Comedian and actor Joel Kim Booster tied the knot with his partner, John Michael Sudsina, in front of the family and many famous friends on December 30 in San Francisco. Their love story and special day were captured by The New York Times, which chronicled their relationship from their first meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to their early dating days, to walking down the aisle surrounded by their loved ones.
The couple started dating in 2021 and were introduced by mutual friends at a club in the gay Mexican hotspot. In the club, the two were immediately attached at the hip and spent the entirety of their vacation together as "vacation boyfriends."
Once they returned to reality in their respective cities — Booster in Los Angeles and Sudsina in San Francisco — they remained tightly connected to one another. They'd watch television on FaceTime together and talk constantly. After two weeks of knowing each other, Booster, who covered Out in 2024, talked about Sudsina on his podcast, and his now-husband remembers him saying, “So I’m in love with this guy. I met him two weeks ago. I’m going up to visit him at SF Pride. Ostensibly, I’m going there to see my friends. But that’s a lie,” which he thought was endearing.
The two were already in love with one another. But as the Times writes, when Booster showed Sudsina a director's cut of Fire Island before it was released, his husband was brought to tears by the end of the movie, which Booster rewrote after being inspired by their conversations in Puerto Vallarta, including one indelible experience where they left their friends and sat in a cabana all day and talked.
In 2024, during a trip to Jeju Island in South Korea, where Booster was born and adopted from, he proposed to Sudsina, and the two got married just two years later. The ceremony took place at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and was officiated by Booster's childhood best friend, an ordained Methodist minister, Rev. Sarah Casey. During the ceremony, their friends, who included Mitra Jouhari, Ahmed Zaeem, Phil Tassin, Matt Rogers, and Bowen Yang, gave emotional speeches.
The story ended with Booster's now-husband telling the Times that he's excited about married life. "I feel when I’m with Joel, I’m in a rom-com," Sudsina said. "It’s always an adventure. And I love that we've already worked through so much, keep meeting new versions of each other, and continue to grow together. I think he’s going to be an amazing father, an amazing partner, an amazing friend.”
Booster's Instagram post was flooded with excited comments from friends and fans alike, including Margaret Cho, Miss Benny, and Dexter Mayfield, congratulating him and his husband on their special day.
