William McNamara mentioned his relationship with Jennifer Connelly when he posted a tribute to James Earl Jones on social media after Jones passed away in September 2024. "RIP he was a good friend and a mentor. He gave me front row seats every day for a week during his stint on Broadway- FENCES- He was amazing every night. One night I took Jennifer Connelly (I was dating her) and Andie McDowell and her husband Paul Qualley." He also discusses their relationship on the Six Degrees of Miles podcast (Episode 6, Minute 41). McNamara says that he saw a Shiseido ad in Interview Magazine featuring Jennifer as a model. He thought "That is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen - I will never meet a girl like that." And a year or two later, he was dating her. McNamara was living in New York at the time and involved in the downtown arts scene (although his mother, an interior designer, had married into a family of NY socialites and he had access to that world as well).