Michelle Buteau has built a public career around comedy, acting and candid storytelling. Her work includes the Netflix series Survival of the Thickest and the film Babes, while her interviews often explore the demands of balancing creative ambition with motherhood. Her husband, Gijs van der Most, appears in that story through a different perspective: as a photographer, creative collaborator, and partner.
Although many readers discover him through Buteau, his professional identity extends beyond their marriage. His documentary photography examines people and everyday environments, and his business interests include vintage furniture. Understanding him requires looking at those activities alongside the family experiences Buteau has publicly described.
This article explores his Dutch background, creative work, marriage, fatherhood, and public appearances. It also distinguishes documented actions from interpretations of his personality, allowing a thoughtful account of a comparatively private person without turning public curiosity into invented biography.
Profile Summary
| Detail | Publicly documented information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Gijs van der Most |
| Background | Dutch-born |
| Relationship | Husband of Michelle Buteau |
| Marriage | July 2010 |
| Public profile | Photographer and furniture business co-owner |
| Education | Photographic design at HKU, 2000–2005 |
| Residence, general | New York in family reporting; earlier professional profile based in Los Angeles |
| Children | Twins Hazel and Otis, born January 2019 |
| Known philanthropic involvement | Photographed attending a Michael J. Fox Foundation benefit |
| Social media presence | Appears in Buteau’s public Instagram posts |
Who Is Gijs van der Most?
Gijs van der Most is a Dutch photographer whose public identity combines creative work and family life. An earlier Citylikeyou profile documents photographic projects including Used Car Salesmen, Yard Sales, Sign Jugglers and I ♥ Runyon Canyon. It also records his work as a photo editor for Kaufmann Mercantile and a joint project with Buteau called van der THIS!, which combined photography and comedy.
Those activities give readers a more substantial introduction than the label “celebrity husband.” They show a professional interested in observation, images and collaboration. His connection with Buteau explains much of the wider attention surrounding his name, but it should not replace consideration of his own work. A useful biography brings both perspectives together: the photographer with an independent creative history and the partner featured in his wife’s accounts of marriage and family.
The Private Life of Gijs van der Most
Van der Most’s private life becomes visible largely through moments Buteau chooses to discuss. In NPR’s Wild Card, she described their home as a valued gathering place and explained that they make an effort to eat dinner together as a family. Even a short meal counts amid busy schedules.
This offers a concrete view of domestic priorities without requiring assumptions about everything happening outside public view. The significance lies in the routine itself: the household actively arranges shared time. It is reasonable to interpret that practice as an emphasis on connection, while recognizing that an interview captures selected experiences rather than a complete portrait of married life.
Early Life and Background of Gijs van der Most
His Dutch upbringing and photographic education provide the clearest starting points for his background. His professional story also spans different cities: Citylikeyou preserves an earlier Los Angeles chapter, while later family reporting connects him with New York. These accounts describe different periods and should not automatically be treated as contradictory.
That distinction matters when reconstructing a creative career. A profile’s location reflects the circumstances when it was written, not necessarily a permanent address. His documented background supports a photographer moving between Dutch and American settings. It does not justify adding childhood anecdotes, family occupations, or formative experiences that he has not publicly described.
Photography and the Furniture Business
The subjects of van der Most’s documented photography are revealing. Car salespeople, yard sales, sign jugglers, and hikers place ordinary people and recognizable environments at the center of his work. Taken together, those project titles suggest an interest in everyday social life rather than an exclusive focus on celebrity portraiture. This is an interpretation of the recorded subjects, not a claim about his private motives.
His furniture venture, Van der Most Modern, adds another dimension to that visual career. The business’s indexed catalog includes vintage lighting, chairs, and tables, including pieces attributed to established designers. These listings show engagement with design objects alongside photography, though individual product pages should not be treated as proof of current stock availability.
Marriage and Partnership with Michelle Buteau
The couple met in 2008. Buteau’s recollections describe an early relationship maintained across Amsterdam and New York, with limited money making visits difficult. Her account emphasizes that she wanted to keep seeing him despite the practical obstacles.
Their public appearances include the 2024 NAACP Image Awards and the 2025 Made in NY Awards. In an April 2026 PEOPLE interview, Buteau credited him with believing in her potential and described communication as central to their marriage.
Together, these accounts offer more insight than red-carpet photographs alone. Event attendance establishes that they appear together publicly; her words explain how she understands his support. Neither should be expanded into a claim that every aspect of their relationship is visible or uncomplicated.
Gijs van der Most’s Role Behind the Scenes
“Behind the scenes” can become an imprecise phrase in celebrity biographies. For van der Most, there is a documented creative example: the van der THIS! collaboration joined his photography with Buteau’s comedy. It shows a shared project built around their respective disciplines.
