Ellen Pompeo has experienced love at first sight before–and it wasn't with husband Chris Ivery.
Speaking during a press conference honoring Grey's Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rimes Monday, Pompeo, 42, opened up about a fateful meeting with Jake Gyllenhaal, her costar in 2002's Moonlight Mile.
Before auditioning for the film, "I was…in the waiting room and the director and this guy, Jake Gyllenhaal, who I had never heard of–no one had ever heard of him at that point–walked past me," Pompeo shared. "I [had] my head down…so I didn't get a look at Jake."
When she walked in to read, Pompeo got the shock of her life. Turns out, "I had met Jake a couple of weeks prior on the sidewalk! I walked into the room and I saw Jake and I said, 'Oh my God, it's you!'" the actress recalled. "We sort of bumped into each other. He told me I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen."
Though the actress joked she "fell to her knees," she wasn't quite ready to run off with the hunk, ten years her junior. "I said, 'He's 12! And maybe we'll see each other again and I should leave!' There were sparks, but we just bolted."
Director Brad Silberling picked up on the tension between the two, and, according to Pompeo, asked what their connection was.
"We were like, 'No, we don't know each other. We made love to each other not speaking on the sidewalk, but we don't know each other!'" Pompeo joked.
Despite her and Gyllenhaal's chemistry, Pompeo was quick to add that her music producer husband, Chris Ivery–whom she wed in 2007–isn't threatened by the Love and Other Drugs star. "We saw Jake the other day," Pompeo shared. "Listen, he is a handsome guy and a great actor." The big drawback? Laughed Pompeo, "He is 20 years younger than me!"
