Will & Grace Creator Recommends A Week of Dating Before Cohabitation
When "your place" is Pete Sampras' mansion in Beverly Hills, it doesn't make much sense to dabble around with his and hers apartments in a fledging relationship. In the case of Will & Grace creator Max Mutchnick's relationship with entertainment lawyer Eric Hyman, you move in together after the first week. Whatever the merits of Mutchnick's fly-by-night approach, he and Hyman made it work, as memorably depicted in today's NYT Weddings and Celebrations.After the first date he had with agent Eric Wyman, Mutchnick knew he'd found someone different and special:
They moved in together a week later, "and we have not spent a night apart since," Mr. Mutchnick said, adding he had never met a man as intelligent and confident, or one who could withstand his insecurities and histrionics. "Erik can stand up to Max," said Janet Eisenberg, a close friend of Mr. Mutchnick’s who was the inspiration for the character Grace. "He’s a grown-up with his own career and his own point of view." "People say ‘What’s the rush?’ But why the delay?" said Mr. Hyman, who had learned firsthand that time can be fleeting. "When you want to be with someone and you can be, I don’t see why you would be apart." Within three months they were talking about having children, and 20 months later, in September, a surrogate gave birth to their daughters, Rose and Evan.
Taking advice from the woman who inspired the Grace character is questionable, no? I can't blame Hyman for hopping into the lucrative and chatty relationship — and the timing of the two's wedding was understandably related to Proposition 8 — but when you're handing over the keys to a syndicated TV fortune...you might just want to take it for an eight year test spin. Just our two cents.