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Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: @unplanned_podcast/TikTok
There are so many vaguely Christian, young, married influencer couples these days that it takes a lot to break through the noise on TikTok. You have to do something like make Cookie Crisp cereal from scratch for your kids while wearing a silk robe or cry huge crocodile tears of disappointment at your baby’s gender reveal. Or you could … announce that you are boycotting Father’s Day? Yes, that will work. Just ask Matt and Abby Howard.
Matt, 26, and Abby, 25, are a married couple with two young sons living near Phoenix, Arizona. They have been working on their YouTube and TikTok careers for several years now, but they went viral earlier this month after they announced on their podcast that they were boycotting Father’s Day because the holiday fell too close to Matt’s birthday. “Wait, what?” you ask. Let’s investigate.
Wholesome backstory
Before we get into the current hubbub surrounding this couple, let’s review where they started. According to their own videos and interviews with local news publications, Matt and Abby Howard first met at a St. Louis, Missouri, theater camp in eighth grade and dated long distance during high school (Abby is from Illinois originally, and Matt is from Missouri). They reunited for college at Missouri State University, got engaged at Disney World (duh), and got married during their sophomore year in 2019.
Then came the global coronavirus pandemic, which prompted the couple to start posting about their relationship on YouTube and TikTok. They really started to gain a following in 2021, when they announced they were pregnant with their first child, Griffin.
Their early videos are pretty tame. Here’s one where Matt and Abby try Buddy the Elf’s spaghetti recipe from Elf:
And here’s one where they bring Griffin to the spot where Matt proposed in Disney World:
Standard influencer-couple stuff.
Unplanned brush with fame
At the end of 2022, when Griffin was just 5 months old, Abby found out she was unexpectedly pregnant again. The couple recorded their somewhat terrified reactions to the positive pregnancy test and quickly posted the video online, which seemed to kick them up to another level of young-married-vaguely-Christian-influencer fame. (They currently share an account on TikTok that has over 5 million followers.)
In order to capitalize on this new level of attention, Matt and Abby launched a podcast called Unplanned, where they discussed Abby’s second pregnancy and interviewed other influencers in their category. (One of the Duggars was recently a guest.) Their second son, August, was born, fittingly enough, in August 2023.
Unlike in the short videos the Howards post to TikTok, Matt is more outspoken on the podcast. He has shared some opinions that have made casual listeners (or those who get served clips of the podcast on TikTok) go “Hmmm.” In one episode, he told a mortified Abby that she does, in his opinion, “feel different down there” after having babies. In another, he asked her why she eats as much as him, since she’s smaller than he is.
Sometimes, Abby looks visibly upset by his comments, but the couple maintains that they are happy together. Followers, however, have different ideas. “Abby blink if you need help!!!!!!” cried one comment on a recent video. “ABBY WE’RE ALL FINE IF YOU JUST: ?? SPRINT,” said another.
Matt has also launched a pop-music career, of which followers remain somewhat skeptical.
Just say “no” to Father’s Day
No Unplanned podcast clip has gone further, faster, than this one of Matt and Abby doing their best to explain why they boycotted Father’s Day this year. Is it because Matt doesn’t like attention? Or because he’d rather celebrate his wife instead? Not quite. I’ll let you watch for yourself:
It’s hard to imagine a funnier take than this. Matt, a grown-up man, was upset that his pregnant wife celebrated his birthday and Father’s Day on the same day … when they were literally on the same day? She “failed” him? HE HAD TO DO THE GRILLING HIMSELF? And now, as punishment, Abby must remember to celebrate Father’s Day on some random day next quarter, a full three months after Matt’s birthday?
I guess it doesn’t matter, as this video currently has 11 million views on TikTok.
We can only hope that the couple is at least somewhat in on the joke, as evidenced by the fact that Abby got Matt an Edible Arrangement emblazoned with the phrase “BEST DAD EVER” and gave it to him Father’s Day weekend (and posted the video on Instagram, of course).
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Wishing these two a very happy ever after.
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