Does Lucy Liu Have a Husband? Inside the Acress's Low-Key Private Life

Lucy Liu is best known for portraying a female Dr. Watson on "Elementary" and breakout role in the "Charlie's Angels" reboot. The star rarely shares details about her private life, and the only male she has been pictured with recently is her son.

With Lucy Liu's success spelled out on IMDb and the walls of influential art galleries, her heavily guarded private life intrigues fans. By design, the star keeps the focus away from her dating life and her work as an actress, director, producer, and fine artist.

The first-generation Asian American actress paid her dues with walk-on roles in the 90s on shows like NYPD Blue, ER, and The X-Files, and a memorable guest appearance on season two of Beverly Hills, 90210 as a Peach Pit waitress.

Lucy Liu's Early Life

Liu is a born and bred New Yorker; she was born to Cecilia Liu on December 2, 1968, and raised in Queens. Her immigrant parents, Cecilia, a biochemist, and Tom Liu, a civil engineer, worked long hours to build their new life in America. In an Artsy interview, she said:

"My parents were out all the time working. We were latchkey kids. I had siblings, and we would let ourselves in after school, we'd come home and make ourselves TV dinners, so it was just about very basic things like survival."

After a year at NYU, she transferred to the University of Michigan; she graduated with a degree in Asian Languages and Cultures. She also developed her craft with dance, voice, fine arts, and acting classes. Upon graduation, she moved to LA to pursue acting.

Does Lucy Liu Have a Husband?

Liu once quipped that her love for "funny smelling" vintage clothing might be why she does not have a paramour. The then serial dater, George Clooney, was not put off by her threads. The pair briefly dated in 2000 and were spotted kissing outside an NYC restaurant in 2006.

She got engaged to screenwriter Zach Helm in April 2004 after dating for less than a year. Despite calling him her "soul mate," the engagement was called off before the end of that year.

She has been in a few long-term relationships. After breaking her engagement, the artist rebounded with actor Will McCormack. The pair were reportedly mainly pictured together at public red-carpet events over their 3-year relationship.

24/7 security and a billionaire beau

Details of her billionaire boyfriend, Israeli hedge fund billionaire Noam Gottesman, are sparse mainly due to the couple's 24/7 security guards that kept the paparazzi at bay. They spent the majority of their four-year romance in his Manhattan mansion and Hampshire estate.

She told The Sydney Morning Herald that she did want to distract from her characters by being known for who she dated. She explained why there is little photographic evidence of her dating life.

"I've always been very private, and I fly under the radar as much as possible. I do that in a very specific manner. I don't bring people I'm dating to any public event because it's a big responsibility that I'm not sure anyone wants."

Did Lucy Liu Come Out?

Liu's secrecy about her partners extends further than just the "whom," but she has left some clues about her sexuality. Queer fans and art collectors alike lust after her large-scale erotic canvasses of women making love and captured­­ mid embrace.

When asked if Rockwell has watched her animation franchise "Kung Fu Panda," where she portrays Viper, she confided that her son does not know she's a star.

In a 2003 Jane Magazine interview, Liu is believed to have low-key come out, as she said. "Everybody wants to label people. […] I think that if I happen to fall in love with a woman, everyone's going to make a big deal out of it. But if I happen to fall in love with a man, nobody cares."

Privacy in the Time of Social Media

When praised by a TV host Meredith Vieira for managing to keep a low-key life, she admitted to the odd white lie to protect her family's privacy:

"I try to avoid very popular places to eat. And when they ask you where's your favorite place to go I don't always tell them the truth. You know what I mean. I tell them the top spots but not the place I would go to most often."

While enjoying curating her life on social media, she respects the wishes of her brother Alex Liu, who she lived with at a time, not to post photos of his children. At that time, she played it safe with posts of her dog and meals.

Lucy Liu's Surprise Baby

The stability of a syndicated show enabled her to become a single mother via a gestational surrogate. With no prior warning to the public, she introduced her son Rockwell Liu on Instagram with an image taken minutes after his birth in August 2015. She opened up about how motherhood changed her life:

"It's almost become this cellular feeling of connecting to the universe in a way where you understand the idea of the cycle of life and the responsibility of having another being who is a part of you but outside of yourself. "

In a post celebrating his fifth birthday, the proud single mom called her son a "rainbow of light" and said his energy is "pure magic." During the pandemic, it was a challenge to entertain the active toddler accustomed to walking the city.

When asked if Rockwell has watched her animation franchise "Kung Fu Panda," where she portrays Viper, she confided that her son does not know she's a star. "All he thinks is that I'm an artist and I'm a mommy – and that's enough for now."