Most articles about Naomi Nelson describe her as “Johnny Knoxville’s wife” and stop there. The problem with that framing is that she was a working filmmaker before she met him, directed a documentary while raising a newborn, and — according to her IMDB page — returned to film work in 2025, after the divorce was finalized.
The marriage ended on their wedding anniversary. That detail is in the court documents. Almost nothing else about the split is public.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Naomi Nelson |
| Born | August 20, 1980 |
| Birth city | Most sources say Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Ethnicity | Described as mixed (some sources say Asian-American; one says White — see contradictions) |
| Education | Undocumented |
| Former husband | Philip John Clapp — known professionally as Johnny Knoxville |
| Married | September 24, 2010 (confirmed by court documents) |
| Separated | September 24, 2021 — their 11th wedding anniversary |
| Divorce filed | June 14, 2022 |
| Divorce finalized | August 9, 2024 |
| Son | Rocko Akira Clapp (born December 2009) |
| Daughter | Arlo Lemoyne Yoko Clapp (born October 6, 2011) |
| Stepdaughter | Madison Clapp (born 1996, from Knoxville’s first marriage to Melanie Lynn Cates) |
| Film credits | Carnivàle Season 2 (HBO, 2005); Reel Grrls 2009 Productions (co-director); Fifth Star (2010, director/writer/editor/appears in); V/H/S/Halloween (2025) |
| Current location | Los Angeles, California |
| Social media | None confirmed |
Before Johnny Knoxville: What She Actually Did
The record on Naomi’s pre-Knoxville career is thin but specific. It contains three documented data points, all sourced from IMDB or from Bustle and Sportskeeda citing IMDB directly.
Her first known credit: producer’s assistant on Season 2 of HBO’s Carnivàle. The show ran from 2003 to 2005. Season 2 aired in 2005. She worked on it during production, meaning she was working in professional television in her mid-twenties, before anyone connected her to Knoxville.
Her second credit: co-director on Reel Grrls 2009 Productions. Reel Grrls is a Seattle-based non-profit that teaches filmmaking skills and media literacy to teenage girls. The 2009 compilation brought together shorts made by members of the organization. She was one of sixteen co-directors. This credit is not glamorous by Hollywood standards. What it shows is that she had a working relationship with a feminist media-education organization before her pregnancy announcement.
Her third and most substantial credit: Fifth Star, a 2010 documentary short. She wrote it, directed it, co-edited it, and appears on screen in it. The subject was the history of women’s suffrage in Washington State — specifically the moment when women secured voting rights in Washington during the broader national suffrage movement. She made this film in 2010. Her son Rocko was born in December 2009. She directed a suffrage documentary while her baby was under a year old.
That particular combination — new mother, independent documentary filmmaker, women’s rights subject matter — gets almost zero attention in coverage about her.
She Was Pregnant Before the Wedding
The timeline of this relationship is specific and documented, and it matters for context.
Knoxville and Naomi met in 2007. He was already famous — Jackass had aired its three TV seasons between 2000 and 2002, and the Jackass films had all performed well commercially. He was also still technically married: his divorce from Melanie Lynn Cates was not finalized until March 20, 2008.
In August 2009, Knoxville publicly announced Naomi was pregnant. Their son Rocko was born in December 2009. They married on September 24, 2010 — nine months after Rocko’s birth. Naomi had also begun work on Fifth Star during this same period.
The sequence is straightforward: they dated for approximately two years, she became pregnant, he announced it publicly before any engagement, Rocko was born, she directed a documentary, then they married. Their daughter Arlo followed in October 2011.
No source explains why the wedding came after the birth rather than before. No source addresses this directly.
The Wedding Date Contradiction — Three Different Dates, One Primary Source
This is one of the most concrete factual disputes in the record on Naomi Nelson.
DreShare states the couple got “engaged on September 23, 2010” and married “two days later.” That would place the wedding on September 25.
Multiple other sources say September 23 was the wedding date itself, not an engagement date.
BiographyPedia and ThingsTV say September 24.
Court documents — the only primary source in this chain — resolve it. When Knoxville filed for divorce in June 2022, he listed September 24, 2021 as their date of separation, specifically noting it was their wedding anniversary. That makes September 24, 2010 the confirmed wedding date.
