Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney were first spotted together in 2018. They tied the knot the following year and welcomed their first child in 2022

Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t thinking about marriage when she met Cooke Maroney — but he changed everything for her.

In early 2018, the couple were introduced by a mutual friend, and they instantly connected.

“I definitely wasn’t at a place where I was like, ‘I’m ready to get married,’ ” Lawrence later explained on the Naked with Catt Sadler podcast. “I just met Cooke and I wanted to marry him. We wanted to marry each other, we wanted to commit fully.”

The actress said it wasn’t long before she knew she wanted to spend forever with Maroney. After less than a year of dating, the art gallery director popped the question.

“He’s my best friend, so I want to legally bind him to me forever,” Lawrence joked. “And fortunately the paperwork exists for such a thing. It’s the greatest. You find your favorite person on the planet and you’re like, ‘You can’t leave!’ So I wanted to take that offer.”

While the couple have kept the majority of their relationship under wraps, there’s still plenty to know about Lawrence’s other half, from his rural Vermont upbringing to his art dealing career.

So who is Jennifer Lawrence’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Cooke Maroney.

Maroney grew up in Vermont and later attended New York UniversityJennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney. ELDER ORDONEZ / SPLASHNEWS.COM

Maroney was born in New York City in 1985, though his family moved to Leicester, Vermont, when he was just two years old. His parents, James Maroney and Suki Fredericks, wanted to pursue a quieter, rural life away from the hustle of the city. The couple opened Oliver Hill Farm in 1990, where they have cared for hundreds of animals on their 775 acres of land and currently operate a bed and breakfast.

As a teenager, Maroney returned to the Big Apple, where he studied art history at New York University.

He works as an art gallery director in N.Y.C.

Maroney has spent the majority of his career working in the arts, following in the footsteps of his father, James, who was previously an art dealer and the head of American paintings at Christie’s auction house. As of 2022, Maroney is the Director-At-Large of Gladstone Gallery, a collection of galleries that house pieces from artists like Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, Matthew Barney and Lena Dunham’s father Carroll Dunham.

Maroney previously worked at the acclaimed Gagosian gallery network, which exhibits famous contemporary art internationally, including in Rome, London and Hong Kong.

He isn’t a big fan of social mediaCooke Maroney and Jennifer Lawrence. SPLASH

Fans may be interested in Maroney and Lawrence’s life together, but they definitely won’t see it on social media. Maroney doesn’t appear to have a Facebook or Twitter — and his Instagram profile is completely private. Although his profile photo doesn’t include his face, he included a link to the Gladstone Gallery’s Black Lives Matter statement in his bio.

He and Lawrence met through a mutual friend

In the spring of 2018, Lawrence and Maroney were introduced by a mutual friend. The pal who played matchmaker was reportedly Lawrence’s best friend Laura Simpson.

He doesn’t treat Lawrence like a celebrityJennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney. THE IMAGE DIRECT

Lawrence had been in relationships with other celebrities before, so dating someone who wasn’t in the spotlight proved to be a breath of fresh air for the actress. Sources close to Lawrence say that Maroney never treated Lawrence like a celebrity, which was a positive change for her.

“He’s a great guy. He’s smart and funny and I think really keeps her on her toes and he doesn’t treat her like a celebrity like the other boyfriends did,” a source told PEOPLE in 2019. “He’s definitely the coolest guy she’s dated. [He’s] not affected by Hollywood.”

In fact, early in the couple’s relationship, Lawrence decided she wanted to have a more normal dating experience, so she dropped her security detail while out with Maroney. Even though she was nervous at first, she says everything turned out just fine.

“So, when I started dating my now husband, I was so embarrassed to bring my [security guard] when he asked me out. I mean, how mortifying would that have been? So I didn’t, and it made me really nervous the first few times, and it turned out totally fine,” Lawrence told Vanity Fair.

He and Lawrence keep their relationship privateCHRISTOPHER PETERSON / SPLASHNEWS.COM

Lawrence doesn’t often speak out about her relationship with Maroney, and the couple tends to stay out of the spotlight. In fact, Lawrence moved her dog Pippi to her parent’s farm in Kentucky because the paparazzi so often followed the pair when they went on their daily walks.

During the summer of 2022, however, the pair stepped out for several outings in N.Y.C. Cooke and Maroney were spotted wearing matching outfits while on a breakfast date in July, and were later seen holding hands while grabbing dinner together in August.

He is an extremely thoughtful gift giverTHE IMAGE DIRECT

Throughout their relationship, Maroney has showered Lawrence with numerous thoughtful gifts, including three meaningful necklaces: her wedding band on a chain, a pearl necklace, and a diamond necklace for her 30th birthday. In an interview, Lawrence recounted how Maroney presented the necklace to her inside of a hardbound edition of Hereditary‘s screenplay, atop an image of a character’s decapitated head.

“It was so sweet,” Lawrence said.

