Obsessed With Gomez And Morticia Addams? Here's Their Official Love Story

Spooky season came early this year with the long-awaited second season of Netflix’s smash hit, Wednesday. Jenna Ortega’s version of the iconic character fascinated audiences back when the first season aired in 2022, and fans can’t get enough of having her back on their small screens this month.

While the show mainly focused on Wednesday as promised, audiences are taken with her iconic parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams. They’re not only hilarious (which seems to run in the family genes), but their love, devotion, and passion for one another are enough to make a cynic blush. 

In a dating culture that encourages women to accept the bare minimum, Gomez and Morticia are a breath of fresh air. Their love story may have variations through multiple adaptations, but their love, devotion, and passion for each other remain the core of their relationship.

Here is their official love story, and a few key takeaways.

Spoilers for “The Addams Family” series (1964-1966), “The Addams Family” movie (1991), “Addams Family Values” (1993), and “Wednesday” (2022-present) are ahead.

The Origins of The Addams Family

The Addams Family began in 1938 as a comic strip by cartoonist Charles Addams in The New Yorker. At first, the characters didn’t even have names—just a delightfully offbeat cast that included a morbid yet adoring husband and wife, their two peculiar children, and an assortment of eccentric relatives.

The genius of The Addams Family was that they were created as the antithesis of the classic American household. Their humor was macabre, their fascination with death a little unsettling, but beneath the cobwebs and candlelight, the family (especially Gomez and Morticia) was deeply, almost radically, devoted to one another. What Charles Addams was saying about the “typical” American family of the 1930s is a conversation for another day. What matters here is that he unknowingly set the stage for one of pop culture’s most enduring and beautiful love stories.

Gomez and Morticia’s Love Story

While Charles Addams’ version of The Addams Family doesn’t provide much backstory, other adaptations filled in the gaps, most notably the sitcom from the ‘60s and movies from the ‘90s.

The Addams Family sitcom (1964-1966) expands on Gomez (John Astin) and Morticia’s (Carolyn Jones) back story and shows how their spark has yet to dull after years of marriage. One episode shows they met when their mothers initially wanted Gomez to marry Morticia’s sister, Ophelia, but Morticia intrigued Gomez after he learned she liked to behead her dolls. Gomez and Morticia end up getting married and show audiences a love story that was out of the norm for sitcoms of that era.

Many classic sitcoms showed married couples who bickered and slept in separate beds, but Gomez and Morticia were never shy about showing physical affection for one another. While they argued every once in a while, they always came to an understanding because they loved and understood each other more than anyone else could. Their devotion shines through in the smallest details, from pet names like cara mia and querida to the unabashed passion in Gomez’s letters.

In one, he wrote, “When I first saw you from afar, my heart flamed with a fierce passion, and when you spoke French, ooh la la! Ah, your radiant beauty, your captivating allure, drew me to you like honey to a suckle.”

It wasn’t just playful romance; it was proof that they never stopped courting one another. And that, more than anything, is what makes Gomez and Morticia one of the most enduring love stories in pop culture.

The iconic movie adaptations The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) take it up a notch. In the opening line of the first movie, Gomez says, “I would die for her, I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss!”

Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) can’t keep their hands off each other (much to the disapproval of their children), love to tango together, and act as in love as a newlywed couple. In this version, Gomez and Morticia meet at a funeral. Gomez says, “You were so beautiful. Pale and mysterious. No one even looked at the corpse.”

Addams Family Values expands on their love story with the couple getting pregnant with their third child. The pregnancy allows every family member to show off their quirks (including Wednesday plotting her siblings’ demise), but at its heart, it’s another reminder that Gomez and Morticia’s passion hasn’t dimmed since the day they met. Their shared dark humor makes them endlessly entertaining, but it’s their unwavering adoration for one another that makes them irresistible to watch.

