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Ali Wong Loves Her 2 Daughters So Much, She Wrote a Book For Them — Meet Mari and Nikki

Apr 6 2023 - 3:20pm

If you've ever read Ali Wong's 2019 book "Dear Girls" or watched one of her Netflix comedy specials, then you're probably familiar with her two daughters, Mari and Nikki. The comedian and "Beef" star [1] shares both kiddos with her ex-husband, businessman Justin Hakuta, whom she split from in 2022 [2] after eight years of marriage.

For Wong, there's no such thing as oversharing, especially as a comic, but when it comes to her children, that's where she draws the line. Like a lot of other celebrity parents, she and her ex-husband have refrained from sharing personal details about their kids, including their faces, on social media. Thanks to filters, though, Wong would previously post cute family photos and dance parties with her girls in their living room on Instagram. However, it seems she's since wiped most of her page clean of her kids, with the exception of a silly video she posted with one of them [3] in December 2019.

While juggling mom life and work life can be challenging, Wong has found a way to bridge the two together. And she even wrote a book dedicated to them that was inspired by a letter her dad wrote her before he passed. "With my girls, they only know me after I filmed those specials with them in utero," she said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show [4]" in October 2019, adding, "They don't know everything I went through to get to where I am and I think that's really important."

Elsewhere, Wong is raising her daughters to celebrate and be proud of their Asian heritage. "Very proud to be raising my daughters around all of these creative and soulful Asian Americans," she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post. "I want them to grow up with a strong sense of pride and know that people who look like us are capable of so much."

Ahead, get to know Wong's girls, Mari and Nikki.

Ali Wong's Daughters, Mari and Nikki Hakuta

Mari Hakuta

Born in November 2015, Mari Hakuta is Wong and Justin's eldest daughter. In a 2018 interview with The New York Times [5], Wong jokingly revealed that she was extremely nervous her ex-husband wouldn't love their firstborn. To ensure he would, she gave their oldest a Japanese name in honor of Justin (who is half-Japanese and half-Filipino). "There's not a lot of sign of me in her name," Wong explained to the publication. "And I think subconsciously I did that to try and ensure he would love her."

In her 2019 book, Wong opened up about how she tried to be a stay-at-home mom for Mari, though that only last eight weeks. "Mari was so easy and chill, and still at the end of the day I was completely exhausted," the comedian wrote, per People [6]. "The little things just took a lot out of me."

Nikki Hakuta

Nikki Hakuta was born in December 2017 and is Wong and Justin's youngest child. Fun fact: Nikki made her first onscreen appearance before she was even born, as she was in utero during her mom's second Netflix special, "Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife."

As her daughters continue to grow up, Wong previously told Vanity Fair [7] that she's determined to do everything she can to plan future tours around their school schedule so she can still be part of all of life's little moments. "I'm like, 'I think I got my dream.' Which is to tour and take my family with me," she said.


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/ali-wong-kids-48127194