felix Handelman. Felix means ‘happy’ and ‘lucky’ in Latin. And true to his name, Felix is a very happy baby and a blessing on our life.”

Their son Magnus was born in 2012.

In late 2012, the couple welcomed their second son, baby Magnus, also via surrogate. “As 2012 winds down and Thanksgiving approaches, I have much for which to be thankful — personal, professional and presidential,” Banks wrote on her website at the time. “However, nothing can match the joy and excitement my husband and I felt when we recently welcomed our second baby boy, Magnus Mitchell Handelman.”

She has often felt “judged” for working with a surrogate.

In her 2019 Net-A-Porter interview, Banks admitted that she still felt “judged” for working with surrogates to welcome her children. “I definitely think I’m still judged for what I’ve done and that people don’t understand my choices, but I don’t feel I owe anybody any explanation,” she said at the time.

Meanwhile, she is happy to make her family part of her work life whenever she can, telling People in 2019 that she brings her sons to work and wants other parents to do the same. “I grew up with a working mom and she imparted incredible work ethic in me,” Banks said at the time. “I like involving them in my work. I think it’s important that as a working woman and a leader on my movie sets that I show other women it’s okay to bring their kids to work.”

Elizabeth Banks is certainly out there living her best life. Exactly how she wants it.