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Badass Women Way Cooler Than Their Famous Husbands
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MacKenzie Bezos Won An American Book Award
After growing up in San Francisco, CA, with dreams of being an author, MacKenzie Bezos (then MacKenzie Tuttle) studied fiction under Toni Morrison (Beloved, Song of Solomon) at Princeton. Morrison later told Vogue that Bezos was "really one of the best" students in her creative writing class, which is not small praise coming from a Nobel Prize winner for literature.
After attending Princeton, Bezos met her future husband, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and wrote two novels: The Testing of Luther Albright (2005), which won an American Book Award, and Traps (2013).
In 2014, Bezos founded Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying website.
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- Michael Kovac/Stringer
- Getty Images Entertainment
Kate Norley Is A War Veteran
Unlike many of the women on this list, Kate Norley, wife of John Oliver, doesn't work in the same field as her husband. Norley is an Iraq War veteran who served as a combat medic in Fallujah, focusing on the mental health of soldiers preparing to return to battle. After her time in Iraq, Norley transitioned into an advocate for veterans' rights.
Aside from helping veterans, Norley also works with Team Rubicon, an international non-governmental organization that sends first responders to disaster sites across the world.
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- insidethemagic
- flickr
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Robert Downey Jr. might be Iron Man, but Susan Downey does a lot of the heavy lifting in their relationship. After graduating from USC, she entered the film industry and became a producer before she was 30. In 1999, she was named vice president of production at Silver Pictures, working on films including Ghost Ship and Cradle 2 the Grave.
She went on to produce significant hits for her husband, including Iron Man 2 and the Sherlock Holmes films.
The Downeys married in 2005. Downey Jr. credits his wife with his success and keeping him sober. He told Ireland's Herald:
The old saying is true - behind every good man, there's an incredible woman. I owe a huge amount - if not all - of my success to Susan. We make a great team, and all that luck I spoke about, that's Susan.
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Emma Thomas, like many producers, exists on the periphery of the spotlight, despite being responsible for making sure everything comes together perfectly in a film. Thomas has been working with her husband, director Christopher Nolan, since they attended University College London together.
She's produced every feature-length film her husband has made and all but one of his short films. She's even responsible for getting him to read the collection of stories that formed the basis of the Oscar-winning Dunkirk.
While filming Dunkirk, Thomas was on location with the crew, braving the stormy beach waters off Malo-les-Bains, doing what she refers to as "facilitating an atmosphere" where Nolan can create.
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- Stefan Schäfer, Lich
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY-SA 4.0
Ali Hewson married U2 singer Bono in 1982, but that's not what makes her worthy of attention. Hewson has remained dedicated to saving the world to varying degrees since the 1980s, and she's put boots on the ground in locales like Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Ethiopia for projects to ease famine and conflict.
Hewson has also worked on various projects helping victims of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. She narrated and produced the documentary Black Wind, White Land, a piece about the effect of Chernobyl on the people of Belarus, and personally delivered medical supplies to areas affected by the disaster. She has actively protested against the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria, England, as well.
In 2005, Hewson co-founded EDUN, a high-end sustainable fashion brand that works with designers and manufacturers in Africa.
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Throughout the early 1990s, Deborra-lee Furness worked predominantly as an actor on Australian television, which is where she met her husband, Hugh Jackman. While Jackman continued to focus on acting, Furness shifted her priorities to humanitarian efforts.
In 2008, she started National Adoption Awareness Week, which transitioned into the Adopt Change organization - a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of children in the Australian adoption cycle.
In 2014, Furness co-founded Hopeland, a nonprofit that works to prevent parent-child separation and reunify families. And Furness and Jackman are the adoptive parents of two children.
In 2017, Furness received a United Nations Women for Peace Association Award for her humanitarian work.
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- Metaweb (FB)
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Deborah Snyder Produces Major Blockbusters
Deborah Snyder, the wife of action film director Zack Snyder, got her start as a producer while working in advertising for Backer Spielvogel Bates. She hired Zack as a director for a Reebok campaign that needed a cinematic feel, and the two began a working relationship that slowly transitioned into a romantic partnership that's lasted more than two decades.
Snyder co-founded the couple's production company, Cruel & Unusual Films, which has produced movies including Man of Steel, 300, and Watchmen. Snyder also kept a firm hand on the production of Justice League when Zack left the film following the loss of their daughter.
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- John J. Kruzel/American Forces Press Service
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Liza Powel O'Brien Is A Playwright Who Helps At-Risk Youth
Before marrying Conan O'Brien, Liza Powel O'Brien began her professional career working as a copywriter for the large advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. The couple met when Conan taped a skit in the company's offices. O'Brien, who has a master's degree in fiction from Columbia University, has since transitioned into a career as a playwright.
O'Brien works with at-risk youth by appearing on the selection committee for the Children’s Defense Fund’s Beat the Odds program, a project that champions students who overcome extreme adversity.
Conan keeps his home life incredibly private, including how he dealt with the loss of The Tonight Show. After wrapping on the show and finishing a raucous tour, Conan fell into a deep depression, and his wife made it her mission to dig the host out of his funk. Liza told Rolling Stone she had “all sorts of grand designs” about how to keep her husband busy so he would work himself out of the blues.
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You might know Elsa Pataky, married to actor Chris Hemsworth, from her role in the Fast and the Furious franchise, or maybe you're a big Snakes on a Plane fan - but her action film pedigree isn't what makes her remarkable. For starters, Pataky, who was born in Spain, speaks five languages (Spanish, French, English, Italian, and Romanian).
In 2012, the actor brought down the Ediciones Zeta publishing group after they illegally took nude photos of her with a long-range lens while she was changing clothes as a part of a photo shoot. She sued the company and won £250,000 (about $320,000) after the court ruled the photos were an invasion of privacy.
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- LaVladina from Haarlem, Netherlands
- Wikimedia Commons
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Joanna Newsom, who married Andy Samberg in 2013, has been known for her harp playing since the early 2000s and has released four highly acclaimed albums in that time. Her heartbreaking songs have appeared in The Strangers, Enlightened, and Paper Towns, and she's also acted in Inherent Vice and Portlandia.
According to a Rolling Stone profile of Newsom, she's also an avid bird watcher and grew up having "poem races" with her father.
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- HimmelrichPR
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Marielle Heller, married to actor-comedian Jorma Taccone since 2007, is a director with a stellar resume. She directed The Diary of a Teenage Girl, which led to a nomination from the Directors Guild of America for outstanding first-time directing. Following that, she directed an episode of Transparent, and helms the Mr. Rogers biographical movie You Are My Friend starring Tom Hanks.
Of You Are My Friend, Heller told Entertainment Weekly, "It’s a story for our times, a story about kindness and family connection and trying to tap into our better self. God knows we need that right now!"
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- David Shankbone
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Alexi Ashe Works With Survivors Of Sex Trafficking
Alexi Ashe, married to comedian Seth Meyers, graduated from Southwestern Law School before becoming a human rights attorney.
She went on to work as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn with the Special Victims Bureau and Human Trafficking Bureau, then joined the Sanctuary for Families, where she works with survivors of sex trafficking and domestic violence. She's also on the board of directors for Human Rights First.
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