The pair made their relationship Instagram official in October, but were first spotted together last July.
Chelsea Handler can't help gush over her boyfriend, Jo Koy and her birthday tribute to the comedian is no different. Handler took to social media Thursday to share a letter she wrote to herself, asking for what she was looking for in a partner. The funny woman said she got it all in Koy, except for one small detail.
"Please bring me a man who is strong physically and emotionally. Someone who is not afraid of risk, but also puts me in my place. Someone who values equality, humor, and who keeps me feeling alive," Handler began the lengthy note to herself. "I want a man who I can ski with, who I can travel with, and someone I can be silent with. I want a best friend."
In addition to loyalty and bravery, Handler said she wanted to find a partner who makes her feel the way her late brother, Chet, did.
"I want someone who is loyal to me and loyal to his friends," she continued. "Someone who is willing to stick his neck out and fight for good. I want someone brave, who understands me and loves me unconditionally, and sees my mess, and loves me in spite of it. Someone who holds me and makes me feel the way Chet did."
Handler also noted that she wanted someone who considers her needs, sometimes before their own, and someone who has the financial independence to "traipse around the world with her" and the desire to make it happen.
Another thing on her list was a man with a full head of hair. While Koy has famously rocked a bald head for the entirety of his career, it turned out to be an item in the long letter to herself that Handler was willing to forgo.
"I want to connect with a man in a way I haven't yet. Please send me someone with a great head of hair, and I don't care what color or creed," she wrote, circling the "great head of hair" portion in red. "I want my match. I believe I deserve love."
"If you don't send him to me, I will survive, but I will remain ready for him if he comes," Handler added, concluding the letter. "Thank you."
The Dear Chelsea podcast host showered Koy with birthday love in the caption, while also jokingly drawing attention to the one thing on her list that he didn't have, "A couple of years ago I wrote a letter to myself, asking for what I was looking for in a partner, and I got it all. (Well, except one.)."
Adding, "Happy birthday, to my guy! I love you to the moon and then over to the sun, and back. You’re the sweetest @jokoy."
Handler confirmed her relationship with Koy back in September when she took to Instagram and said she's fallen in love.
"Just sitting here in Mallorca thinking about how grateful I am to have so many people that I love in my life, to live the life I do and to be going on tour doing what I love," she captioned her post. "And that I’m finally in love, with the best kind of guy there is," she wrote. "There is hope for everyone! That kind of stuff."
A few weeks later, on her podcast, Handler shared how her 18-year friendship with Koy turned into something more.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Koy asked Handler to write a blurb for his book, Mixed Plate, when the two reconnected. They started texting, hanging out and even FaceTiming regularly too. After four months apart, they decided to go out to dinner.
"The minute we were both back in L.A., we were like, 'Let's go to dinner,'" Koy recalled. From there, the pair started spending lots of time together and things progressed "organically," Handler explained.
But it wasn't until Handler's return to the stage during a show in Las Vegas that she felt something was different between her and her longtime friend. After getting back to L.A., the couple has been together ever since.
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