All About ‘Chicago Fire’ Star Taylor Kinney’s Wife & Their Relationship
Chicago Fire is back for Season 15, and so is Captain Kelly Severide. Like his character, who has an epic love story with Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), actor Taylor Kinney is married.
Though Kinney has been known to post a photo or two of his wife, Ashley Cruger, since they got together, she keeps a much lower profile than her husband. Details about Cruger are hard to come by since she made her social media private. As Severide continues to turn up the heat on the firefighter drama, get all the facts on Kinney’s real-life love story.
Who is Taylor Kinney’s wife?
Cruger is seven years her husband’s junior. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa in 2017 and held jobs in sales and marketing, according to her LinkedIn profile that NBC caught a glimpse of before it was deleted. She was also once signed to BMG Models agency in Chicago, though Cruger no longer has a page on the company’s website. Other than that, not much is known about Cruger’s background or current occupation.
People first confirmed that the now-45-year-old actor and Cruger wed on April 30, 2024. They held a “small, private ceremony in Chicago” after Kinney wrapped shooting Season 12 of Chicago Fire. According to E!, Cruger celebrated her wedding on Instagram Stories on May 14. She posted a photo of Kinney giving her a piggyback ride, setting it to Taylor Swift’s song “But Daddy I Love Him.” She captioned it, “Mr. & Mrs. Kinney.”
Kinney and Cruger have been together since at least March 2022, with Kinney sharing his first photo of Cruger on Instagram. They made their first public appearance together while skiing in Utah the following month. The couple made their red carpet debut at the 61st Monte Carlo TV Festival in June 2022.
The couple has rarely addressed their relationship publicly, but Hello! reported that Cruger spoke about the fan reaction to the two of them in 2023. On her Instagram Stories, the model shared a video in which she said, “Sometimes I see comments, sometimes I don’t. It doesn’t matter either way. Today, someone said he’s only with me because I’m good in bed. Babe, that’s what you’re telling people? That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. Just from looking at me, you got that? You’re invited to my wedding. It’s giving bridesmaid energy, maybe flower girl.”
She added in another post, “No, I’m not gonna make hate comments my whole personality. People are also/usually really really sweet and kind.”
taylorkinney111/Instagram
Has Taylor Kinney been married before?
Kinney hasn’t been married before Cruger, but he has been engaged. Kinney met Lady Gaga on the set of her “Yoü and I” music video in 2011, playing her love interest. They were together for four years until July 2016. People reported that the two had ended their engagement after Kinney proposed on Valentine’s Day 2015, four years into their relationship. “I really can’t imagine being with anyone other than who I’m with right now,” the singer told Howard Stern around the time of the proposal. “He is the right guy. I have that feeling. I just know it.”
“Taylor and I have always believed we are soulmates. Just like all couples, we have ups and downs, and we have been taking a break.” Gaga told E! around the time their engagement ended.
Over the course of their relationship, Kinney and the singer would support each other’s careers and appear at industry events together. “I never thought anyone would ever love me because I felt like my body was ruined by my abuser,” Gaga said of Kinney in an Instagram caption, per People. “But he loves the survivor in me. He’s stood by me all night proudly and unashamedly. THAT’S a real man.”
Gaga herself has since found a new love with entrepreneur Michael Polansky, who proposed to the singer in April 2024.
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