He encourages Lawrence to do things she didn’t think she could

Before connecting with Maroney, Lawrence said she was fearful of doing normal things in public, like going to bars or restaurants. But after the pair began dating, the actress said her fears subsided and she began to enjoy a new side of her life.

“I have been doing things that I didn’t actually think that I could,” she told friend Catt Sadler on her podcast. “I used to have a stigma about, you know, I’d get nervous before going to restaurants, or I felt like I couldn’t go to dive bars. There were just certain things, like, ‘Oh, I can’t do that.’ And then the past year, I’ve just been doing all of that … Honestly, I was dating someone, and I didn’t want to tell him about [my nerves]. You know, I wanted to be normal and cool, so I just kind of hid that part of me and everything ended up being fine. And I was like, ‘oh, I can do this.’ It was cool.”

He proposed less than a year after they started dating

ROBERT O’NEIL / SPLASHNEWS.COM

In February 2019, Lawrence was spotted wearing a “massive ring” during what appeared to be a celebratory dinner at a restaurant in N.Y.C. Shortly after, sources confirmed to PEOPLE that Maroney had officially popped the question to Lawrence.

A few months later, the couple hosted an engagement party for their family and friends at the River Café in Brooklyn.

“He’s just the best person I’ve ever met in my whole life,” Lawrence told Entertainment Tonight in June 2019. “It was a very, very easy decision.”

However, she later described being proposed to as both “terrifying” and “exciting.”

“I didn’t say what I wanted to,” the No Hard Feelings star shared on an episode of Chicken Shop Date. “I imagined it a million times, and then I ended up just going, ‘What? What? What?’ And then going, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ ”

He and Lawrence officially tied the knot in October 2019JEFF SPICER/GETTY / STEFANIE KEENAN/GETTY

In October 2019, Maroney and Lawrence said “I do” in front of 150 of their closest friends and family members at the luxurious Belcourt of Newport mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Lawrence reportedly walked down the aisle in a Dior gown in front of guests like Adele, Amy Schumer, Kris Jenner, Emma Stone and Ashley Olsen.

Lawrence appreciates the normal aspects of her marriage to Maroney

Lawrence says the more normal things are the best parts of her marriage to Maroney. She told Vanity Fair that some of her favorite moments happen when they’re together at the grocery store.

“I really enjoy going to the grocery store with him. I don’t know why but it fills me with a lot of joy,” she said. “I think maybe because it’s almost a metaphor for marriage. ‘Okay, we’ve got this list. These are the things we need. Let’s work together and get this done.’ And I always get one of the cooking magazines, like 15 Minute Healthy Meals, and he always gives me a look like, ‘You’re not going to use that. When are you going to make that?’ And I say, ‘Yes, I am. Tuesday!’ And he’s always right, and I never do.”

They welcomed their first child in early 2022SplashNews.com. SPLASH NEWS ONLINE

After announcing her pregnancy in September 2021, Lawrence gave birth to the couple’s first child in February 2022. The happy news was confirmed when Lawrence and Maroney were spotted on a walk with a baby stroller in April. The actress later revealed that the pair had welcomed a son named Cy during an interview with Vogue.

He and Lawrence plan to keep their baby’s life private

The new parents don’t plan on sharing many details about their child, with Lawrence explaining that she wants to keep her mom duties separate from her acting job. The couple didn’t share their baby’s name or sex until a few months after his arrival — although Ellen DeGeneres accidentally spilled some details in May 2022.

During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Lawrence and DeGeneres were discussing how the actress lives in the house that DeGeneres owned when she first started her show.

“Now I live next door to you, and I’m looking at you living in my house with a brand new baby when I started this show 20 years ago,” DeGeneres said. “By the way, I do hear you sometimes talking to him and it’s really cute.”

Lawrence had previously discussed her desire to keep her child’s life more private while speaking to Vanity Fair.

“If I was at a dinner party, and somebody was like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re expecting a baby,’ I wouldn’t be like, ‘God, I can’t talk about that. Get away from me, you psycho!’ But every instinct in my body wants to protect their privacy for the rest of their lives, as much as I can,” she shared. “I don’t want anyone to feel welcome into their existence. And I feel like that just starts with not including them in this part of my work.”

While Lawrence and Maroney try to keep their son out of the spotlight, the actress has praised her husband’s parenting skills.

“Fortunately, my husband is the greatest father in the entire world,” Lawrence told Interview Magazine in June 2023. “So when I’m working, I don’t have any more guilt than the usual every day, all-day parent guilt.”

Lawrence almost called off their wedding

In an interview with the New York Times, Lawrence shared that she’s “so happy” she didn’t call off her wedding to Maroney. The actress went on to explain that she experienced commitment anxiety while away filming Causeway in New Orleans. However, when she returned to her and Maroney’s home in New York City, that anxiety began to fade.

“I’m so happy I didn’t freak out and cancel the wedding and run away,” Lawrence said.