Fox, on the other hand, has leaned further into a particular brand of soft, nerdy style that Matutina clocked as instantly attractive when they first met—think corduroy, printed fleece zips, high-water pants. He says he likes to look “aerodynamic” but admits it’s closer to “divorced dad” than cyberpunk. “I look like I work at Blick, and I’m cool with that,” he asserts. “The dad shit is more fun.”
They take a break at this point because Matutina’s chihuahua, Kiwi, who’s been sitting in her lap, seems to be getting bored. Fox moves the pup to his lap.
Less than a month after they made the relationship official, Zack moved to New York to host Vice Live, and the two went long-distance. Matutina would join him for a week at a time on the East Coast, and after the show got canceled, she’d meet him on tour, where they’d squeeze into those coffin-like tour-bus beds. Anyone who’s traveled with a significant other will tell you it’s the ultimate relationship test—and they passed with flying colors. “We traveled really well together,” Matutina says. “We made a good team.”
Finally, at the end of 2020, the pair settled into a roomy Los Angeles apartment together. Cohabitation hasn’t been much of an adjustment for a couple who’s embraced radical transparency from the start—a necessity for two public figures whose sex lives feature prominently in their professional work. An old clip of Fox on Comedy Central centers on an elaborate riff about ass play, and Matutina is just as frank on her podcast, where she openly discusses relationships past and present, and where Fox is sometimes mildly surprised but never upset to hear his name come up.
“I always felt comfortable talking about anything,” Matutina says, which set the tone for openness within and without their relationship. Skipping all the courtship rituals of hiding intimate details, Fox says, was new for him and ultimately helped bring them together. And while they don’t necessarily set rules about what does and doesn’t get to be public, neither of them is concerned that the other will cross a boundary. “There’s stuff we would keep private,” Fox says, “but definitely not the fact that we have sex.”
So their rom-com story is a little more racy than Hitch. But they make room for plenty of chaste, cornball antics every day. And at the end of the day, like any loving couple, they slip into their matching flannel pajamas and go to bed.
A version of this story originally appeared in the March 2021 issue with the title “Big Love and Huge Fits.”
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photographs by Julian Burgueño