“Them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” said Molly McNearney, an executive producer and co-head writer of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

Bailey Richards is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023 and interned with the brand in 2022. Her work has previously appeared in digital publications like PAPER and TV Insider.

Jimmy Kimmel (left) and Molly McNearney (right), Donald Trump.Credit : Frazer Harrison/Getty;Alexander Tamargo/Getty

Jimmy Kimmel’s wife Molly McNearney says the late-night host’s ongoing feud with Donald Trump has made her already difficult relationships with family members who support the president even more challenging to navigate.

While appearing on the Nov. 6 episode of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast alongside Kimmel, 57, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! executive producer and co-head writer, 47, opened up about how her relationships with certain relatives have been hurt and “lost,” as her issues with Trump moved into more personal territory this year.

“What is it like to go from, like, a conservative family and become like, the Mockingjay of the other side?” asked podcast co-host Glennon Doyle, referring to the symbol for the rebellion in The Hunger Games franchise. In response, McNearney said, “It’s definitely been challenging.”

Explaining that she grew up “in a very conservative, Republican” household in St. Louis — and how her political beliefs changed after moving and encountering “people from different backgrounds” — McNearney said she was “upset” when Trump, 79, was elected in 2016, but remembered thinking, “I understand it.”

Jimmy Kimmel and Molly McNearney in 2024.Kayla Oaddams/WireImage

But this time around, she said things were different. Despite having “sympathy” for many of her family members that “are deliberately being misinformed every day,” McNearney said, “It hurts me so much because of the personal relationship I now have where my husband is out there fighting this man.”

“And to me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” she continued, adding that “unfortunately,” she has “lost relationships with people in my family because of it.”

Trump has long blasted Kimmel and other late-night hosts who criticize him in their shows. But the ongoing feud between the two ramped up earlier this year when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled from ABC’s lineup indefinitely.

At the time, Trump celebrated the suspension, which came after Kimmel made comments about the death of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk.

“This is not just Republican versus Democrat for me anymore,” McNearney said while discussing her family on We Can Do Hard Things. “It is, to me, it’s family values and it’s really hard for me because I grew up believing in these Christian ideals of taking care of the sick and taking care of the poor and I don’t see that happening with this Republican party.”

“I feel like I’m kind of in constant conflict and I’m angry all the time, which isn’t healthy at all,” the executive producer continued. “But I personalize everything now. When I see these terrible stories every day, I’m immediately mad at certain aunts, uncles, cousins who put him in power. And it’s really hard.”

McNearney went on to say she wishes she “could deprogram myself in some way, but I get really angry.”

Donald Trump in October 2025.Kevin Dietsch/Getty

“I’ve sent many emails to family, like right before the election saying, ‘I’m begging you. Here’s the 10 reasons not to vote for this guy. Please don’t.’ And I either got ignored by 90% of them or got truly insane responses from a few. It’s definitely caused a strain,” she said.

“I’ve definitely pulled in closer with the family that I feel more aligned with. And I hate that this has happened, you know? It feels silly. You know, part of me goes, ‘Don’t let politics get in the way.’ But to me, this isn’t politics. It’s truly values,” McNearney added. “And we just were not aligned anymore.”

A spokesperson for Disney’s ABC confirmed to PEOPLE on Sept. 17 that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be pulled indefinitely. The same day, Trump issued a statement on Truth Social.

“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” he wrote at the time. “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”

Less than a week later, ABC confirmed that the late-night show would return to the air, and Trump once again reacted on Truth Social, asking in a Sept. 23 post why the network would “want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.”

Kimmel and McNearney met on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live! They got married on July 13, 2013, and share two children: daughter Jane, 11, and son Billy, 8.

Kimmel also shares two adult children with first wife, Gina Maddy: daughter Katie, 34, and son Kevin, 32.