'American Pie' actress splitting from husband
1 commentssad breaking news followed by my shocking tell-all 'American Pie' actress splitting from husband. Shannon Elizabeth and Joseph Reitman were married in June 2002.
I was invited to Joe and Shannon's wedding after-party, held a few days after the family only official ceremony in Mexico. It was in a really nice Mexican restaurant in West Hollywood, and Paula Abdul was on the Guest List.
I can count the number of very serious screw-ups I have committed in my life. Attending Joe and Shannon's wedding celebration wearing an Olympic Sex Team t-shirt with bright yellow pants is definitely on that list. Somehow my parents found out about this a few months later and they bring it up every year like I am the big family fashion shame. Dressed in her beautiful white wedding dress that night, I got the opinion that Shannon felt the same way.
Here's the real story. Rick and Jake and I were all renting in the Burbank Oakwoods on undergraduate summer break. Because of my fan website work on American Pie and American Pie 2, I had already spent some time in the company of Joe and Shannon. Enough time to have crashed at their house when I was in LA a few months earlier, and enough time that I still talk to Joe every other week on email. Since Joe is the kind of guy who was happy to have some more people at his wedding party (he invited me, after all- and was quick to extend the invite to Jake and Ricky), we figured it would be OK to show up at his wedding reception with a few more friends. Two more, to be exact: My date, a cute brunette named Christine, and one of Ricky's television friends.
It turns out that Shannon wasn't so pissed about my crude, immature t-shirt. What really upset her that night was me bringing one guest in particular- Rick's friend Chris Wylde - An honestly hilarious person with a quick wit and a caring heart.. Chris was sort of famous, and I guess in Hollywood's celeb nouveau crowd it is a lot better to be not famous at all than just sort of famous. Upon entering the reception, Chris gave Joe and Shannon a "Happy Birthday" card with an autographed and ripped one dollar bill inside. Things pretty much went downhill from there, and Shannon served me a plate of icecubes when I congratulated her on marrying such a noble man. In my defense, RedBull was co-sponsoring the "event" and Shannon's assistant's guests were dressed in homeless-chic attire. In Shannon's defense, the RedBull counter was tucked away into a back corner of the restaurant, she donated the event sponsorship money to her charity, and the assistant was gay.
So that's my Shannon Elizabeth and Joseph Reitman wedding story. Joe continues to be one of the coolest guys that I sometimes have the opportunity to interact with, and I'm sure he is going to come out of this like a new man.
Related images: Nick Gray and Joseph Reitman and Nick Gray and Shannon Elizabeth, and Nick and Rick. Taken ~three years ago in Malibu. Updated- Another with Shannon.
