Inside Shrinking star Jason Segel's life from 'existential crisis' to famous younger girlfriend

Shrinking season two has started so it’s no mystery why Apple TV+ subscribers are curious to know all there is about its leading man Jason Segel.

The comedy-drama was last seen in January 2023, telling the tale of grieving therapist Jimmy Laird (played by Jason Segel) who decided to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks.

With How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel, as well as Indiana Jones icon Harrison Ford leading the cast, it’s no wonder the show got picked up for a second outing, this time consisting of 12 episodes.

With only the first two episodes currently available, subscribers are keen to know what’s going to happen next, as well as find out more about actor Segel.

Mixed religious upbringing

Jason Segel was born in January 1980 in Santa Monica, California, to parents Jillian and Alvin Segel who was a lawyer, and was a middle child to older brother Adam and younger sister Alison.

His father was Jewish while his mum was Christian and so Jason attended a Christian school during the day and Hebrew school in the evenings.

The star credits him getting into acting to his parents who enrolled him in classes as a child so he would be less shy and make more friends.

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Drinking problem

In the early days of Segel’s career, he starred in Freaks and Geeks, Slackers, Undeclared, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Five Year Engagement and, of course, How I Met Your Mother as Marshall Eriksen.

But it had been reported that the actor had struggled with alcoholism but it was reportedly his break-up with actress Michelle Williams in 2013 that led him to get sober and join the AA (Alcoholics Anonymous).

He was then able to use his experience to help him portray the late author David Foster Wallace in The End Of The Tour.

The star told NPR: “I felt like, ‘Oh, thank God, here’s somebody else who’s willing to talk about these things.’

“I was very hopeful my experience wasn’t unique. I think most people [feel that] when they’re going through a hard time.”

Career crisis

When How I Met Your Mother reached its conclusion in 2014, Segel struggled to find his footing for a while.

He told Vanity Fair: “I had a big existential crisis when How I Met Your Mother ended, about my relationship to work because at some point I was like, really winning work.

“I had this little period where I could do anything I wanted.

“And I was very unhappy, and I couldn't figure out why.

“So when How I Met Your Mother ended, I spent a long time, like five years, trying to figure out my relationship to work in a way that would be sustainable for me and interesting for me.

“So in that period when I was trying to figure it out, I only took projects where I could be around people I really admired, so I could ask them a lot of questions.”

Years later, he then received a cold call from producer Bill Lawrence who brought up the idea of Shrinking.

Segel continued: “He and Brett [Goldstein] pitched me this idea about a shrink who was grieving himself and basically going through a nervous breakdown while he continued to practice therapy.

“There would be this kind of even mix of big comedy and set comedy pieces, but also real pathos and we were gonna handle the grieving as honestly as possible.

“That seemed like this really tasty mix of everything I was looking for.”

Love life

In regards to romance, Segel is in a relationship with dancer Kayla Radomski.

The pair were first linked together after they were seen holding hands at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights in October 2023, followed by their red carpet debut at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this year.

Radomski, who is 33 years old and so 11 years Segel’s junior, is a dancer who came fourth in the fifth season of So You Think You Can Dance when she was 18.

She has also worked as a backup dancer for singer , performing during the superstar’s performance of Me! with Brendon Urie at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards.

Posting about Segel on , Radomski thanked him for “being the best man this lady could dream up.”

Shrinking season two premieres on Wednesday, October 16, on Apple TV+.