Chris Evans and Jenny Slate's Relationship Timeline: A Look Back

Actor Chris Evans (aka Captain America) and actress, comedian, and author Jenny Slate first met in 2015. Although they only dated for less than a year, they made headlines thanks to their unexpected pairing. What was it, exactly, that attracted the funny lady to People's "Sexiest Man Alive?" Was it his chest tattoos or dressed-down red carpet looks?

The two were a classic case of opposites attract. Slate was quirky and unapologetically embraced her inner weirdo, while Evans was your stereotypical cool guy. Regardless, it worked. Though, initially, the Obvious Child star was just as skeptical about their differences as everyone else, revealing in 2016 on the Anna Faris Is Unqualified podcast that she didn't know what to expect when she met Evans. 

"He's a giant man with huge muscles, and he's Captain America," Slate said. "How could we ever connect?" 

After their breakup in 2017, she told Vulture that she wrote him off as "a sports guy, the kid who likes P.E." However, once she got to know him, he won her over.

Here's a look back at Chris Evans and Jenny Slate's relationship.

September 2015: Chris Evans and Jenny Slate first meet

Coincidentally, Evans and Slate are both from Massachusetts and grew up only half an hour away from each other. "It's kind of like I got my dream 7th grade boyfriend," Slate told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. However, their paths didn't cross until September 2015, when they met at a "chemistry test" for the film Gifted. Spoiler alert: They passed and were cast as romantic leads.

"I remember him saying to me, 'You're going to be one of my closest friends,'" Slate recalled to Vulture about their initial meeting. "I was just like, 'Man, I fucking hope this isn't a lie because I'm going to be devastated if this guy isn't my friend.'" 

She and Evans became friends and regularly hung out at weekly game nights while filming. Things eventually turned romantic after Slate separated from her filmmaker husband, Dean Fleischer Camp, with Evans confessing he had feelings for her.

"To be quite honest, I didn't think I was his type," Slate explained to Vulture. "Eventually, when it was like, Oh, you have these feelings for me? I was looking around like, Is this a prank? I mean, I understand why I think I'm beautiful, but if you've had a certain lifestyle, and I'm a very, very different type of person — I don't want to be an experiment."

While the SNL alum was apprehensive about taking their friendship to the next level, the Knives Out actor seemingly knew it was meant to be. "Oddly enough, I've only known Jenny for a few months, which is insane to say," Evans revealed on Anna Faris Is Unqualified. "It doesn't [feel like that] at all. Sometimes you just meet the same animal, and that's just [what it's like] with Jenny."

July 2016: Chris Evans and Jenny Slate are first spotted together

After months of speculation that their friendship turned romantic, the Gifted co-stars went public with their relationship. At the same time, they made their red carpet debut as a couple at the New York City premiere of The Secret Life of Pets in July 2016. In typical Evans fashion, he wore a baseball hat and a white polo shirt, and Slate opted for an off-the-shoulder red lace dress with tiny cutouts.

On the red carpet, the Little Weirds author discussed having Evans's support at the event. 

"I haven't really had a large premiere before, so it's nice to have someone who knows how it goes," Slate told Entertainment Tonight at the time.

"What's the same about us is not just that we're from Massachusetts, which was such a delight, but Chris is truly one of the kindest people I've ever met, to the point where sometimes I would look at him, and it would kind of break my heart," Slate shared with Vulture. "He's really vulnerable, and he's really straightforward. He's like primary colors. He has beautiful, big, strong emotions, and he's really sure of them. It's just wonderful to be around. His heart is probably golden-colored if you could paint it."

Evans, meanwhile, was taken by his girlfriend's way with words. 

"I've never ever, ever met someone in my life who has a mastery of the English language the way she does," he previously told People about Slate. "She'll give you one sentence, and there's no fat to it. You're like, 'You just chose such an unbelievable collection of words that beautifully articulate what you say.'"

He continued, "It's like an art form talking with her because the visuals associated with her expression are just so colorful. She's so vulnerable, so honest, so interested in other people more than herself. She's incredibly compassionate — there's just nothing to not love about her."

February 2017: Chris Evans and Jenny Slate break up

The first breakup between Evans and Slate happened in February 2017, after the pair had been dating for less than a year. Slate spoke about the split in her profile story for Vulture, revealing that Evans's fame partially led to them ending things. 

"Chris is a very, very famous person. For him to go to a restaurant is totally different than for me to go. I sit in my window, and I say 'Hi' to people on the street. I have more freedom because I'm not Captain America," she said, adding that the attention became too much for her. 

"This is what I needed to do to feel normal," she explained. "To be alone."

Slate was also dealing with her separation from Camp. 

"Even though we had an amicable divorce, I think that's still something that you need to mourn," she told Vulture. "When you get separated from somebody that you actually care about, it is the destruction of a belief system. That is really, really sad. I just didn't have the tools. And I didn't think very hard about that, to be honest."

To the internet's collective delight, Evans and Slate decided to give their relationship another try in November 2017, but they officially split up four months later. 

The Ghosted actor confirmed that the two called it quits in a 2018 profile for The New York Times, where he subtly touched on the topic by explaining how he recently learned to "listen more and speak less" in his relationships with women. 

"The hardest thing to reconcile is that just because you have good intentions doesn't mean it's your time to have a voice," he said.