The Short Answer: Married to Hilarie Burton
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is married to Hilarie Burton. The couple — he the fan-favorite villain Negan on AMC’s The Walking Dead, she the former One Tree Hill star turned author and producer — are not “dating” in any casual sense: they’ve been partners for well over a decade, share two children, and run a working farm in upstate New York together.
Their wedding was a secret: after years of publications wrongly reporting they’d already married, the couple actually tied the knot in an intimate ceremony officiated by Morgan’s former co-stars Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) and Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), with their children at their sides. Burton announced it on Instagram with the words “WE GOT MARRIED! For real” — correcting the record with joy.
How They Met: The Blind Date
Morgan and Burton met on a blind date arranged by mutual friends — Ackles and his wife Danneel, who played matchmaker. Burton has said she knew almost immediately: “From the moment I met him, he was my husband,” she wrote. Instead of rushing to the altar, they did something unusual for Hollywood — they simply lived as partners, building a life without the paperwork.
For over ten years, they were husband and wife in every way that mattered: they bought a farm, had two children, built a community. Burton later explained the philosophy — “Rather than make vows right out of the gate, we lived them. For over ten years. The good times and the bad.” When they finally formalized it, the ceremony felt less like a beginning than a celebration of everything already built.
The Secret Wedding
The wedding itself was intimate and private — close friends and family, their kids Augustus and George beside them, and officiants drawn from Morgan’s television families. Jensen Ackles and Norman Reedus — his brothers from Supernatural and The Walking Dead — performed the ceremony, a detail that delighted fans of both shows.
Burton wore a backless gown; the photos she shared were black-and-white and radiant. Her announcement post doubled as a record-correction: for years, outlets had reported — wrongly — that the couple had married years earlier, or that Burton had been married before. “All untrue,” she wrote. “But WE knew our truth.” Morgan’s own post was simpler: a photo, and the words “the luckiest man in the world.”
Two Kids: Augustus and George
The couple shares two children: son Augustus “Gus” Morgan and daughter George Virginia Morgan. Gus, the elder, arrived early in the relationship; George — whom Burton has called their “miracle baby” after a difficult fertility journey — came years later.
Burton has written movingly about the road to George: years of fertility struggles, loss, and the decision to keep trying. The farm — with its animals, its rhythms, its distance from Hollywood — became the family’s sanctuary through it all. Both parents are fiercely protective of the kids’ privacy, sharing glimpses but never exploiting them.
Farm Life in Upstate New York
The Morgans’ farm in New York’s Hudson Valley is the stuff of lifestyle-magazine dreams: rolling land, rescue animals (donkeys, emus, dogs, and more), and a candy shop the couple opened in the nearby town of Rhinebeck. Burton has become a genuine rural entrepreneur — author, producer, shop owner — while Morgan commutes to sets and returns to feed the animals.
The farm is also their community hub: Burton’s books and productions celebrate small-town life, and the couple are known locally as neighbors first, celebrities second. It’s the anti-Hollywood ending — and clearly the one they wanted.
The farm’s most famous outpost is Samuel’s Sweet Shop — the Rhinebeck candy store the couple bought and revived with friend Paul Rudd. What started as saving a beloved local institution became a genuine business: lines out the door on weekends, tourists making pilgrimages, and Morgan himself occasionally working the counter. It’s the perfect metaphor for their life — Hollywood stars choosing to sell chocolate in a small town because the town matters to them.
Burton has chronicled the farm life in her bestselling memoir The Rural Diaries — part love letter to upstate New York, part survival guide for city people attempting country life. The book’s success confirmed what the couple’s fans already knew: the farm isn’t a celebrity affectation, it’s the real thing — mud, animals, and all.
Before Hilarie: Morgan’s Past
Before Burton, Morgan was married to actress Anya Longwell; the marriage ended in divorce. He was also famously engaged to his Weeds co-star Mary-Louise Parker, a relationship that ended before they wed. Those chapters belong to a different era — the journeyman-actor years before Supernatural, Grey’s Anatomy (where his Denny Duquette broke hearts), and Negan made him a star.
By his own account, nothing before Burton quite worked — and everything after her did. The farm, the kids, the late-career stardom: it all dates to the blind date that changed everything.
Morgan’s road to stardom was long: years of guest spots and near-misses before John Winchester on Supernatural made him a fan favorite — a role so beloved he’s returned to it repeatedly. Then came Denny Duquette on Grey’s Anatomy, the heart-transplant patient whose death broke a generation of viewers, and the Comedian in Watchmen.
But it was Negan — the bat-swinging, wisecracking villain of The Walking Dead — that made him iconic: a performance so charismatic that fans rooted for a murderer. Through every career peak, Burton was there — the partner who’d known him before the bat, and who’d be there after it.
Why It Works: The Partnership Philosophy
Burton has articulated the couple’s philosophy with unusual clarity: they lived their vows before making them. A decade of shared life — the farm’s purchase, Gus’s birth, the hard years, the good ones — served as the real commitment; the wedding was the celebration, not the start.
That inversion of the usual Hollywood order — marriage first, life later — may be the secret. By the time they stood before Ackles and Reedus, there was nothing left to prove: they’d already survived the things that break couples. The ceremony was just the paperwork catching up to the reality.
Friends describe a division of labor that plays to both strengths: he’s the steady, funny, hardworking actor; she’s the creative force — author, producer, entrepreneur — who turned their farm into a brand and their life into literature. Neither competes with the other’s spotlight; both seem genuinely delighted by the other’s success. In an industry built on ego, their mutual admiration is the most romantic thing about them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jeffrey Dean Morgan dating?
He isn’t dating — Jeffrey Dean Morgan is married to actress Hilarie Burton. They’ve been together for well over a decade.
When did Jeffrey Dean Morgan get married?
He and Hilarie Burton married in a secret, intimate ceremony after ten years together, officiated by Jensen Ackles and Norman Reedus.
How many kids do Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton have?
Two: son Augustus “Gus” Morgan and daughter George Virginia Morgan.
How did Jeffrey Dean Morgan meet Hilarie Burton?
On a blind date set up by mutual friends Jensen Ackles and Danneel Ackles.
Where do Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton live?
On a working farm in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley, where they also opened a candy shop in Rhinebeck.
Was Jeffrey Dean Morgan married before?
Yes — to actress Anya Longwell (divorced). He was also engaged to Weeds co-star Mary-Louise Parker.
What is Jeffrey Dean Morgan famous for?
Playing Negan on The Walking Dead, plus roles in Supernatural, Grey’s Anatomy, and Watchmen.
What does Hilarie Burton do now?
She’s an author, producer, and rural entrepreneur — known for her memoirs, her candy shop, and advocacy work.