“You will never find true happiness until you can truly accept who you are,” Daniel Radcliffe, transformed into Weird Al Yankovic, says in the trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The upcoming Roku film is billed as a biopic – but it isn’t the usual musical star biopic you’ve grown accustomed to: in true Weird Al fashion, the project is a mockumentary poking fun at the biopic genre.
Weird Al gained fame ridiculing pop culture through parody music and creating original music based on other productions. It took nearly 40 years for a Weird Al album to debut at number one on the Billboard chart.
When his manager told him that the album would likely debut at the top spot, Al couldn’t help but get emotional. “Sweetie,” his wife, Suzanne Krajewski, comforted him. “It’s just people loving you like they always have.”
Weird Al fell for his wife Suzanne Krajewski before meeting her in person
Suzanne Krajewski was a little skeptical of Weird Al when Bill Mumy introduced her to him. “Then I thought, ‘That’s kind of shallow of me to just be looking at a persona. People are often so different than how they appear,’” Suzanne told Rolling Stone. And we clicked immediately.”
Weird Al said that he developed a crush on Suzanne following weeks of phone conversations. “Going to meet her for our first date, I was like, ‘I hope she’s cute, ‘ cause I just might marry her,’” Yankovic told Wired.
Suzanne, a former TV and film executive, was as cute as Al expected. The couple married with no intention of tying the knot again. Weird Al explained:
“I guess we did get married a little late in life, but neither one of us had been married before and neither of us intends to be married again. I enjoyed being single. But when I got married I found I was even happier, and when I had a kid I was even happier, still.”
Yankovic had to make some changes to his home after marrying Suzanne. Weird Al told Vice that Suzanne donated several hundred of his shirts to Goodwill soon after the wedding. He said:
“She wound up wearing a few of the shirts I wore in high school, which I still had in my early 40s! And they fit her well; she looked great. She helped me stop hoarding stuff.”
Reluctantly, Weird Al also disposed of 40 boxes of fan mail. Weird Al was sad to let go of trinkets and mementos collected over a long career, but they had to go for the pair to enjoy uncluttered lives. He continued:
“I’ve kept a lot of the art because it’s easy to store. There’s a couple little sculptures that we’ve kept and there’s other stuff that fans have put a lot of work into but my wife would certainly not want it displayed in the house. So it’s more like, ‘Take a picture of it and let it go.’”
Yankovic and his family enjoyed camping on the deck of their Hollywood Hills house
Yankovic’s house in the Hollywood Hills has an interesting history. Its previous owners were marijuana advocate Jack Margolis and rapper Heavy D, who left behind an industrial-grade oven and a plus-size shower. Heavy D modeled the house for his size, presenting problems for Suzanne.
“A lot of things here in this house are very Heavy D-sized,” Yankovic told Rolling Stone. “My wife is a wee woman, she’s not very tall, and it’s difficult for her to stand at our bathroom counter because they’re a little taller than normal.”
It’s also likely that an adult film was filmed there. “My best friend from high school said to me, ‘Yeah, I think I saw a porn shot in your house,’” Yankovic said. “There’s a lot of history here: rock & roll, porno and the Yankovics.”
Despite the risque history of the residence, Al and Suzanne raised their daughter, Nina, there. Talking to Rolling Stone, Yankovic described Nina as ‘an ideal kid.’ “She likes playing outside, animals and nature,” Weird Al said. “I was always watching TV at her age. Where did we go right?”
Nina told Rolling Stone that the family, including their dog, enjoyed camping on the deck of their house, which overlooks Los Angeles. “We take out mini marshmallows and put them on sticks and roast them over a candle,” Nina said. “It’s really fun. Sometimes an owl comes onto a tree and we look at him with binoculars.”
On 11th February 2021, Yankovic celebrated Nina’s 18th birthday by posting a video of his daughter looking for her gecko, which was on her face. “Today marks the day my daughter legally becomes an adult,” Al wrote. “Sorry, this is the most recent footage I could find of her.”
Suzanne has tried and failed to get Weird Al to swear
Suzanne was skeptical about a romance with Weird Al because she only knew his eccentric on-stage persona. She was, like many others, surprised to learn that Al is shy, extremely private, polite, and introverted.
Per a piece in The New York Times, Weird Al doesn’t raise his voice in anger and doesn’t swear. Suzanne has, without success, repeatedly tried to get him to say a curse word.
Suzanne is as secretive as Al, preferring to avoid the spotlight. She briefly hit the headlines in March 2018 after calling 911 to report a creepy phone call from a man. It was unclear what the caller said, but Suzanne felt threatened, prompting her to inform authorities.
Krajewski informed authorities at her home that she’d spotted a man standing in the yard several days before the phone call. The trespasser fled after Suzanne spotted him.
Sources speaking to TMZ revealed that police didn’t believe the events were related but promised to monitor the household for the trespasser and ominous caller.
Read Next: Weird Al Yankovic and Madonna’s relationship: The rumors debunked