Anna Marie Tendler Reflects on “Breakdown” Amid John Mulaney Divorce

Content warning: This story discusses suicide.

Anna Marie Tendler is paying tribute to the pup who helped her through her divorce from John Mulaney.

The artist recently recalled the difficult months around her split from the comedian after six years of marriage, noting how her beloved French bulldog Petunia—who died in April—played a crucial part in guiding her through the devastating time.

“Petunia and I moved to Connecticut in December 2020, in the wake of my severe mental health breakdown and what appeared to be the impending end of my marriage,” Tendler wrote in an essay for Elle published June 6. “We fused even more deeply together in an attuned and totally symbiotic relationship. She never let me out of her sight.”

In fact, Petunia was protective over Tendler during this time.

“She watched me intently,” Tendler added, “as if I was the thing she now needed to guard, though, where guarding once incited her primal rage, she would now guard me with the deepest kind of love I had ever known.”