Nobody Wants This is Based on a True Story—Here’s What the Real People Look Like

Erin Foster (Joanne)

Nobody Wants This is based on writer Erin Foster’s story. “For a decade I had been writing from whatever was happening in my life. And every project had a real cynicism to it, because I felt cynical about relationships and myself and love,” she told Tudum.

“It wasn’t very hopeful because that’s just the place that I was in. It was always about a woman sabotaging herself and self-destructing in some way and choosing the wrong things. And that was totally working for me in my career. So in some ways it was like art was imitating life and I was on this rinse and repeat situation in my life. And if I was on a bad date, I would think, ‘Oh, this is going to be really good to write about.’ I wouldn’t even care that my life was crumbling. I was excited to use it. And so when I met Simon, who is my husband now, honestly, I thought he was kind of killing my vibe.”

She met her real-life husband, Simon Tikhman (not a rabbi but a music executive), in 2018 at a gym in LA. “Over juice at the gym,” she recalled to the LA Times, Simon mentioned that anyone he marries “has to be Jewish.”

Simon Tikhman (Noah)

Simon Tikhman is Erin Foster’s husband, on whom Noah is based. He’s not a rabbi, in fact, he’s not very religious at all, noted the LA Times, but his parents fled the former Soviet Union in 1979 after being persecuted for being Jewish and, when they settled in San Francisco, instilled in him the importance of continuing their heritage.

“I really respect my parents and know the adversity they went through because they were Jewish,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to disappoint them.” Foster happily converted to Judaism for him. “A big part of what drew me to Simon was that he was someone who was funny and cool and modern, but he had a bit of an old-fashioned feel about him,” she told the LA Times. “He’ll be like, ‘Hey, we should go check in on that person, or ‘We need to go see your grandma.’ I didn’t grow up with etiquette around those things.”

Sara Foster (Morgan)

Erin’s sister and co-host on their podcast The World’s First Podcast is played by Succession‘s Justine Lupe in Nobody Wants This. They’re both incredibly open about their lives on their pod, where conversations range from friendship and sister dynamics to dating, anxiety, and aging.

Rebecca Dyer (Lynn)

Erin Foster’s mom is model Rebecca Dyer. In Nobody Wants This, she’s played hysterically by Stephanie Faracy.

David Foster (Henry)

Songwriter David Foster is Erin Foster’s father. In Nobody Wants This, he’s played by Michael Hitchcock, Joanne’s recently out-of-the-closet father.