For the first time in quite a while, the internet is ablaze with talk of Dane Cook. Unfortunately, it’s not about an upcoming album or comedy tour. The comedian, who turned fifty in March, took to Instagram on August 2 to announce that he is engaged to his girlfriend of five years, Kelsi Taylor, who he began dating when he was 45 and she was 18.
According to Taylor’s Instagram bio, she is a certified Pilates and TRX (Total Resistance Exercise) instructor as well as a certified food therapist and nutritionist. She regularly posts her own workouts on her account. She was born in Nevada and then moved to California at age twelve in 2012 to pursue a career in music. She graduated high school early at the age of sixteen in 2016. She attended some college courses before she decided to pursue her singing career full-time. Taylor is also an aspiring actor.
Cook first met Taylor when she attended a weekly game night the comedian was hosting, and according to Us Weekly, Cook told a fan during an Instagram live session, “We were friends for a while & soon after fell in like with each [other] and then upgraded to love.” According to Newsweek, Taylor turned 18 on October 26, 2018. Cook stated on Jimmy Kimmel Live in February of 2019 that he and Taylor had been together, at that point, for “almost two years”, meaning that the pair likely got together when Taylor was between 17 and 18 years old.
The pair first went more or less Instagram official in 2017 with a post to Cook’s account. The comedian also took the opportunity to promote his then-girlfriend’s nascent musical career stating, “She’s a talented singer, but more importantly, she’s a genuine person. Check out her music and get to know her. She’s gonna go far!” According to People, Taylor has sung backup vocals for Demi Lovato and Little Big Town. She has posted original music to her own social media accounts including her YouTube channel. Cook himself produced a music video for her single, “Hours.”
Cook made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live where he discussed aspects of his relationship with Taylor, including their twenty-six-year age gap. “It’s a little tricky though because my girlfriend and I get a lot of crap from people because we have an age difference. I’m 46, and she’s 20,” Cook told Kimmel. Noting the crowd’s gasp upon hearing the marked difference, Cook responded, “Thank you for the snickers of approval. I’m sure that wasn’t judgment at all.”
The comedian then doubled down, stating “I actually find myself saying, ‘Where has she been all my life?’ and then I realize she wasn’t alive for the first 26 years of it,” he joked. “People are like, ‘You’re robbing the cradle.’ I was like, ‘She hasn’t slept in the cradle for like nine years, relax.’”
Cook celebrated his birthday in March of 2020 with an Instagram post with the caption ” “Celebrating my day of birth with the gif of laugher & love that is @itskelsitaylor aka KTITPTB aka Little Bullet aka Baby Baby. These are strange times to be celebrating anything but it actually feels like a cosmic reminder we all are spinning on this watery orb surrounded by an infinity of unexplored space and a sun illuminating us as we evolve.” Later that year, in November, Cook appeared on an episode of the On the List With Brett Gursky Podcast and described his relationship with Taylor. “I’ve been fortunate because I’m in a really healthy relationship with somebody, both physically healthy and the relationship itself. We both really maintained a great kind of mutual understanding that we both want to do our own independent things…”
On August 2, Cook revealed that he had popped the question to Taylor after five years of dating. Cook got down on his knee at a spot near the couple’s vacation home that held special meaning for him. “It’s a place I spent much time in growing up so I have such fond memories there. After my mother passed away, she asked me and my siblings to release her at her favorite spot, the breathtaking location, at the tip of Cape Neddick Point, Nubble Lighthouse, where our vacation cottage is located. It felt like the right place,” Cook told People.
“I was so ready to ask her. I was completely zen about it. The evening of the proposal was incredibly beautiful, the weather was perfect, sunset was spectacular, and I was just quite simply very happy.” he told the magazine.
Taylor said “The second he began to reach for his back pocket, my stomach flipped. I couldn’t have asked for the moment to have been more perfect. All that was going through my brain was, ‘Wait, is this actually happening right now? Is he proposing?’ ” and described the experience as a “pinch-me moment … I hugged my mom and couldn’t wait to FaceTime the rest of my family and share the news. My family loves him so much, so they were beyond excited for us.”
