Author Dawn O’Porter, wife of actor Chris O’Dowd, has faced frequent financial struggles despite the couple’s high-profile status.
“I work paycheck to paycheck. I’m always broke,” O’Porter, 46, quipped on the Friday, July 25, episode of the “White Wine Question Time” podcast. “My card got declined last week. I’m like, ‘What the f*** is happening? When will this end?’ I’ve never felt, like, I’m living [well].”
She added, “Some years you’re doing well, and some years it’s just an absolute disaster. That pattern never ends.”
O’Porter has been married to the Bridesmaids actor, 45, since 2012. They welcomed children Art and Valentine in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
“I’ve never seen myself as a celebrity ever, even though I’m married to Chris, who is quite a well-known actor. I don’t think either of us has ever seen ourselves as celebrities,” O’Porter said. “I guess if I was a celebrity, I’d get paid lots of money to do things that aren’t necessarily my job or don’t really feed what I do, but I don’t. My job is writing with the occasional little ad on Instagram to pay the rent.”
Instead of seeing herself or her husband as major stars, O’Porter views herself as an artist, who always has to “grind” for success.
“I just want to write and create great work, and that’s it,” she added, noting she is less concerned with becoming “a brand” online.
According to O’Porter, her romance with O’Dowd started when she was particularly “poor.”
“My TV career had just gone. I was so poor. I was so upset. I had zero confidence. I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she recalled. “I’d just met Chris, and he was on this trajectory up. I thought, ‘Well, maybe this is just it. I’m just a girlfriend, and that’s it.’ I went to all these events with him. … I always thought, ‘If I was in this position, it would be because I deserve it.’”
O’Porter was living with O’Dowd in Los Angeles at the time he was cast in Bridesmaids. She then asked whether they could move back to London, so O’Porter could “claw back” her career. After moving across the pond, O’Porter started writing a magazine column before landing a book deal.
“When you find your true voice on the page, it just feels like you landed,” O’Porter stressed. “It’s such a liberating, amazing moment. … I come to my desk every day, I do a solid 9 to 5, and I’m so in the zone. I’m very lucky. It saved the day.”
