Matt Kaplan and Claire Holt: What Really Happened

Matt Kaplan and Claire Holt: What Really Happened

Hollywood is a place of weirdly short timelines and even weirder "how do I know that name?" moments. If you’ve spent any time on the internet lately, you know Matt Kaplan as the guy behind the scenes of every YA movie you’ve binged on Netflix. Or, more likely, you know him as "Mr. Sexy Zoom Man"—the husband of Call Her Daddy mogul Alex Cooper.

But before the podcast empires and the Riviera Maya weddings, there was a different chapter. A much shorter, quieter one.

Matt Kaplan and Claire Holt were once the "it" couple of the young Hollywood production scene. She was the Australian breakout star of H2O: Just Add Water and the fierce Rebekah Mikaelson on The Vampire Diaries. He was the rising executive who seemed to have the golden touch for what Gen Z wanted to watch.

Then, almost as soon as it started, it was over.

The Timeline That Moved at Warp Speed

Honestly, looking back at the data, their relationship feels like a blur. They weren’t a couple that lived in the tabloids, which is probably why people are still so confused about when—and why—they were actually together.

They dated for several years before getting engaged in July 2015. It felt stable. It felt like one of those rare "normal" Hollywood pairings. Claire used to talk about how Matt helped her with her American accent, literally yelling out pronunciations from the other room while she practiced.

They got married on April 28, 2016.

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It was a private, beautiful ceremony. Claire posted the standard "Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan" photo. Fans were obsessed. But the honeymoon phase didn't just end—it hit a wall.

One day.

That is how close they came to their first anniversary. Matt Kaplan filed for divorce on April 27, 2017. He cited "irreconcilable differences," which is the classic Hollywood legal shield for "we just aren't doing this anymore."

Why the Split Still Intrigues People

You’ve probably noticed that when a celebrity marriage ends in less than 365 days, the internet starts hunting for a "villain." Was there cheating? A secret feud?

In this case, the silence was actually the loudest part. Neither Matt nor Claire went on a press tour to trash the other. They didn't leak "source" stories to TMZ. Claire’s response to the filing came in May 2017, where her primary request was simple: she wanted her name back. She didn't want to be a Kaplan; she was Claire Holt again.

The Career Shift

It’s interesting to look at where they were professionally. In 2017, Matt was pivoting toward the massive success he’d eventually find with Ace Entertainment and the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise. Claire was deep in the supernatural world of The Originals.

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Sometimes, people just grow in opposite directions. Fast.

Where They Are Now (It's a Lot Different)

Fast forward to 2026, and both have built entirely different lives that make that one-year marriage look like a lifetime ago.

Claire Holt found her "forever" pretty quickly after the split. She started dating real estate executive Andrew Joblon just months after the divorce filing. They’ve been married since 2018 and have three kids: James, Elle, and Ford.

She’s been very open about her shift in priorities. In a December 2025 interview, she admitted she took a step back from the "hireable" mold of Hollywood to focus on motherhood and her own mental health. She’s not chasing every pilot season anymore. She’s choosing wellness.

Matt Kaplan, on the other hand, became a titan of industry. He’s the CEO of Ace Entertainment, producing hits like XO, Kitty and the 2025 film I Wish You All the Best.

His personal life became public again when he met Alex Cooper over a Zoom call during the pandemic. They married in 2024, and he’s now a frequent (if sometimes silent) character in the Call Her Daddy universe. Cooper has even touched on the importance of having hard conversations about values before marriage—a bit of wisdom that feels like it might have been earned the hard way.

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What Most People Get Wrong

The biggest misconception is that there was some massive "scandal" that ended it.

There wasn't.

When you look at the trajectory of their lives post-2017, it’s clear they were just two people who weren’t right for each other. They didn't have kids together. They didn't have a messy public battle over assets. They just... stopped.

Lessons From the Kaplan-Holt Split

If you're looking for the "actionable" takeaway from this Hollywood deep dive, it's actually pretty grounded:

  • Longevity isn't the only metric for success. Sometimes a short marriage is the most "successful" move because it prevents a decade of misery.
  • Privacy is a choice. You can end a high-profile relationship without making it a circus.
  • The "One" usually comes after the "Wait, what was I thinking?" Both Matt and Claire seem significantly more settled in their current partnerships than they ever did together.

If you find yourself down a rabbit hole looking for 2016 wedding photos, just remember that the version of Matt Kaplan and Claire Holt you see there basically doesn't exist anymore. They’ve both moved on to much bigger, more fulfilling chapters.

The best way to keep up with them now isn't through old gossip archives, but by watching Claire’s refreshingly honest takes on motherhood on social media or keeping an eye on Matt’s latest Ace Entertainment releases. They’ve both proven that a "failed" marriage is often just a necessary detour to the right life.