Director Stephen Gyllenhaal, Father of Jake and Maggie, Files for Divorce from Wife After 11 Years

The filmmaker is asking for joint custody of his and wife Kathleen's 9-year-old son Luke

Stephen Gyllenhaal, Director and Father of Jake and Maggie, Files for Divorce from Wife After 11 Years
Left: Stephen Gyllenhaal and Kathleen Gyllenhaal in 2016; Right: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2021. Photo:

Vivien Killilea/Getty; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Stephen Gyllenhaal has filed for divorce from wife Kathleen after being separated since spring 2022.

According to Los Angeles court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the 74-year-old director (who is father to actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal) is also seeking joint custody of their 9-year-old son Luke.

Stephen listed March 26, 2022, as the date of separation from fellow filmmaker Kathleen (née Man), 49, whom he married on May 7, 2011. He listed "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for divorce.

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Filmmaker Stephen Gyllenhaal and Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal attend the 2016 San Diego International Film Festival on September 29, 2016 in San Diego, California.
Stephen Gyllenhaal and Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal on Sept. 29, 2016.

Vivien Killilea/Getty

Stephen's marriage to Kathleen, whom he worked with on multiple projects including 2012's Grassroots starring Jason Biggs and Lauren Ambrose, was his second after he was previously married to Naomi Foner from 1977 to 2009.

Naomi, a screenwriter and director, is the mother of Maggie, 46, and Jake, 43. Stephen and Naomi, 77, are also grandparents to Maggie's two daughters: Gloria, 11, and Ramona, 17, whom she shares with husband Peter Sarsgaard.

Back in July 2015, Jake told PEOPLE that his parents' divorce caused him to hit pause on the direction in which his career was going.

“It allowed me to be more honest with myself,” the Donnie Darko star said at the time.

And he respected his mother and father's courage in making their decision. “There was a sense of two people who said ‘What is our truth?’ It was painful for a lot of people in our family, but that honesty was inspiring," Jake added.

Jake Gyllenhaal and sister Maggie Gyllenhaal (C) pose with parents Steve Gyllenhaal (L) and Naomi Foner at a benefit screening of Touchstone Pictures' "Moonlight Mile" in 2002
From L: Stephen Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner in Beverly Hills, California, on Sept. 24, 2002.

Vince Bucci/Getty

During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2005, Naomi said she found it hard to be a working mother because of the “pull between the selflessness required for real parenting and the selfishness you need to have in this work.”

“I made a lot of mistakes,” she said. “Believe me, I was not a perfect mother, as they will tell you. But I do think that a gift I can give them is the idea that it’s never too late to do the work. Because life doesn’t only go in one direction.”

Naomi and Stephen raised their children in Los Angeles, but after the divorce, she relocated to New York, where Jake and Maggie also live.

“As you get older, you get to a place where you see yourself as you saw your parents when you were a child. And that’s a really beautiful perspective,” Jake told Esquire in February 2022. “I’ve been on this earth with my parents for 41 years, and it’s a really deep, really complex relationship.”

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