McAdams and Linden first sparked romance rumors in mid-2016 after being spotted together by passersby in Paris and Los Angeles. Neither party issued statements confirming the connection. There was no coordinated PR launch, no joint profile in vanity magazines, and zero presence across social channels. Both had previously navigated public relationships, McAdams with former co-stars, and Linden with actress Zooey Deschanel from 2012 to 2014, and both appeared unified in choosing a fundamentally different approach going forward.
That deliberate seclusion extended naturally into parenthood. In April 2018, McAdams gave birth to the couple's first child, a son. True to form, the pair did not disclose his birth date or name to the press. In late 2020, they welcomed a daughter, maintaining the same strict confidentiality. McAdams addressed this philosophy candidly in a rare interview with The Sunday Times, explaining that while she chose an outward-facing profession, her children did not: "I want to keep his life private, even if it isn’t mine."
Online discussions across communities like Reddit's pop-culture forums regularly cite McAdams and Linden as a prime template for surviving long-term fame intact. Rather than leaning on algorithmic visibility to drive project engagement, the couple relies on work-first output. McAdams balances selective prestige projects with stage performances, while Linden remains embedded in writers' rooms and development pipelines.