Marissa Bode and her partner, Lauren "Wren" Brooks, have been together since 2023, and over the past few years, the couple have offered fans a deeper look into their life together through heartfelt posts and their joint activism.
Bode is known for her history-making role as Nessarose in Wicked and the 2025 sequel, Wicked: For Good. She is the first disabled actress to play the character since the musical debuted on Broadway in 2003. Out of the spotlight, Bode has shared her relationship with Brooks, who uses they/she pronouns, as one of the most meaningful parts of her life.
The pair celebrated their one-year anniversary on Sept. 24, 2024, marking the milestone with a sweet strip of photos. Brooks posted the images on Instagram along with a touching note: "Happy one year to Marissa and I. Queer disabled love is life-changing. That's all, thank you."
Bode and Brooks are both wheelchair users, and their relationship has drawn interest from fans who have also connected with their involvement in disability-rights work.
Brooks graduated from California State University, Long Beach in May 2025 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a minor in sociology. They commemorated the graduation with an Instagram post talking about their unconventional college journey.
"I had a far from stereotypical college experience, switching schools midway through, doing a semester at a university in nyc that no longer exists, and losing and finding myself again and again and again," she wrote.
Brooks shared her love of volunteering in a January 2025 Instagram post about PLACE Long Beach, a community-run print lab, zine library and art studio. Brooks, an avid zine maker and writer, referred to PLACE as their "escape for all the horrors that be," while showing off the studio as "a special place for community."
She also expressed excitement over becoming a camp counsellor for disabled youth in a June 2025 Instagram post.
"If I can make one child love themselves a little bit more, be a little more unapologetic, and take up a little more space than I've done something right," Brooks wrote. "I love my community more than myself, and I want this next generation to embrace their disabilities so fiercely, with so much care -- that's the only way forward."
Brooks has opened up about the surreal experience of suddenly finding themselves in the spotlight. In January 2025, they shared on TikTok about what they described as an unexpectedly "bizarre" shift in their day-to-day life.
"Dating an up and coming celebrity whilst being in such a transitory period of my life has been bizarre to say the least," Brooks said.
She went on to describe an interaction the couple had with a fan of Bode's in a bar.
"This girl recognized Marissa and asked for a picture, and upon talking to her was shocked to find out how normal we are," she said.
Bode and Brooks have a shared passion for the disabled community. In June 2025, the actress teamed up with the American Association for People with Disabilities to speak out about the then-proposed $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid, and Brooks joined her in calling on people to contact their senators.
The writer also teamed up with activist and online personality Blair Imani to share information about Section 504, which The Center for American Progress defines as a part of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability for programs receiving federal funds.
Brooks also writes for Cripple Media, which describes itself as "the first media company written by and for disabled people."
Bode has also continued speaking up as the first disabled actress to be cast as Nessarose in the history of Wicked. After thanking fans for the "love" they've shown the film and its cast in a TikTok, Bode addressed the jokes some were making about her character's disability, calling them "very gross and harmful."
"Aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa's disability itself is deeply uncomfortable because disability is not fictional," she explained. "At the end of the day, me, Marissa, is the person that is still disabled and in a wheelchair. And so it is simply low-hanging fruit that too many of you are comfortable taking."
Brooks and Bode won Halloween with their Chappell Roan-inspired costumes in 2024. Brooks, already equipped with red hair and bangs, went as Roan while Bode went as the mermaid who plays the singer’s love interest in the “Casual” music video.
The couple went all out, with Bode applying seashells, rhinestones and prosthetic gills to her face while Brooks went with Roan’s signature white facepaint, blue eyeshadow and red lip.
Bode shared their look with a sweet caption referencing the song. “Is it casual now? (It definitely isn’t lol),” she wrote.
Brooks and Bode shared a series of photos from their 2025 Pride celebrations when they attended the Long Beach parade together. The couple also hosted a Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed Pride party where Brooks dressed up as “sexy Doctor Scott.”
Their Pride posts also highlighted that their celebrations were part of a growing tradition for the couple. Brooks noted on Instagram that they attended Pride together in 2024 as well, sharing a now-memorable photo of the two kissing in front of anti-LBGTQ+ protestors at Los Angeles Pride.
Brooks rounded out the pictures of their celebrations with archive reference material on historical disabled lesbians, spreading both knowledge and joy.
"WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN HERE," they wrote. "Remember first pride was a riot by trans people, and queer liberation is possible!!!"