Meet Rodger Berman, supportive hubby of Y2K celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe, who worked with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears: they starred in a reality show, launched venture capital funds, and share 2 sons

Jun 3 , 2024

Celeb stylist and businesswoman Rachel Zoe and her husband Rodger Berman are partners in all aspects of life. Photo: @rbermanus/Instagram

Before Gen Z got Mimi Cuttrell, millennials had Rachel Zoe.

The legendary celebrity stylist for Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence and Jennifer Garner became one of the biggest fashion names in Hollywood after dressing Nicole Richie, Mischa Barton and Britney Spears in the 2000s.

But the celebrity stylist has a love story that contributed to her success in the industry too. Meet her hubby of 26 years, Rodger Berman, who’s also her business partner.

How did Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman meet?

Celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe met her partner Rodger Berman in 1991 at university. Photo: @rachelzoe/Instagram

Zoe met Berman in 1991 when the two attended George Washington University in Washington DC. The couple moved to Los Angeles after graduation, where Zoe was able to pursue her dream of starting a career in fashion. In 1998, the couple got married – which was a handful of years before the reality show A Simple Life, starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, which would eventually usher in a new generation of celebrities who were famous simply for the fact that they’re famous.

How did Rachel Zoe get famous?

Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton arrive for The Simple Life 2 party at The Spider Club in Hollywood, California, in 2004. Photo: Getty Images

Zoe’s rise to fame occurred during this unique junction in pop culture, when she dressed Richie in those Juicy Couture velour tracksuits that became uniforms for millennial girls. As paparazzi photos of Spears, Richie and other noughties celebrities flooded the tabloid pages, celebrity watchers began to wonder why their styles seemed similar, Grazia observed.

That’s when Zoe’s name cropped up. Those flipping through teen magazines realised that Zoe was the person they should be looking to for inspiration … and the stylist started becoming as big a name as the celebrities she dressed.

Rodger Berman pursued finance and banking for his career. Photo: @rbermanus/Instagram

Zoe’s husband Berman, meanwhile, was building his own career in the finance world at the time.

They starred on reality show The Rachel Zoe Project

Rachel Zoe’s husband Rodger Berman became the co-CEO of her company, Rachel Zoe Inc. Photo: @rachelzoe/Instagram

In 2008, Zoe launched her own reality TV series, The Rachel Zoe Project. It was an instant hit at the time and recently got picked up by Peacock from Bravo’s archives, prompting renewed fan interest in the once very public couple’s whereabouts today.

Starring alongside Zoe in the series were members of her staff and her husband, who’s the co-CEO of Rachel Zoe Inc. The show aired for five seasons and offered a behind-the-scenes look inside the seemingly glamorous world of celebrity styling. Viewers were also fascinated by the picture-perfect marriage of Zoe and Berman.

Rachel Zoe and her family. Photo: @rachelzoe/Instagram

Zoe gave birth to their two sons – one in 2011 while still filming the reality series, and the other in 2013, the year the show came to an end.

Aside from starring alongside his wife in her reality show, Berman was also an active partner in Zoe’s many fashion ventures. As co-CEO of Rachel Zoe Inc., he saw various projects take off, including subscription services Box of Style and Curateur.

They founded venture funds together too

Drawing on Berman’s investment banking and entrepreneurial background, the couple started the Access Fund under Rachel Zoe Ventures. The fund is described as “a new iteration of venture capital that offers access to an exceptional network across media, social, e-commerce, fashion, tech, finance and more”.

They’re partners in all aspects of life

Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman have their own podcast. Photo: @rbermanus/Instagram

In 2021, the pair launched Works for Us with Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman, a couple-focused podcast built on the almost three-decade-long marriage they share. That eventually led Zoe to launch her own podcast, Climbing in Heels, focusing on female entrepreneurship and empowerment.

Berman summed up what it’s like being one-half of a dynamic business duo, which might be key to the two’s success at home and work, per People: “I always find that the best relationships are the ones that you really root for the other person and you really try and help them in achieving their goals. Ultimately, your happiness is the other person being happy, right?”

Icons and Influencers

Before Gen Z got Mimi Cuttrell, millennials had Rachel Zoe: she styled Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Richie, and rose to fame at the same time as A Simple Life and Juicy Couture
Zoe met her husband Berman at university in 1991 – since then, they’ve worked together on Rachel Zoe Inc. and podcast Works for Us, about their decades-long marriage