Joy Behar & Husband Steve's Unconventional First Meeting Left Nothing To The Imagination

First dates can be pretty nerve-wracking. There's often so much you want to learn about the other person without them feeling like you're getting too personal, too fast. But that wasn't an issue for Joy Behar's husband, Steve Janowitz. According to "The View" host, there was nothing off-limits for her school teacher husband.

Speaking on "The View" about Jason Kelce's shirtless moment at his brother's football game in January 2024, Behar didn't seem fazed about the player's partial nudity. Nevertheless, she maintained that she liked to keep things modest, to which Sunny Hostin questioned if she had ever pulled a Kelce and "ripped your shirt off," reports People. While Behar stated that she most definitely had not, cohost Sara Haines couldn't disagree more.

"Oh, she definitely has," she explained, "She met her husband at a nudist colony!" As it turns out, Janowitz was the only one entirely naked at their meet-cute. Behar clarified, "First of all, he was nude; I was dressed." Alyssa Farah Griffin clarified it was a "partial nudist colony," which could mean guests were in various stages of (un)dress, but by dressed, Behar reportedly meant "fully clothed." 

Going to a nudist colony, or even a nude beach, seems totally out of character for Joy Behar. After all, on "The View," the comedian noted, "I don't wear bathing suits in public," referring to the fact that even a swimsuit is too risqué. In fact, Behar appreciates modesty so much that when she once wore a lace shirt with leopard print under a grey suit jacket on the show, it was a big deal. However, by modern standards, it was far from indecent or suggestive.

Still, the January 2024 episode wasn't the first time Behar had admitted the setting of her and her husband's first interaction, lending credence to the claim. In March 2020, The U.S. Sun reported that Behar stated in a segment, "I don't know if you know this about me, but I met my husband at a semi-nudist colony. It's true." Apparently, it was the early 1980s, and after seeing her future husband Steve Janowitz twice in one day — running into him that night after catching him in the buff earlier — the pair clicked.

In the 2020 segment, Behar clarified that she didn't get a good look at Janowitz au naturel. "He was far away naked," she explained. "Then, at night, there was a movie playing, and I saw him fully dressed." But she had to add that she explicitly remembered him from the day, potentially alluding to the fact that she was into what she saw at first glance.

By 1982, Joy Behar and Steve Janowitz were officially dating. However, they waited for three decades to tie the knot. In a small New York ceremony on August 11, 2011, Janowitz and Behar were declared husband and wife. The couple has given various reasons for getting married when they did, ranging from waiting for gay marriage to be legalized to feeling the pressure of old age — and even hoping that their in-laws would pass before they said: "I do."

But in the end, all that matters is that they're in love — so in love that Behar's appreciation for non-revealing clothing might just end at her front door. Her spouse clearly has no problem with bearing it all, and Behar may not either (at least at home). Speaking to HuffPost in 2011, the then-newlywed confessed, "We're really romantic. We like to sit on the floor naked, eating cannoli and watching 'Hoarders.'" However, the comment was likely said in jest, as the other items on Behar's "10 Things You Don't Know About My Marriage" are quite tongue-in-cheek.

Still, what Joy was doing at the semi-nudist colony, to begin with, we may never know. Behar agreed, telling Meghan McCain on The View, after sharing her story in 2020, "People wonder about that. I tell that story, and people say 'Joy, really?'" via the U.S. Sun. It seems Behar prefers to keep her true feelings about clothing-optional clubs close to the vest.