Who Is Wanda Sykes's Wife, Alex Sykes? Here's What We Know

You may have spotted funny lady Wanda Sykes in a string of popular sitcoms, from Black-ish and Will & Grace to Broad City. Following on successful projects such as her Netflix family comedy, The Upshaws, and co-hosting the infamous Oscars with the "slap" heard around the world, the Emmy-winner premiered her Netflix special, I'm an Entertainer, earlier this year.

In case you missed it, the comedian, actress, writer, producer and loving wife to Alex Sykes (more on her in a minute) is now up for a 2024 Golden Globe for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television. "I've pretty much established an audience who expect me to say something," she tells The Hollywood Reporter of the content in I'm an Entertainer. "It is pretty challenging to do that and to make it funny and not so polarizing. And I think what I’ve found from doing that is—instead of talking about politics—it’s more about how it affected me."

And if she weren't already busy enough, Sykes will be embarking on a 2024 tour titled Please and Thank You. But beyond her professional life, we have so many questions, like who is Wanda Sykes's wife, Alex Sykes (née Niedbalski)? And how long have they been together? Read on for more details about the couple's relationship.

Not much is known about Alex, aside from the fact that she hails from France and loves to travel. According to her wife, she once worked in the interior design industry. Whether she still works in this field is unclear, but it turns out that this profession is exactly what brought these two lovebirds together.

The couple first met in 2006, and Wanda revealed to The Guardian that she first spotted Alex on a ferry to Fire Island in New York. The comedian recalled, “Something really said to me, like, audibly, ‘Wow, that’s what you need, Wanda.’”

Just a day later, she got some love advice from a friend, who insisted that she quit telling strangers stories about remodeling her kitchen and opt for some cheesy pick-up lines instead. But Wanda actually ignored her friend's advice, defiantly sharing details about her remodeling plans with the next woman that she met. Then, in an interesting twist of fate, this woman introduced Wanda to Alex, who sold granite countertops and, to Wanda's delight, was single at the time. The two ladies instantly hit it off and, as they say, the rest is history.

Wanda and Alex privately tied the knot in October of 2008, just one month before the Friendsgiving star publicly came out as gay at a same-sex marriage rally in Las Vegas. Over 15 years later, their relationship is still going strong.

While celebrating their 12-year wedding anniversary in 2020, Wanda wrote in an IG tribute, "Twelve years! Happy Anniversary ma femme!"

According to People, the couple became parents when Alex gave birth to their twins, Lucas Claude and Olivia Lou, on April 27, 2009. The moms are typically very private when it comes to their children and social media, but Alex did make an exception for a recent birthday of the twins. On Instagram, she shared a festive pic of their birthday cakes and wrote, "Guess who’s 12 today?? #proud #moms #surreal."

It's unclear whether Alex has tied the knot before, but Wanda was previously married to a music producer named Dave Hall from 1991 to 1998. While speaking with The New York Times about both of her marriages, she revealed that she had a "bad relationship" with Hall.

She explained, "I wanted to get away. Like: 'God, there's his stupid face, and he's chewing. Ugh, does he have to breathe? Make him stop breathing.' Now I'm in a great relationship, and I'm happy, so my wife's chewing doesn't annoy me."

She sure is, and naturally, quite a few of her posts include romantic tributes to her wife. It appears that Alex is also very passionate about food, traveling abroad and, not surprisingly, fighting for marriage equality.

In a recent IG post with Wanda, where she's seen kissing her wife, she wrote, "Isn’t my sunshine gorgeous? I am so #grateful for our #family and #love, #lovewins."

The couple's marriage is a frequent source of material for Sykes's work. While the comedian shared that Alex was initially on edge about exposing their private life, she's on board now. As reported by Variety, the comic often mimics her wife with a fake French accent as she mimes smoking a cigarette.

"This is just how I see her," Sykes told Variety. "I didn’t do it this in the special, so she’s like [in a French accent, pretending to hold a cigarette], 'Everybody thinks I smoke now! Everybody’s asking me, 'Alex, when did you start smoking?'' When I talk like her, I just happen to do it."