Why Aren’t Shay Mitchell & Longtime Partner Matte Babel Married? Actress Reveals What She Tells Their Daughters
Shay Mitchell and Matte Babel have been together for nearly ten years.
The 39-year-old actress and the 46-year-old former TV host started dating in 2017 after being friends for years. Now, they are parents to two daughters, Atlas, 8, and Rome, 4.
While she has talked about why they won’t get married in the past, Shay recently shared what she tells their daughters when they ask why their parents aren’t married.
What Shay Mitchell tells her daughters about not being married
During a recent appearance on Khloe in Wonder Land with Khloe Kardashian, Shay dished on why they don’t plan on getting married.
“They ask me all the time why aren’t we married,” she said. “[And I tell them], ‘Mommy and Daddy are like partners, and I just didn’t want a wedding and just don’t need it. It’s not something that I want.’ “
Shay further explained that it will come up when someone around her gets engaged.
“And then you look at it, and you’re actually watching these movies, and the books, and every time it ends with a happily ever after, ”cause you ended up running off into the sunset with somebody — your prince,” she continued. “So, she’ll always be like, ‘Who’s your prince?’ And I don’t need that to just be her only narrative.”
“Not that I’m proving a point, but that just really is the life that she has grown up with, with watching her dad and I. And I’m kind of okay with it,” Shay said. “Like anytime she says like, ‘Do you want to get, why aren’t you married?’ And I’m like, ‘I just don’t want it and you don’t have to be.’ She’s like, ‘Okay. Okay.’ And so she’s like kind of… The wheels are turning.”
Khloe then asked if Shay has always been like that, not wanting marriage.
“Yeah… I genuinely didn’t. My parents have been together for 40 years. Like, my parents actually have such an incredible relationship. So, it’s not even like I didn’t have a great example of it. I really did,” she explained. “I just, I don’t know. Things could change in like five years. I just love the freedom of like, ‘Hey, I’m choosing to be in this position with you right now.’ And as he is with me, too. And it just kind of works, you know?”
Back in 2024, Shay said she never manifested getting married.
“I think for the both of us, everything works so smoothly. He’s an incredible father, great partner, and that’s really how I see us. We’re awesome partners in life,” she said on the Today show.
In 2021, she said there was “no pressure” to get married.
“I love the fact that we come home and every day I’m like, ‘I choose you and you choose me.’ It keeps us on our toes. I’m like, ‘Hey, I can walk out. I don’t need to go through a lawyer, I can just walk out.’ And same with him. It keeps it sexy.”
If you didn’t know, Shay is returning to TV in a few months, starring in the upcoming reboot of a popular TV series!
Posted To:Matte Babel Shay Mitchell