The court documents are more reliable than any secondary source. The wedding was September 24, 2010.
The Separation Happened on Their Anniversary
The most striking documented fact about this divorce is how it is timed.
Knoxville’s court filing listed their separation date as September 24, 2021. Sportskeeda, citing People Magazine’s review of court documents, confirmed this was described in the filing as their eleven-year wedding anniversary.
He filed for divorce nine months later, in June 2022. The divorce was finalized on August 9, 2024 — more than three years after separation.
The filing cited irreconcilable differences. The terms of the property settlement and child custody agreement were worked out privately and not made public. Knoxville requested joint legal and physical custody. The final arrangement is not disclosed.
One separate early report cited September 4, 2021 as the separation date. The People Magazine / court document version says September 24. These two dates — four weeks apart — are both in public circulation. The September 24 date is better sourced and dramatically corroborated by the anniversary detail.
Why the marriage ended is not documented. No statement from either party addresses it specifically. Unlike several other entries in this article series, there are no court allegations, abuse claims, or third-party involvement documented anywhere in the public record. The split appears to have been genuinely private.
The V/H/S/Halloween Credit Nobody Mentions
This is the most underreported fact in Naomi Nelson’s current public profile, and it matters.
IMDB lists Naomi Nelson with three known credits: Carnivàle (2003 series, Season 2 in 2005), Fifth Star (2010), and V/H/S/Halloween (2025).
V/H/S/Halloween is a 2025 horror anthology film. It is the most recent entry in the V/H/S franchise — an established horror anthology series with multiple installments.
Naomi worked on this project. Her specific role in V/H/S/Halloween is not detailed on her IMDB page as of the time of research. But the credit exists. The divorce was finalized in August 2024. The film is dated 2025. This means she returned to film work after the marriage ended.
Almost no article about Naomi Nelson has covered this. Every profile written after 2022 describes her as having “left her acting career behind” to raise children — a description that was accurate for the 2010–2024 period but is now outdated. The V/H/S/Halloween credit changes the picture of who she is in 2025 and 2026.
The Body Measurement Problem — A Specific Fabrication
Multiple sources publish specific body measurements for Naomi Nelson: height 5 feet 4 inches, weight 56 kg, measurements 34-28-36 inches, bra size 32B, shoe size 6 UK.
These figures appear in FresherPost, BiographyBirthday, and TVShowStars — all using identical numbers. They are copied from each other.
Where they came from originally is unclear. No photo session, no interview, no medical record, no self-disclosure provides these figures. They were produced by one source and copied across the internet as if confirmed.
The same FresherPost article also states she “graduated from a local high school in California in the year 1992.” If she was born August 20, 1980, she would have been eleven or twelve years old in 1992. This is factually impossible. Nobody finishes high school at twelve.
That same article also states she “was born in an Asian family and later went to the United States” — directly contradicting its own earlier claim that she was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Three impossible or self-contradicting claims in a single article. The body measurements from the same source should be treated with corresponding skepticism.
What Her Ethnicity Actually Is — The Record Is Unsettled
Multiple sources describe Naomi as being of “mixed ethnicity.” Several say specifically “mixed Asian-American.” One source — TheCityCeleb — says her ethnicity is “White.”
IMDB does not specify ethnicity. Bustle and Sportskeeda, the most reliable mainstream sources, do not mention ethnicity at all.
The “mixed” description is consistent enough across independent sources to note. The specific claim of Asian heritage appears in several places. But no primary source — no interview, no self-identification — confirms any of this. The ethnicity is uncertain and should be treated as such.
Rocko’s Birth Date: December 10 or December 20?
BiographyPedia — one of the more detailed profiles — states Rocko Akira Clapp was born on December 10, 2009.
Most other sources say December 20, 2009.
USAPeriodical makes this stranger: it says Knoxville “revealed Naomi was pregnant on August 18, 2010” and “the couple then welcomed a son, Rocko Akira Clapp, on December 20, 2009.” An announcement in August 2010 about a child born in December 2009 would mean announcing a pregnancy nine months after the birth. That sentence is clearly garbled. The pregnancy announcement was in August 2009, not 2010.
The most credible birth date from cross-reference is December 2009. Whether it was the 10th or 20th is genuinely unresolved across sources.
