Movie lovers, football fans and everyone in between has been in love with Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen’s relationship since they announced their engagement in late 2024. It’s been so sweet to see how supportive the Oscar nominee is of her husband’s football career and the glowing things the quarterback has to say about Steinfeld. So let’s just say I didn’t expect Allen to admit there’s something that always makes him “bark” at his wife.
OK, when I say “bark,” I’m actually talking about the dog sound, not the same bark he uses to shout out a playcall to the Buffalo Bills offense when he’s on the football field. Josh Allen went on the Centered on Buffalo podcast, where he was asked about something he does that bothers Hailee Steinfeld. A childlike grin crossed the NFL star’s face, as he admitted:
Anytime she tries to, like, if I got something in my beard or my mustache and she goes to reach for it, I always, like, bark and snap. It’s something my dad did. You know, we’d be little kids touching the whiskers on his face, and he’d, like [growls]. So every time I do that, it gets her every single time. I can’t not do it. It’s like, it’s there for the taking, and I have to take it.
This feels like that insurance ad — “We can’t keep you from turning into your parents …” — because that is such a funny habit for Josh Allen to have picked up from his father. Hailee Steinfeld might not love her husband jokingly trying to take off one of her fingers when she gets too close, but she probably appreciated his answer to the next question.
Podcast host Eric Wood turned the tables on Josh Allen, asking what Hailee Steinfeld did that was a pet peeve to him. The QB didn’t hesitate for even a millisecond before responding:
Absolutely nothing, Eric.
Well done — a very nice bit of scrambling to avoid taking that sack.
Luckily for Steinfeld, she may not be the primary victim of her husband’s “bark and snap” prank too much longer. The Sinners actress announced the birth of their first child on April 2, 2026, and I can only imagine that move will be a hit with their baby girl when she gets a little older.
The couple announced they were expecting last December — about seven months after they tied the knot in May. Hailee Steinfeld announced that they’d named the baby Beau, which was a sweet nod to her childhood nickname “Hailiee Beau Bailee.”
Josh Allen approached fatherhood in a practical manner — naturally, as an NFL quarterback would — knowing you have to roll with the punches and not worry too much about sticking to a specific plan. He called it “the most important thing I’ll ever be in my life,” and said he was really looking forward to it.
Let’s be honest, though. I think we can all agree that what he’s really looking forward to is the giggles he’s going to get when Beau first tries to touch his beard and is met with her dad’s silly bark.
