Kelis and Bill Murray: are Milkshake singer and actor dating - when did her husband Mike Mora die?

According to a report from the Sun, it appears that Milkshake singer Kelis could be dating Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day) - while the two are yet to publicly comment on their supposed romance, Murray was seen watching Kelis’ set at Mighty Hoopla festival in London last Saturday (3 June), with the pair posing for a photo together backstage. 

A source told the publication that the pair were together at the same hotel, and have been “getting close for a while” after first meeting back in the US.

A friend said: “They’ve met up in the States before which got people in the industry talking, and now are meeting up in London while they’re both here. They’ve clearly hit it off. They were both seen at the same hotel, and he’s been to watch her perform several times before he went to Might Hoopla.

“But they’ve also both shared relatively recent bereavements and have that common bond between them. Whatever it is that has brought them together, and however unlikely it seems, they are both single and are having fun despite the fairly big age gap.”

Bill Murray’s past relationships

Murray has been married twice in the past - in January 1981, he married Margaret Kelly with whom he welcomed two children, sons Homer and Luke. However, their marriage came to an end in 1996, after Murray had an affair with Jennifer Butler. 

Following his divorce from Kelly in 1996, Murray married Butler in 1997 and together had four sons, Caleb, Jackson, Cooper and Lincoln. Butler filed for divorce in May 2008, accusing Murray of “adultery, addiction to marijuana and alcohol, abusive behaviour, physical abuse, sexual additions and frequent abandonment”.

In the divorce documents, Butler alleged that Murray physically abused her more than once during their marriage, and one “hit his wife in the face and then told her she was “lucky he didn’t kill her”.” 

Their divorce was finalised in June 2008 and on behalf of Murray, his lawyer John McDougall said at the time: “I can say that Bill Murray is deeply saddened by the break-up of his marriage to Jennifer. They remain loving parents, committed to the best interest of their children.”

Butler passed away suddenly on 19 January 2021 at the age of 57. 

Kelis’ past relationships 

Kelis was previously married to rapper Nas after meeting at an MTV Video Music Awards party in 2002. After dating for a year they got engaged in 2004 and eventually tied the knot in 2005. When Kelis was seven months pregnant, she filed for divorce in April 2009 - later that year she gave birth to their son, and in May 2010 their divorce was finalised. 

Speaking about her marriage to Nas, Kelis said that she suffered “a lot of physical and mental abuse” at the hands of the rapper. 

She said: “It was dark. It was really dark. There was a lot of drinking. There was a lot of physical and mental abuse. And it just got to the point where… God is so good, because being pregnant - I probably would have stayed longer had I not been pregnant. Because I really did love him and we were married. This was my person.”

In 2014, Kelis married photographer Mike Mora and together they welcomed two children - their son in November 2015 and their daughter in September 2020. 

In September 2021, Mora revealed that he had stage 4 stomach cancer, sharing on Instagram that there was nothing more doctors could do for him. 

He wrote: “So the morning of my last UCLA hospital stay, doctors came in my room and gave me the most horrifying, unexpected news. I did not understand the language written on this paper. All I knew from the look in their faces was that it wasn’t a good diagnosis. It was the worst diagnosis. And they were scared for me.

“I asked how they were going to help me. They said they couldn’t do anything else for me. I had to search on my own for some sort of solution… Scary days. The story will continue. Love you @kelis.” 

Mora passed away on 14 March 2022, age 37. 

From PeopleWorld: Bill Murray and Kelis are breaking the internet over a rumoured new romance