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The transgender rights activist and her husband, Aaron Tredwell, were married for three years.
By Maria Lianos-Carbone — Written on Jul 08, 2020
In February 2019, Janet Mock, the director, writer, and producer of FX’s hit show Pose, split from her husband. The transgender rights activist and her husband, Aaron Tredwell, were married for three years.
Mock filed documents to divorce Tredwell and according to the documents filed, Mock, 37, is citing “irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the end of the marriage.
“Aaron and I have decided to part. I’m grateful for the years we shared and will look back on them fondly. I appreciate your well wishes as we continue onward separately with enduring reverence,” Mock shared in an exclusive statement.
In addition to being an activist, she's probably best known for becoming the first transgender woman of color to write, produce and direct a TV series. In 2018, Ryan Murphy hired her for his FX series, Pose.
She is also a New York Times bestselling author of two best-selling memoirs: Redefining Realness, published in 2014, and Surpassing Certainty, published in 2017.
In her first memoir, she detailed her childhood, teenage years, and gender transition as told to Tredwell prior to their marriage. It lives on as one of the few popular and positive depictions of a trans woman navigating love with a happy ending. Her second book publicly revealed that she had been married before meeting Tredwell in 2009.
Mock had been named the 2019 Harvard University Artist of the Year and received the Harvard Foundation’s arts medal in March 2019 during the annual Cultural Rhythms festival on the Ivy League university's campus in Boston. She is a contributing editor for Marie Claire and a former staff editor of People magazine's website.
She and Tredwell first met in 2009 on the dance floor of a bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. ”I was tipsy and twirling when I bumped into Aaron. He was gorgeous — the kind of handsome I'd seen in my mind when I let myself be the girl who can have that, the girl I'd watched on screen so many times in rom-coms that always seemed to end in marriage.”
Tredwell invited Mock for coffee. “He was kind and attentive and had a generous ear. I knew he was my guy, but I was unsure if I'd be his girl.”
After their third or fourth date, she told him her coming of age story as a young trans woman. “I told him about knowing that I was different since I was a child, transitioning through the halls of my middle school and high school, and finally being seen and accepted as my most authentic self.”
He proposed five years later and the two had a small wedding near the ocean in Mock’s hometown of Oahu, Hawaii. Their wedding was featured on Brides.com in November 2015.
Who is Aaron Tredwell, Janet Mock's ex-husband?
He’s a photographer.
Aaron Tredwell is a photographer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Marie Claire, Architectural Digest, among other publications.
He's captured events for Sotheby's, Nickelodeon, Adidas and Converse.
He’s from North Dakota.
He grew up in Thompson, North Dakota and then studied at the University of Southern Maine.
He initially pursued acting in New York, which sparked his interest in film and photography, according to his photography website. Having sat in for several headshots, he's committed to capturing people as they are — on their best days.
He’s a filmmaker.
Tredwell co-created the short documentary Shape Up: Gay in the Black Barbershop with director Derrick Middleton, which made its New York City premiere at NewFest Film Festival in 2016.
At the time, he shared on Instagram, “I’m proud to be a part of this dialogue about what it means to seek community, self-acceptance and safe spaces. It was a pleasure to capture Derrick’s journey as his cinematographer and editor, and I am grateful to Michael Arceneaux, Clay Cane, Wade Davis, Darnell Moore, and Rashad Robinson for lending their voices and experiences to our film, which had its first screening at the White House this summer."
He loves his dog.
Tredwell has a cockapoo named Cleo, who he adores and used to post photos of him on Instagram regularly.
“It was bring Cleo to work day! I wish I could do it everyday. He has the best time. #proudpapa” he shared on Instagram.
He gets around NYC on a bike.
Tredwell has also shared his passion for bicycles on his social media.
“Two years ago I was graciously welcomed into the Harlem Bike Life community. Beyond their amazing creativity and skills it’s their love and brotherhood for one another that is most impressive!”
He’s a Democrat.
He quoted former President Obama on an Instagram post: “We [Democrats] have the harder job because it’s fact checked and we admit nuance and complication. It’s easier to tell a simple story even if it’s stupid. -Obama 4/27/17.”
Mock filed for divorce in 2019.
After three years together, Mock filed for divorce from Tredwell last February. They had been married since December 2014 and Mock cited irreconcible differences as the reason for the split.
She's moved on.
Last summer, it was revealed that Mock had started dating an actor from her show Pose, Angel Bismark Curiel. However, they had reportedly been together for much longer than that.
In September 2019, Mock opened up about their relationship, saying, “It began innocently enough. I had just wrapped an episode I was directing and he made me know he was attracted to me in a very jarring way, because I just wasn’t in the [romantic] headspace at all. A day later, at one of our first screenings, he asked, ‘Are you happy in your relationship?’ And I just answered, ‘Yeah,’ and then walked away. But it struck me.”
She also spoke about her marriage, saying, “It just became this personal battle of how much am I going to stay [married] out of obligation to this person who supported me. You have to be vulnerable in that way all the time, and unafraid. That’s something that I’ve learned through this relationship [with Curiel]. I wanted more of that challenge and that feeling and that connection.”
Maria Lianos-Carbone is author of "Oh Baby! A Mom's Self-Care Survival Guide for the First Year" and publisher of amotherworld.com.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted in February 2019 and was updated with the latest information.
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