Inside Climber Alex Honnold's Love Story With Wife Sanni McCandless

Alex Honnold Reveals “Embarrassing” Paycheck for Netflix’s Taipei 101 Free Solo Climb

When millions of Netflix subscribers tuned in Jan. 24 to watch Alex Honnold free solo climb Taiwan's 1,667-foot Tapei1010, they were seeing a delay, the streamer airing Skyscraper Live on a 10-second lag so they could cut to black should the worst occur. 

But the 40-year-old's wife Sanni McCandless Honnold caught the action live, watching first from base of the world's 11th tallest skyscraper and then the 60th floor, where she gave him a laugh and a wave mid-climb. 

"I'm just trying to stay calm and be in the moment," she explained to Netflix, adding, "I'm breezy." 

Perhaps an unexpected emotion for someone watching their husband—dad to her daughters June, 3, and Alice, 23 months—scale a skyscraper without any form of safety rope. But this certainly isn't the life coach's first rodeo. 

"I was telling someone that when you really love somone, and you think that they might be stressed, you say, 'I wish I could take their place, I wish I could take their stress away,'" Sanni explained in a press conference once Alex's feet were firmly on the ground.

Instead, she noted, her overwhelming sentiment was, "'Thank God I'm not him!'" 

And when it came to this opportunity, one Alex told CNN was a "lifelong dream", her support was sky-high.

"I remember not being in resistance to it, but just kind of not having it in my mind," she explained of her stance. "And then two months ago, being like, 'Oh, this is coming up, this is happening.’ I had seen Alex training, and I had seen him preparing, but then he really kind of locked in."

So, she set about readying herself as well. 

As she explained in the Skyscraper Live trailer, "People question soloing now that he's a dad, but this is who Alex is."

He was still living in that 2016 Dodge Ram Promaster when he made history in June 2017 as the first person to climb El Capitan, cameras capturing the moment he told Sanni he would "always" choose his dedication to his sport over a woman. 

"He worried that I would get in the way of his climbing and that he needed to choose: love or greatness," she explained in her Outside essay. "I remember asking, 'Why not both?' And so we forged ahead, delicately balancing our blossoming affection with the headspace he needed to free-solo at a high level."

And though she copped to developing "severe anxiety" once viewers began weighing in, some even suggesting she "was in an emotionally abusive relationship," Sanni takes issues with those who categorize him as a less-than-committed partner.

"I thought Alex [was] a great boyfriend," she stressed to Fatherly in a 2022 interview. Though she acknowledged, "the more time we spend with each other, the better we get at supporting each other."

After Alex proposed during a trip to Washington's Whidbey Island—at their Airbnb, "he pulled out a ring box and asked, 'Do you want to keep doing what we were doing?'"—the two married in September 2020, only family attending their small lakeside ceremony. 

Sanni, Alex shared in his Instagram post, "was radiant as always, the apocalyptic smoke cleared enough for some decent views, and we had a beautiful evening."

Not quite a year later, as she presided over her best friend's vows, they learned Sanni was expecting. 

As Sanni recounted to People, "It reminded me of the scene from Friends where Rachel keeps spitting out the champagne at Monica's wedding."

Much like Alex's anxiety-inducing climbs, their eldest's February 2022 arrival was a terrifying whirlwind of emotions, June sent to the NICU immediately after the emergency c-section. 

"I don't know if it compares to bad situations in the mountains where you're like, 'Oh, my God, I'm about to die,'" Alex told Fatherly, "but in a way it's worse, because it's the deep dread. Seeing her cut open and bleeding all over, in pain. 'Oh, my God, my wife's dying, my baby's dying.' Thinking that your whole life is going to be turned upside down in an instant."

While she's well-aware how quickly they could lose it all, she's grown used to moving through life without a safety net.

"It's still clear that that's what he needs," she explained to Fatherly of her husband's free climbs. "Alex is the happiest and best version of himself when he gets to spend a lot of time outside and when he is climbing. He's so cranky when he doesn't get to climb."

And so when he approaches her with his plans to, say, climb a skyscraper as millions watch, "We're like in, full support mode, whatever happens happens," she shared at the Jan. 24 press conference. "I'm just here for you. I'm here to problem-solve, support, be optimistic, be positive, make sure everything’s in line. And Alex does that for me in my projects and in my life and my work. That's what makes us a good team, I think."

Along with worldwide acclaim and another record, Alex walked away from Skyscraper Live with a mid-six figure payday. And he's not the only one cashing in on his love of the game. Check out what other athletes have made from their feats of strength.