Taika Waititi’s ex-wife Chelsea Winstanley opens up about why the marriage ended
Chelsea Winstanley has a lot to say about why her marriage to Taika Waititi fell apart.
Winstanley, 48, got “brutally honest” about her split from Waititi, also 48, during a recent episode of the Podcast ‘It’s personal with Anika Moa’reflecting on the “resentment” she felt raising their two daughters while Waititi worked on them Thor: Ragnarok.
“I didn’t want to be the dutiful wife and race to the Gold Coast where he was making money Thor and sit in an apartment all day, King’s Day, and twiddle my thumbs,” Winstanley, a film producer, confessed.
She explained: “You don’t make a person on your own, and therefore you shouldn’t raise a person on your own.”
Winstanley noted that if you moved with Waititi you would have to take the children out of ‘kōhanga reo’, a Māori school programme. “And that was very important to me. So I said, ‘I’m not going to do that, but we’ll come around,'” she said. “That was probably the beginning of the unraveling because I wasn’t that lenient, dutiful, down on my knees and whatever you want [kind of woman].”
Chelsea Winstanley Cohen and Taika Waititi attend the 37th Annual Hawaii International Film Festival Gala on November 10, 2017 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty ImagesShe joked, “There was someone else though,” seemingly alluding to infidelity on Waititi’s part and adding that she “didn’t know until years later.” (We weekly requested comment.)
The exes were married from 2011 to 2018 and share Te Hinekahu, 11, and Matewa Kiritapu, 8. Winstanley acknowledged her own “stubbornness” and possible role in the breakup.
“I want to be very honest and acknowledge my participation in it [resentment] and perhaps the unraveling of our relationship,” she said.
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She further reflected on the “humiliation” of a public divorce, claiming that she was “married to someone who was basically just on her own two feet” with “tunnel vision for whatever reason.”
“I don’t need anyone else to be happy, in control, or do what I want to do in the spaces I love,” Winstanley continued. “It’s nice to have someone who can support you… or just say, ‘You got this’ or ‘I’m so proud of you.’ But there never was. There was no interest in what I wanted to do. So those were volumes.”
Taika subsequently married a singer Rita Ora in 2022, after a year of dating, secretly tying the knot in London. The wedding news came months after Ora popped the question.
“Yes, it was beautiful,” Waititi revealed Fashion in August 2023. “Just having good friends and not having it too big. We didn’t have any table settings or the stressful things that come with weddings, and it was nice to just have it super simple.”
Winstanley, on the other hand, revealed in her podcast interview that she is still healing.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’re all on our own journey,” she said. “To help me get through it every day, I remind myself that I am not responsible for what anyone does. I’m just responsible for how I respond to it. … You can also change that story at any time.”