Ross Mathews Reveals His New Kids' Book — Inspired By His Own Wedding! (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ross Mathews has written a new children’s book, Tio and Tio.Photo:Dia Dipasupil/Getty; Penguin Workshop/PenguinYoung Readers

Dia Dipasupil/Getty; Penguin Workshop/PenguinYoung Readers

Ross Mathewsdoesn’t have kids of his own (yet!) but he and his husband, educator Dr. Wellinthon Garcia, have just written their first bedtime story.

The Drew Barrymore Showco-host says he and his husband dreamed up their new children’s bookTio and Tio: The Ring Bearersaftertheir 2022 wedding.

“We were so struck after our wedding how seriously our nephews took their role as ring bearers,“Mathewstells PEOPLE, of Garcia’s nephews Evan and Andrew, who were 11 and 9 years old at the time of the wedding. “We talked to them afterwards about how nervous they were, and how they didn’t have an understanding of the role before, but were blown away at how important it was. They really took such pride in the job.”

Dr. Wellinthon Gargia and Ross Mathews' 2022 wedding.Clane Gessel

The boys' commitment to their roles was a surprise. “I didn’t anticipate that,” he says. “They took it quite seriously.”

Garcia, who helps design classroom curricula as the associate director of English New Language & Equity for a New York state public school, suggested there might be a lesson to share from their experience. “Wellinthon was like, ‘That honestly is good takeaway for kids, for them to learn responsibility,'” says Mathews. “And this idea for this book just kind of came out of us.”

Although Mathews is already a published author, writing a book for children is a first.

Mathews’ new book, out April 15, will be available in English and Spanish.Penguin Workshop/PenguinYoung Readers

Penguin Workshop/PenguinYoung Readers

“I’m a storyteller — I communicate with people, but I don’t have kids and I wouldn’t pretend to know how to really communicate with kids,” Mathews says. “But with my husband’s expertise and my storytelling ability, we wrote it up.”

Mathews and Drew Barrymore on the set of The Drew Barrymore Show in May.Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Mathews' co-host Drew Barrymore, who was the flower girl for their wedding, makes an appearance in the book as well — as a child version of herself. And Barrymore also contributed the foreword to the book writing, “I hope as a parent, that anyone who reads this enjoys the fact that we must allow our kids autonomy as we also try to guide them along.”

Mathews and Garcia with Barrymore on their wedding day in 2022.Clane Gessel

The comedian, who got his first break asRoss the Internon The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and who’s also starred as a judge onRuPaul’s Drag Race, says that as excited as he is to be a first-time children’s author, he’s not sure he and his husband are ready for kids of their own just yet.

“My husband’s an educator and he always says he has thousands of children — and I have a senior Chihuahua,” Mathews says. " So right now, we’re busy. But you never know! You never know.”

source: people.com