Claim: Actor Zach Galifianakis was friends with an unhoused woman for years, paying her rent and inviting her to Hollywood events. Rating: About this rating True
A rumor circulated online about actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis in mid-February 2025, claiming he once befriended an unhoused elderly woman, assisted her with finding a place to live and invited her to Hollywood red carpet events.
A post on Reddit claimed the friendship lasted “nearly 27 years.” The rumor spread to other social media platforms as well, including Instagram (archived), X (archived) and Facebook (archived).
The claims are indeed true. The unhoused woman in question was named Marie “Mimi” Haist, who became unhoused following the breakup of her marriage in the 1970s.
The story of Galifianakis and Haist’s friendship plays a major part in the 2015 documentary film “Queen Mimi,” directed by Yaniv Rokah, who met Haist working as a barista at a coffee shop near the laundromat Haist once lived in.
“Queen Mimi” paints Haist as a staple of Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, California, and interviews frequent laundromat customers and employees who became her friends over the years. Galifianakis was once such an acquaintance.
The actor first shows up in the film, which is available to stream on YouTube, at about 12 minutes and 57 seconds in. Galifianakis recollected his first meetings with Haist:
I met Mimi in the late ’90s in Santa Monica. She worked and stayed in a laundromat where I would go do my laundry. And we became chatty and then friends and then we became flirtatious with each other since we were born the same year. [Laughs.] She’s old enough to be my ancestor. Just hanging out in the laundromat, you know, where you meet all your friends.
In the film, Haist introduces the topic of her friendship with Galifianakis to the filmmaker by saying, “Zach… I can’t pronounce his last name, but it starts with a ‘G.’ He’s on the program ‘Bored to Death.'”
The pair’s relationship grew along with Galifianakis’ career, with the actor inviting her onto his short-lived VH1 talk show “Late World with Zach” in 2002 and eventually inviting her to a few red carpet premieres for his films.
Galifianakis said:
I hate that Hollywood horses***. Red carpet crap that they force you to do. Mimi helps me feel better when I see her there. I think she does like it. She kinda likes that whole thing. If you don’t have to do it, you know, it’s fun. Mimi likes the glitz and glamour. There’s free food there, free drinks, free movie, free popcorn. Who wouldn’t like that? Except me… I like to see her in that atmosphere. Somehow she fits in in a very strange way. She gets all dolled up and goes. I’ve taken her to a couple of things, maybe three, I’ve always tried to invite Mimi to things like that.
Beyond Galifianakis, “Queen Mimi” depicts Haist’s life as an unhoused woman who made a new home for herself living inside the laundromat, where she established a clientele for her fluff-and-fold services and became a neighborhood staple.
The film also confirms that Galifianakis helped Haist get an apartment. When asked about it in the film, Haist insisted Galifianakis “doesn’t want anybody to know,” despite their friendship being reported on at the time.
In the film, Rokah shows Haist an article in ‘Star’ magazine about her relationship with Galifianakis. “Somebody put that in a magazine? I outta kill ’em. I don’t tell anybody that I was, you know, homeless. Zach said just to ignore it because he said he gets this stuff all the time,” Haist said after seeing the magazine. Pointing to the cover of the tabloid featuring a pregnant celebrity, she added, “At least I’m not pregnant!”
Galifianakis explained his house hunt for Haist by saying, “What happened is I moved away from there. I would get in touch with her here and there. And I’d be like, what am I doing? She needs a proper place to sleep. So I just found this place near the laundromat, it was pretty simple.”
He continued:
You see people that are down on their luck and on the streets and stuff and rarely do we as a society try to reach out on a personal basis. Sometimes you donate money and that kind of thing but it just seemed like the thing to do for a friend. And I should have probably done it sooner, to be honest with you. But it started with the payphone that she was using for her business was gone. I went by to see her… and I got her a cell phone so we could chat and she could chat with her other friends. And then we got the apartment and she called me and said “it would be nice to have a TV!” It is my honor to know that woman.
“Queen Mimi” recounts Haist’s friendship with Academy Award-winning actress Renée Zellweger as well — also included in the ‘Star’ magazine blurb — who provided furnishings for Haist’s apartment.
Further, Haist’s Instagram account features a variety of photos of her with Galifianakis and Zellweger, including a post from May 2021 in which she said, “Thank you Zach everyday for everything! I’m still here.”
The laundromat in which Haist met Galifianakis closed its doors in 2019 after 41 years in business. On Nov. 24, 2021, a post from Haist’s Instagram announced she passed away at the age of 96.