Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson have been together for over two decades now. Their relationship is one of low-key existence without much (or any) drama in the media.

Rudolph calls Anderson her husband during interviews and public appearances. However, they aren't legally married.

For the couple, being husband and wife is more of a functional thing.

Why Maya Rudolph calls Paul Thomas Anderson Her husband

Rudolph and Anderson decided to get rid of the terms 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' from their lives after the birth of their first kid in 2005. Rudolph was getting tired of calling Anderson her long-term partner or boyfriend.

She was also tired of explaining that he was the father of her children. So, she thought up a creative solution to the problem — just call him her husband.

Rudolph liked the word 'husband' because it made things clearer for everyone. "People know what that means," she told the New York Times in September 2018.

Maya Rudolph with her husband, Paul Thomas Anderson.

Maya Rudolph with her "husband," Paul Thomas Anderson. (Photo: Twitter)

"It means he’s the father of my child, and I live with him, and we are a couple, and we are not going anywhere," she added.

And it's not just she that calls him husband. He, too, is in on her idea and refers to Rudolph as his wife during interviews.

As for when they might get actually married, the two have been together since the turn of the century and have never felt the need to tie the knot. So, who knows, maybe they will never feel the urge to make things official.

Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Family Life

Rudolph and Anderson started dating in 2001. There's no official story on when or where they met, but there's one prominent theory going around on the internet.

The theory goes — Rudolph met her partner in 2000, while they both were on the set of Saturday Night Live in February 2000. On the February 19, 2000 episode of the skit show, Anderson was there.

His then-girlfriend, Fiona Apple, was a musical guest on the show that day. Anderson, no slouch himself, wrote a skit called 'FANfic' for the show.

Considering all these, it might not be too far-fetched to speculate he met Rudolph backstage.

The couple had the first of their four kids, daughter Pearl Minnie Anderson, on October 15, 2005. Her middle name, Minnie, comes from her grandmother, Minnie Riperton, who died just weeks before Rudolph's seventh birthday in 1979.

Their second kid, daughter Lucille, was born on November 6, 2009. Then arrived their son, Jack, on July 3, 2011, and finally, daughter Minnie Ida, was born on August 1, 2013.

Rudolph and Anderson constantly work on their relationship, keeping it fresh. It wasn't big gestures they performed to keep the romance alive, though.

"To show up every day is kind of the most romantic part because you can bail at any moment," she told Us Weekly in 2018. "I think genuinely like the effort to make an effort. [That’s] the most romantic gesture."