Maggie Gyllenhaal has revealed she may have played a part in the death of her husband Peter Sarsgaard‘s bee colony in their Brooklyn home, along with his dedication to beekeeping alongside acting.
Sarsgaard’s Passions
Gyllenhaal opened up about her husband’s love of bees and the outdoors during a visit to the SmartLess podcast with hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes.
She was talking about their home in Vermont, and how off the grid it is.
“I’ll go for a bit but it’s pretty hardcore, it’s very really in the middle of nowhere. We were stacking wood the other day and Peter and I were laughing [and saying] ‘Do you think this is what our friends imagine we do when we come here?’ He like, raises bees and chickens and taps maple trees and has a lovely garden…”
Bateman asked, “This guy is such a good actor and now you’re telling me he’s got this move too?”
To make Bateman feel better about her husband’s antics, she brought up Sarsgaard’s beekeeping incident.
“I’ll tell you this, just so you don’t feel bad. All of his bees in Brooklyn died and it was because he made a beekeeping mistake. And he was so upset about it.”
Husband’s Bees Dying
Gyllenhaal shared that she comforted her husband at the time.
“I was like, ‘Peter, you were in Switzerland acting and then you went and did another movie in London right away. You were home for one week and your bees died. Like, some people’s only job is doing bees. Give yourself a break!'”
However, Gyllenhaal may have had a bigger part in the bees’ demise than she originally let on.
Gyllenhaal’s Part
Gyllenhaal’s story about the bees piqued Bateman’s interest. He asked her, “Maggie, did you shirk your responsibilities in babysitting the bees?”
She responded, “Yeah, man. I think I maybe did.”
Bateman added, “I think you’ve gotta be able to shoulder some of that, right? The guy’s off at Switzerland. You know she had something on a piece of paper saying, ‘Baby, all I need you to do is just water the bees for me!'”
Arnett jumped to Gyllenhaal’s defense, saying, “Don’t put this on her.”
However, Gyllenhaal started laughing and replied, “You’re not wrong!”
Hayes added his own comedic spin to the conversation, imagining the scene as if from a movie. “I picture you guys driving away just going, ‘Oh s—, the bees!’ Like Kevin in Home Alone.”
Taking Beekeeping Seriously
While Gyllenhaal may not love beekeeping, her husband Sarsgaard takes the practice very seriously.
“Peter sometimes is like, ‘I don’t need the hood. I don’t even need the gloves. I read this book’ — and he did! — ‘and listened to this thing and watched these videos about how to like be zen and do it so the bees that come to you,” she shared. “And then he gets, like, 10 stings on his arms.”