What Is Actually Known vs. What Is Not
Confirmed across solid primary-sourced material:
- Born August 20, 1980
- Most sources place birth in Knoxville, Tennessee
- Film credits: Carnivàle Season 2 (HBO, 2005), Reel Grrls 2009 Productions (co-director), Fifth Star (2010 — wrote, directed, edited, appeared in), V/H/S/Halloween (2025)
- Fifth Star covers women’s suffrage in Washington State
- Reel Grrls is a Seattle non-profit teaching teenage girls filmmaking
- Met Knoxville in 2007
- Son Rocko born December 2009; daughter Arlo born October 6, 2011
- Married September 24, 2010 (confirmed by court documents)
- Separated September 24, 2021 — their 11th anniversary (court documents)
- Knoxville filed for divorce June 14, 2022
- Divorce finalized August 9, 2024
- Joint custody arrangement; terms private
- Lives in Los Angeles
- No social media presence
Unresolved or disputed:
- Exact birth city (Knoxville, TN is most cited; a few sources say only “United States”)
- Ethnicity — described as mixed/Asian-American in multiple sources; one says White; none are primary
- Rocko’s exact birth date: December 10 or 20, 2009
- Naomi’s specific role in V/H/S/Halloween (2025)
- How she and Knoxville were introduced in 2007
Fabricated or internally contradicted in at least one source:
- Graduated high school in California in 1992 (impossible — she would have been 11 or 12)
- “Born in an Asian family and later went to the United States” (contradicts same source’s own Tennessee birth claim)
- Body measurements (34-28-36, bra 32B, etc.) — copied identically across multiple sites with no sourced origin
- Pregnancy announced August 2010 while son born December 2009 (USAPeriodical — garbled dates)
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FAQ — 12 Real Questions
1. Who is Naomi Nelson? A filmmaker and the former wife of actor and stunt performer Johnny Knoxville. She has film production credits dating to 2005 and directed a documentary short on women’s suffrage in 2010. She and Knoxville divorced in 2024 after separating in 2021.
2. Where was she born? Most sources say Knoxville, Tennessee, born August 20, 1980. A small number of sources just say the United States without specifying the city.
3. What has she actually done as a filmmaker? Four documented credits: producer’s assistant on HBO’s Carnivàle Season 2 (2005); one of sixteen co-directors on Reel Grrls 2009 Productions; sole director, co-writer, and editor of Fifth Star (2010); and a credit on V/H/S/Halloween (2025), whose specific role is not detailed in her IMDB listing.
4. What is Fifth Star about? A 2010 short documentary covering the historical moment when women in Washington State secured voting rights during the national suffrage movement. Naomi wrote, directed, edited, and appeared in it. She made it while Rocko was under a year old.
5. When did she and Knoxville separate? Court documents confirm September 24, 2021 — their eleventh wedding anniversary. He filed for divorce the following June.
6. Was the separation date controversial? Yes. One early report cited September 4, 2021. The court-document-sourced version from People Magazine and Sportskeeda says September 24. The anniversary detail makes the September 24 date more credible — and it is the better-sourced version.
7. When was the divorce finalized? August 9, 2024, per court documents obtained by TMZ and confirmed by IMDB’s news section. More than three years after separation.
8. What are the custody arrangements? Knoxville requested joint legal and physical custody. The final terms were worked out privately and not disclosed publicly.
9. How many children do they have? Two together: Rocko Akira Clapp (born December 2009) and Arlo Lemoyne Yoko Clapp (born October 6, 2011). Naomi is also stepmother to Madison Clapp, Knoxville’s daughter from his first marriage to Melanie Lynn Cates.
10. What about the body measurements cited in many articles? They are fabricated or unsourced. Identical figures appear across multiple sites with no original source. The same article that published them also claimed she graduated high school at age eleven, which is impossible. Treat those measurements as invented.
11. Did she return to film work after the divorce? Yes. IMDB lists V/H/S/Halloween (2025) as a credit. The divorce was finalized in August 2024. Almost no article covering her life mentions this because most profiles were written before 2025.
12. Does she have social media? No confirmed public presence on any platform. She has maintained complete privacy online throughout her marriage and since the divorce.