Molly Ringwald's Husband Had a Crush on Her as a Kid – Inside the Actress' Marriage to Panio Gianopoulos

Molly Ringwald’s husband, Panio Gianopoulos, once poked fun at their age gap nearly ten years after they had tied the knot. The couple found each other as Ringwald was exiting her first marriage, and the two have enjoyed over two decades of romance and family.

California native Molly Ringwald was among the leading teen ladies in ’80s film and television, starring in John Hughes movies, many of which remain cult classics. At only six years old, she joined the entertainment industry, releasing the album “I Wanna Be Loved by You, Molly Sings.”

The year prior, she had starred as a dormouse in a stage production of “Alice in Wonderland.” Ringwald debuted on-screen as a pre-teen in TV shows. Several film roles followed until she won the part of Samantha “Sam” Baker in 1984’s “Sixteen Candles.” Her fame further catapulted when she starred in 1985’s “The Breakfast Club” and 1986’s “Pretty in Pink.”

Molly Ringwald poses at the opening night of the new play “Goodnight, Oscar” on Broadway at The Belasco Theatre on April 24, 2023, in New York City | Source: Getty Images

Ringwald has continued to captivate audiences with recent credits in “Dahmer” alongside Evan Peters and Michael Learned. However, acting has only been one part of Ringwald’s life. Longtime fans and new ones alike have grown curious about the now-55-year-old’s romantic history and family life.

Molly Ringwald’s Husband, Panio Gianopoulos, Also Had a Crush on the Actress as a Kid

Ringwald was first married to Valery Lameignère, a French writer and translator she met in Paris. They tied the knot in July 1999, but Ringwald filed for divorce in December 2002, citing “cruel and inhuman treatment.” Although there were rumors of them welcoming a child, Ringwald and Lameignère had no kids.

Molly Ringwald is pictured at the Jerry Lewis Opens in ‘Damn Yankees’ at Marquis Theatre on an unspecified date in New York City | Source: Getty Images

Amid her divorce, Ringwald had already found new love with Panio Gianopoulos. In 2003, news broke that she and Gianopoulos were expecting their first child. Despite this, Ringwald had no plans of marrying him, but by 2007, the two were husband and wife.

This February, Ringwald took to Instagram to celebrate 22 years of being Gianopoulos’s life partner, alongside a short thread of then and now photos depicting them in the same pose. Two years before, in the same month, Gianopoulos celebrated 20 years. The lovers enjoyed an anniversary getaway in Laguna Beach, California, that July.

Last November, Ringwald told her IG followers about her “perfect date night” with Gianopoulos when they attended a party honoring photographer William Eggleston and made an ice cream stop afterward before heading home. In 2016, during the “King Cobra” screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, Gianopoulos admitted to having a crush on his wife as a kid.

“I’m seven years younger than her, so of course I knew her and had a slight crush. But I was little, I was like ten. I have a big crush on her now!” he sweetly confessed. By then, their family had expanded; the couple’s first child was eight, and they welcomed two more kids in 2009 when Ringwald was 40.

Molly Ringwald and Panio Gianopoulos are pictured at the screening of “All These Small Moments” during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival at SVA Theatre on April 24, 2018, in New York City | Source: Getty Images

Panio Gianopoulos Is a Best-Selling Author and Editorial Director

Gianopoulos graduated with a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1997 before attaining his MBA at Stanford University School of Business. He worked as an editor for several outlets before co-founding Palindrome Media, which closed its doors in 2013.

Today, Gianopoulos is the Editorial Director, VP of Finance, and Co-Founder of the publishing company Next Big Idea Club, which launched in 2015. In addition to his entrepreneurship, Gianopoulos is an author known for his best-selling indie novella “A Familiar Beast,” and the short story anthology “How to Get Into Our House and Where We Keep the Money.”

Panio Gianopoulos and Molly Ringwald Are Proud Parents of Three

Their eldest daughter, Mathilda Gianopoulos, was born in October 2003. She followed in her mother’s footsteps, joining the entertainment industry as an actress (recently cast alongside Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine in “The Idea of You”) and model. Mathilda’s younger teenage siblings are fraternal twins Adele and Roman Gianopoulos, born in August 2009.