If you’ve been on Netflix recently, you’ve probably noticed there’s a new #1 show in the US. Nobody Wants This is a brand-new romantic comedy series that has everyone talking.
Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This” is based on a true story and these are 15 real couples
Starring Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This follows Joanne (Bell) and Noah (Brody), an agnostic podcast host and an unconventional rabbi who seem like an unlikely pair on paper. However, after they meet at a party and walk out together, they can’t help but realize there is something between them.
Netflix
With their differing outlooks on life, coupled with modern dating obstacles and some well-meaning but sabotaging family members, Joanne and Noah might be the answer the other person was searching for.
Since the series debuted on Netflix, everyone has been talking about Adam and Kristen’s electric chemistry in the series, alongside how much they love Joanne and Noah’s relationship.
Netflix
And it turns out that Joanne and Noah are actually based on series creator Erin Foster and her husband, music executive Simon Tikhman.
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
So, if you’re curious like I was, here are just 15 facts about the real couple that inspired Nobody Wants This:
There are obviously MASSIVE spoilers ahead!
1. First, Erin Foster and Simon Tikhman first met in 2018 at a gym in LA. In an interview with the LA Times, Erin said that during their first conversation “over juice at the gym,” Simon mentioned that anyone he marries “has to be Jewish.”
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
Speaking about knowing he wanted to marry a Jewish woman, Simon told the LA Times, “I really respect my parents and know the adversity they went through because they were Jewish. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them.”
2. Erin, the daughter of songwriter David Foster and model Rebecca Dyer, told the LA Times that, given her “complicated family structure,” religion and tradition were always something she gravitated toward. She even attended a few classes about Judaism with her friend prior to meeting Simon.
Jason Laveris / FilmMagic / Getty Images
Her father has been married five times, with his second wife being Erin’s mom.
David has been married to Katharine McPhee, who is almost two years younger than Erin, since 2019.
In an interview with Vulture, Erin said, “To me, normal is exotic.”
3. Meanwhile, Simon is a music executive who cofounded a music talent management company, The Core Entertainment. He works with bands like Nickelback and country singers like Bailey Zimmerman and Nate Smith.
Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Netflix
Simon’s parents emigrated from the former Soviet Union to the US in 1979.
4. As seen in “The Ick” episode of Nobody Wants This, when Simon met Erin’s mom for the first time, he brought a large bouquet of sunflowers to a restaurant where they were meeting. She told Vulture, “The flowers were so long, and they kept falling over. Sitting there, I was like, Well, if someone cares this much, then that feels like a weakness.“
Netflix
Erin said when she told the sunflower story in the Nobody Wants This writers’ room, “the men were baffled, but the women immediately got it.” She added, “That made me feel like it was a good story to tell.”
5. And, similar to Noah, Simon didn’t let the sunflower incident end their relationship. Erin recalled to Vulture, “Simon was like, ‘Get over it. I’m supposed to care what your parents think because I want to marry you.’ I was so in love with him at that moment.”
Netflix
Simon recalled in the same Vulture interview, “I personally don’t remember the sunflowers being that big. But I do remember driving home and thinking, It’s not about the flowers.”
6. Erin converted to Judaism for Simon. Part of the conversion process included attending a 10-week program at American Jewish University. Before their wedding, Erin and Simon both attended an eight-week Choosing Judaism class.
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
While appearing on Erin and her sister Sara Foster’s podcast, The World’s First Podcast, in 2021, Simon said, “For someone to do that for you…[it] is the biggest thing you could ever do. I’ll always be grateful for Erin.”
Also sharing their love story on her podcast, Erin added, “They say being a Jewish couple is not about what you learn in class. It’s about the drive home together and what you talk about. Being a Jewish couple is about how you implement it into your lives.”
7. While Nobody Wants This depicts Noah’s family not liking Joanne because she’s not Jewish, Erin said Simon’s family was not like this. However, they were “skeptical” at first.
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
She told Vulture about when she first went to synagogue with Simon’s family for a Rosh Hashanah service, and afterward, she admitted that she “wasn’t that moved.” She said, “I knew immediately I’d made a mistake,” and they fought.
