Isla Fisher’s slow conversion

Isla Fisher is still getting used to her new religion, says Rebecca Mead in Allure. The 32-year-old star of Wedding Crashers grew up in Australia, where she was raised Methodist. Then in 2002, she began dating comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, aka “Borat.” Baron Cohen proposed to her in 2004, and they had a daughter in 2007. But the couple is still not married, because Baron Cohen is an observant Jew and Fisher must become Jewish to be his wife.

She has been undergoing the conversion process, though she is vague about how far along she is. “It is always reported that I am still studying, so I am either the slowest studier in the world, or I have, in fact, converted.” Fisher would rather not discuss the extent of her religious observance, explaining, “That would be talking about my relationship.” But she has taken on the Hebrew name Ayala, which means “doe,” and she no longer eats pork or other nonkosher food.

A Jewish wedding really is on the horizon, she says. The experience has been challenging, she says, but worth it. “I never saw it as a losing or gaining situation, just an embracing situation. If one wanted to be buried next to one’s beloved and they were Jewish, then one would have to be Jewish, too. That came out really weird. Scratch the burial.”

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