Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss says marriage to Fred Armisen ‘extremely traumatic’

MAD Men star Elisabeth Moss has opened up about her brief marriage to Portlandia’s Fred Armisen, calling it “extremely traumatic”.

Bad time... Elisabeth Moss has nothing nice to say about her ex. Picture: Pascal Le Segre

MAD Men star Elisabeth Moss has opened up about her brief marriage to Portlandia star Fred Armisen, calling it “extremely traumatic”.

Speaking to New York magazine in a new interview, Moss said her marriage, which ended just after eight months in 2010, was “horrible”.

“Looking back, I feel like I was really young, and at the time I didn’t think that I was that young,” said Moss. “It was extremely traumatic and awful and horrible.”

Since their divorce Armisen, in an interview with radio shock jock Howard Stern, admitted to being a “terrible husband”. (The Saturday Night Live and Portlandia star, now 47, has been married and divorced three times.)

It’s not the first time Moss has had less-than pleasant things to say about her ex-husband. In a 2012 interview, she gave a hint as to how he had treated her during their brief union. “One of the greatest things I heard someone say about him is, ‘He’s so great at doing impersonations. But the greatest impersonation he does is that of a normal person.’” she said.

Bad husband... Fred Armisen admits he is not marriage material. Picture: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/AFP

Career-wise, things couldn’t be better for Moss; the seventh season of Mad Men, in which she plays the smarter-than-everyone-else-in-the-room Peggy Olson, is about to return to our TV screens, while in January she took home a Golden Globe Best Actress gong for her role in Jane Campion’s brilliant Top of the Lake.

Reflecting on her failed marriage, Moss was sanguine. “At the same time, it turned out for the best,” Moss told New York magazine. “I’m glad that I’m not there. I’m glad that it didn’t happen when I was 50. I’m glad I didn’t have kids. And I got that out of the way. Hopefully. Like, that’s probably not going to happen again.”

Even though she’s seen her own private life reported on, Moss added that she’s a fan of a little bit of gossip herself. “I enjoy a little gossip,” she said. “I like looking at photos of celebrities going to Starbucks.”