8. Erin said that converting to Judaism actually bonded her and Simon’s parents “in such a great way.” She told the LA Times, “They honestly never had an issue with me because me converting to Judaism was such an honor for them.”
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
She continued, saying, “But in a TV show, you have to have conflict. It’s important that I had Noah’s parents in the show be immigrants because immigrant culture is very different than American Jewish culture.”
9. Simon proposed to Erin in 2019 while planning a very elaborate fake wedding weekend in Napa. Unknown to her, Erin’s family was in Napa to celebrate the big surprise with them. Simon had “balloons and signs for this fake ass wedding,” just to make the illusion as real as possible.
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
Erin documented the whole thing on her Instagram story at the time, with Erin captioning a photo of Simon down on one knee with, “I was in shock.”
10. The duo got married on New Year’s Eve in 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. Alongside Simon and Erin’s families, the special evening was also attended by Kate Hudson, Rachel Zoe, and more.
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
Speaking about their wedding to People, Erin said, “I think as women, your whole life is built around your wedding day, and you really should focus much more on the marriage that’s going to come after it. So, Simon and I have been paying attention to the kind of relationship that we have and the marriage we’re gonna have, and that’s so much more important than a wedding.”
11. Originally, Simon was worried about Erin selling a TV show about their life together — she didn’t tell him she was doing it. He told the LA Times, “I’m from a very private family.” Erin was so worried after Simon said he was uncomfortable with the idea that she “immediately panicked.”
Netflix
In fact, Erin was so worried that she hoped the pilot and offer for Nobody Wants This, which was originally sold to Fox and titled something else, would disappear, but they didn’t.
With the help of one of the executive producers, Steve Levitan, who created Modern Family, Erin and Simon began to feel more comfortable with using their story for a TV show when Erin changed Noah to be less like Simon IRL, namely making Noah a rabbi.
12. Eventually, Simon got on board with Nobody Wants This, especially because his parents were okay with it, too. He told Vulture, “[Erin’s] voice is such an honest voice. I know when she says things, it would be a disservice to tell her not to. But I also know Erin knows where the line is.”
Netflix
Simon also told the LA Times, “Also, this is what Erin’s supposed to be doing. She’s a writer, and she’s incredible at it. I was sitting here the other day watching an episode and thinking, ‘I wish I was as good as this character.'”
Recently, Erin also responded to criticism from some in the Jewish community about the depiction of Jewish women in Nobody Wants This. She told the LA Times, “I think we need positive Jewish stories right now. I think it’s interesting when people focus on, ‘Oh, this is a stereotype of Jewish people,’ when you have a rabbi as the lead. A hot, cool, young rabbi who smokes weed. That’s the antithesis of how people view a Jewish rabbi, right?”
Since she didn’t grow up Jewish, Erin also made sure the writers’ room was filled with colleagues who were born Jewish.
13. Erin told The Today Show that the thing in Nobody Wants This that is most similar to her real-life relationship is the “emotional journey.” Similar to Joanne, she was really “set in her ways” and habits before meeting Simon.
Netflix
She continued, saying, “This is my worldview. No one’s going to be able to change it. These are my habits. They are what they are. And then you meet someone who totally turns that upside down, who makes you want to be a better version of yourself, and who makes you question all the things that you thought were true.”
14. Erin and Simon welcomed their first child together in May 2024. Their daughter, Noa, was born at home and after “over 20 failed rounds of IVF.”
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
In an Instagram post about giving birth at home, Erin wrote, “We feel so lucky and grateful. No matter how hard the journey is, once you get to where you were aiming for, none of it matters.”
15. And finally, Erin calls Nobody Wants This “a love letter” to Simon, especially after she spent years assuming a long-lasting relationship wasn’t in the cards for her.
Erin Foster / Instagram / Via instagram.com
She told the LA Times, “I didn’t think it was possible, and I had gotten kind of OK with that. And now I have to stop myself from going over and sitting in his lap. I’m obsessed with Simon; he’s my muse. And this show is like a love letter to him.”
