Inside Ginger Zee First Husband Story: Myths, Ben Aaron, and the Truth
If you’ve ever found yourself typing “Ginger Zee’s first husband” into Google, you’re not alone. Ginger Zee is on millions of screens every morning, and when someone feels that familiar, people naturally start wondering who they married, whether there was someone before, and what their love life really looks like off-camera.
Who Is Ginger Zee, Really?
Before we get into the “first husband” part, it helps to remember who we’re talking about. Ginger Zee is ABC News’ chief meteorologist, best known for her work on Good Morning America. She’s the one standing in the middle of hurricanes, chasing tornadoes, and calmly explaining storm tracks while half of us are still on our first cup of coffee.
She’s also been honest in a way a lot of public figures avoid. In her memoir, Natural Disaster: I Cover Them. I Am One., she writes candidly about depression, past relationships, and the emotional chaos she lived through before she got healthy and found some stability. That combination of visibility and vulnerability makes her feel familiar—almost like a friend. And it also feeds curiosity: if she’s willing to talk about “disastrous” relationships, what’s the full story on her marriage history?
So… Was There a Husband Before Ben Aaron?
Here’s the straightforward version: in the public record, there is one clearly documented husband in Ginger Zee’s life—Ben Aaron.
Some small, gossipy sites claim she had a college-era husband named Kyle Veltman years before she met Ben. They throw around dates and suggest a brief marriage that ended quietly. But those claims don’t show up in credible news outlets, court reports, or in Ginger’s own book, where she is very open about unhealthy relationships and bad choices. If she was willing to write about the worst boyfriends she’s had and the darkest mental health periods of her life, it would be a little strange to deliberately hide a first legal marriage while talking about everything else.
Could there have been a relationship people are mislabeling? Sure. But based on what we actually have from trustworthy sources, there’s no solid proof of a secret “first husband” before Ben. As far as the public, verifiable story goes, the one husband we can talk about with confidence is the guy she married in 2014.
The Man Behind the Headline: Ben Aaron
When most people say “ginger zee first husband,” the person they’re really circling around is Ben Aaron.
Ben—full name Benjamin Aron Colonomos—is a TV personality and features reporter. Over the years he’s worked on lifestyle and entertainment shows, local TV, and national segments. On screen, he’s got that same loose, slightly goofy charm that Ginger has with weather: quick to joke, easy to watch, and not afraid to make himself the punchline.
He’s very much a TV insider who understands the strange rhythm of early call times, live hits, and public-facing jobs. So when he and Ginger eventually got together, it wasn’t a case of “normal person meets celebrity.” It was two people who knew what the other’s life actually looked like.
How Ginger and Ben Met (And Why It Worked)
Their story starts in 2012, at a charity event in New York City. A mutual friend introduced them, thinking they might get along. They didn’t have an instant movie-style love-at-first-sight moment; it was more of a slow burn. They made each other laugh. They understood each other’s weird work schedules. They shared the same offbeat sense of humor.
Over time, the friendship turned into a relationship. By 2013, things were serious enough that Ben planned a proposal. True to form, he did it in a way that was personal and a little quirky—sweet and low-key, not some massive, staged TV moment. They got engaged that year and began planning a wedding that felt like her, not just like a media event.
A Michigan Wedding and a New Name
On June 7, 2014, Ginger Zee and Ben Aaron got married in Petoskey, Michigan, near the shores of Lake Michigan. It wasn’t a destination wedding in some exotic country; it was in the part of the world that meant the most to her. She has talked about how she wanted to start married life in the place she felt most at home, with the people who mattered most.
The wedding itself was relatively small by TV-celebrity standards—family, close friends, and a lot of emotion instead of over-the-top spectacle. Afterward, she legally changed her name to Ginger Renee Colonomos, taking Ben’s last name. Professionally, though, she stayed “Ginger Zee” because that’s the name viewers already knew and because, very practically, it fits neatly on a lower-third graphic.
Building a Family in the Middle of the Weather
Not long after the wedding, their focus shifted from two careers to life as a family. Their first son, Adrian, was born in December 2015. Their second son, Miles, arrived in February 2018. Between pregnancies, live reports from storms, and Ben’s own TV work, they also took on a home renovation series together—because clearly they were not busy enough already.
If you’ve ever seen clips from that renovation show or from Ben’s social media, you get a rough sense of their dynamic: a lot of humor, some chaos, and two people trying to sort out real-life problems (like broken pipes and bad tile) while juggling very public jobs. They’re not playing “perfect couple” as much as admitting, “Yeah, this is a lot.”
Where the “First Husband” Rumors Come From
So why does “ginger zee first husband” keep popping up as if there’s some mysterious ex we’re all missing?
Part of it is pure internet clickbait. Certain sites know that “first husband,” “secret marriage,” and “divorce shocker” headlines get attention. Slap a name into a sentence, add a couple of dates, and suddenly a rumor looks like a fact for anyone who doesn’t dig deeper.
Another piece of it is her own honesty. In her memoir, Ginger talks about relationships that were controlling, emotionally unhealthy, and sometimes just plain bad for her. She doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that she made mistakes and stayed with the wrong people too long. When someone admits that much, people start to wonder what else might be hiding behind the scenes.
Finally, there’s the simple fact that any time she or Ben publicly acknowledge having a hard time—as most real couples do—someone, somewhere, will spin that into a “marriage crisis” story. That keeps the search terms alive long after the reality has settled into something much more ordinary: a couple working on their relationship, raising kids, and trying to keep up with life.
A Marriage That’s Human, Not Perfect
If you look past the rumors and actually pay attention to how Ginger talks about Ben and their relationship, it doesn’t sound like a fairy tale—and that’s kind of the point. She’s mentioned counseling, miscommunication, and growing pains. She’s also talked about how much work it takes to stay connected when one person is flying into hurricanes and the other is juggling his own media gigs.
At the same time, there’s a consistent thread of affection. The way she describes Ben almost always comes back to humor: that he keeps her laughing, that he brings lightness into heavy days. For someone whose job is literally centered on disasters, having a partner who can cut tension with a joke is more than just nice—it’s necessary.
From the outside, their life looks hectic, occasionally messy, and anchored by two little boys who have no idea their parents are on TV. Which is to say: it looks like an actual marriage, not a storyline.
Featured Image Source: hellomagazine.com
