This study employs a mental health-related vignette survey experiment to investigate the extent to which the public desires social distance from people with certain mental illnesses (i.e., public stigma), as well as their romantic partners (i.e., associative stigma). In doing so, it extends research on associative stigma in two important ways. First, it examines if the spouses of people with highly stigmatized mental illnesses (e.g., schizophrenia, substance abuse) and less stigmatized mental illnesses (e.g., depression) are at risk of experiencing associative stigma. Second, it interrogates if interpersonal contact, a promising public stigma reduction strategy, also reduces associative stigma. Findings suggest that associative stigma is present, albeit to a lesser extent than public stigma, and that it is contingent upon the type of mental illness with which one is associated (i.e., spouses of people with depression are actually less likely to be socially avoided than spouses with mentally healthy partners). Additionally, previous interpersonal experience with mental illness is negatively associated with both public and associative stigma. Taken together, the findings advance an understanding of an endemic social problem and highlight future directions for stigma research.