What makes this portrayal even more poignant is the bond between the actors themselves. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston became close friends during filming, their chemistry translating seamlessly on screen. Tragically, Julia fell ill with cancer during production and passed away from a stroke just a year after the film’s 1993 release. When asked if she would ever reprise her role as Morticia, Huston’s answer was simple and devastatingly romantic: “not without my Gomez.”

How Wednesday Adds To Their Love Story

While Wednesday is more focused on Gomez and Morticia’s eccentric yet lovable daughter, the show doesn’t shy away from Gomez (Luis Guzman) and Morticia’s (Catherine Zeta Jones) love story. The first season starts with Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) starting school at Nevermore Academy, the same boarding school where her parents met.

Like many teenage girls, Wednesday is grossed out by the affection her parents show for each other and has a strained relationship with her mother. Morticia is excited for Wednesday to start school because she was the most well-liked girl there when she was in high school, but Wednesday is determined to pave her own path. It isn’t until Wednesday finds herself entangled in a murder mystery that she begins to see her mother in a new light, and realizes that beneath all the darkness and drama, her parents’ love story is far deeper and more enduring than she ever imagined.

It’s revealed that Gomez wasn’t Morticia’s only suitor in her teenage years; a wealthy student named Garrett was infatuated with Morticia to the point of stalking her. He attacked Gomez after catching him with Morticia on the night of a school dance, only for Gomez to accidentally kill Garrett while defending himself. 

The story and the Addams’ return to Nevermore raise the eyebrows of local law enforcement, leading to Gomez getting arrested for the murder. When he spends the night in jail, Wednesday is heartbroken to learn that it’s the first and only night her parents have spent apart since they got married. 

Wednesday is able to clear her father’s name by proving that Garrett had been poisoned and attacked Gomez first, making the death an act of self-defense. But the truth cuts even deeper: it was Morticia who stabbed Garrett to protect herself, and Gomez who tried to shield her from the consequences. The story not only underscores Morticia’s loyalty and Gomez’s willingness to sacrifice anything for her, but also gives Wednesday a rare glimpse of just how fortunate she is—not only to have parents who love each other so fiercely, but parents who would do anything for her as well.

While the second season has yet to fully explore Gomez and Morticia’s love story (the final four episodes drop in September), their devotion is evident in the way they parent. Gomez is endlessly supportive, cheering on his children with pride, and Wednesday, for all her sardonic detachment, adores him for it. Morticia’s affection may overwhelm her daughter (Wednesday is practically allergic to sentiment, after all) but her fierce protectiveness is undeniable, and watching that mother-daughter bond unfold is as moving as it is beautifully gothic.

3 Things We Can Learn From Gomez and Morticia's Love Story

Gomez and Morticia Addams are not only one of the most beloved and iconic couples in all of pop culture, but they’re arguably one of the healthiest portrayals of a married couple to ever grace our screens. Here are three lessons every couple can steal from them starting today.

Know Each Other's Love Language

Gomez and Morticia know each other’s love languages almost instinctively. They give and receive love through physical touch, acts of service, and words of affirmation—and it’s that mutual understanding that allows their relationship to flourish. It may seem simple, but recognizing how your partner expresses and receives love creates a foundation for a deeper, more enduring bond.

Don’t Put Physical Affection On The Back Burner

Even after years of marriage, Gomez and Morticia are just as, if not more, captivated by each other as the day they wed. One of their secrets? Constant physical affection. You don’t have to master the tango with your partner (though it wouldn’t hurt to try), but incorporating small, consistent gestures, like kissing each other every day, goes a long way. These simple acts of touch may seem minor, but they’re often what keep the spark alive in a marriage or long-term relationship.

Find Romance In Everything 

Gomez and Morticia may bond over their morbid fascination with death, but the fact that they can turn even mortality into romance is a testament to the depth of their love. In the 1991 film, they muse about the inevitability of their own deaths, only to take comfort in the idea of being buried side by side. You don’t have to go quite that dark to follow their example, but the principle holds: finding romance in the little rituals (Friday night dinners, morning coffee, or any small act of devotion) can be the very thing that keeps a relationship strong.