All About Rachel Maddow’s Partner Susan Mikula & Their Relationship
Rachel Maddow is making the rounds this week amid the release of her latest book, Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America’s Most Consequential Institution, on November 10. She also continues to appear regularly on MS NOW, with her news program, The Rachel Maddow Show, airing on Monday nights.
Away from the spotlight, Maddow has been in a relationship with her partner, Susan Mikula, since 1999. Although the women have never officially tied the knot, they’ve been in a committed, long-term relationship for nearly 30 years. Scroll down to learn more.
What does Susan Mikula do for a living?
Susan Mikula is an artist, specializing in photography. “Susan Mikula works with a mix of old and new technologies, constructing her work within self-imposed limits,” her website bio says. “She works with available light, modifying vintage cameras, stocking up on film that isn’t made anymore, and experimenting with new instant films.”
Her work has been displayed “in solo and group exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, and Northampton and Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is in private collections in the United States and Europe, as well as in the Permanent Collection of the US Embassy, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Art in Embassies, US Department of State.”
What is the age difference between Rachel Maddow and Susan Mikula?
The women have a 15-year age difference. Maddow was born in 1973 and is currently 53 years old, while Mikula was born in 1958 and is 68.
How did Rachel Maddow and Susan Mikula meet?
Maddow and Mikula met in 1999 while Maddow was writing her thesis for an advanced degree from Oxford University, she told The New Yorker in 2017. At the time, she was working odd jobs in Massachusetts, including doing yard work and landscaping for Mikula.
“It was very Desperate Housewives,” Maddow joked. “I know that people don’t believe in love at first sight. It was absolutely love at first sight. Bluebirds and comets and stars. It was absolutely 100% clear.”
John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
On a 2011 episode of her show, Maddow accepted Meghan McCain‘s invitation to attend an NRA convention and shared, “My first date with Susan was at an NRA ‘Ladies Day On The Range’ event, and that is as close as I have ever gotten to the NRA,” per HuffPost. Maddow and Mikula confirmed to Rolling Stone the following year that they both like to shoot firearms, which is why the first date setting made sense.
The women have never been in a rush to marry, with Maddow telling The Hollywood Reporter back in 2010, “We know a lot of people who have gotten married but I don’t think we feel any urgency about it.” She also added, “I feel that gay people not being able to get married for generations, forever, meant that we came up with alternative ways of recognizing relationships. And I worry that if everybody has access to the same institutions that we lose the creativity of subcultures having to make it on their own. And I like gay culture.”
In 2016, Maddow said her and Mikula’s decision to get married or not is “private,” adding, “I have a strong feeling on equal rights. I’m an unabashed advocate that people in this country should have equal access to the rights and privileges of citizenship. But in terms of what that means for my own relationship — eh, that’s my own relationship.”
Does Rachel Maddow have kids?
No, Maddow does not have any children. While internet rumors surfaced in 2025 that she was having a baby, the images of her holding a photo of an ultrasound were AI-generated, and there was no truth to the report.