Buteau’s Fresh Air interview also described the challenge of being present for work, children, her husband, and her parents. That account places marriage within a wider network of responsibilities. It supports discussion of the demands surrounding their household, but it does not establish who performs each domestic task or manages professional decisions. His role is best understood through specific collaborations and attributed testimony rather than an invented job description as the person responsible for her success.
Family Life: Raising the Next Generation
Hazel and Otis arrived through surrogacy after the couple’s difficult fertility journey. In her 2019 Glamour essay, Buteau described repeated IVF treatment, miscarriages and the financial pressures surrounding their decision. She also explained that her mother helped financially.
Her account shows that becoming parents involved medical, emotional, and practical decisions rather than a straightforward celebrity milestone. Its importance to van der Most’s biography lies in the shared family context. Buteau describes experiences they navigated as a couple while speaking from her own perspective. The children can be acknowledged as central to that story without predicting their careers, assigning them public identities, or turning ordinary childhood into material for speculation.
Philanthropy and Community Engagement
Public photographs document the couple attending a Michael J. Fox Foundation benefit. That supports a specific statement about participation in a fundraising event, rather than assumptions about donation amounts or formal organizational roles.
Buteau’s NPR account also shows a personal form of community engagement. She described hosting friends and family and characterized herself and her husband as organizers of their social community.
These are distinct forms of involvement. A charitable benefit connects them to an established cause; gatherings at home focus on relationships with people they know. Both provide concrete examples of participation, but neither alone establishes a comprehensive philanthropic agenda.
The Power of Privacy: Influence Without Publicity
Van der Most’s public record illustrates how professional visibility and personal privacy can coexist. Audiences can examine photography projects while domestic experiences remain selectively shared. A spouse’s interviews may illuminate a relationship without making the other partner a full-time public personality.
Privacy itself does not prove humility, shyness or a rejection of fame. Those are interpretations requiring evidence. Its practical effect is clearer: readers encounter different amounts of information about each partner. A balanced biography respects that difference and avoids treating a quieter media presence as evidence that someone lacks ambition, influence or an independent identity.
Public Curiosity and Misconceptions About Gijs van der Most
The most consequential recent update concerns his health. USA TODAY reported on October 1, 2026, that Buteau disclosed his cancer diagnosis during a September 26 question-and-answer session at Hoda Kotb’s Joy 101 Fall Retreat. The report did not identify the cancer type or when the diagnosis occurred.
The disclosure date should therefore not be presented as the diagnosis date. Likewise, the report does not support conclusions about treatment, stage, or prognosis. Keeping these distinctions clear helps readers understand the news without turning a personal disclosure into an unsupported medical narrative.
Legacy and Future
At this stage, “legacy” is best understood through work and relationships already documented. Van der Most’s photographic projects provide material that can be discussed on its own terms, while Buteau’s accounts establish his place in their shared family story.
Future chapters should remain open. New professional projects, family statements, or interviews may add to the record, but they should be incorporated as they are documented. A responsible biography doesn’t need predictions to give a living person’s story meaning.
Conclusion
Gijs van der Most’s story brings together a photographic career, an interest in furniture design and a long partnership with Michelle Buteau. Together, theseTogether, these elements givegive him a fuller identity than the familiar description of a comedian’s husband.
The strongest account comes from specific evidence: creative projects, recorded collaborations, public appearances, and Buteau’s descriptions of their shared experiences. These details allow thoughtful analysis without assigning him an imagined personality or making claims about unseen family dynamics.
His comparatively quiet public presence also shapes how his life should be written. It calls for attention to what he has made and what the couple has chosen to share. That approach preserves both the substance of his biography and the boundaries around a family with uneven public visibility.
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(FAQs)
1. Who is Gijs van der Most?
He is a Dutch-born photographer, co-owner of a furniture business,, and Michelle Buteau’s husband.
2. When did he marry Michelle Buteau?
They married in July 2010.
3. Where did he study photography?
He studied photographic design at HKU in the Netherlands.
4. What is Van der Most Modern?
It is the furniture business associated with Van der Most and Buteau.
5. Does he have children?
Yes. The couple welcomed twins Hazel and Otis in January 2019 through surrogacy.
6. What photography projects has he produced?
Documented projects include Used Car Salesmen, Yard Sales, Sign Jugglers, and I ♥ Runyon Canyon.
7. Has he collaborated creatively with Buteau?
Yes. Citylikeyou documents their joint photography-and-comedy project, van der THIS!
8. Has Buteau publicly discussed his cancer diagnosis?
Yes. She disclosed it in September 2026; USA TODAY reported the disclosure on October 1.
