While Neil Patrick Harris’ surprise Italian wedding to longtime partner David Burtka was a day filled with love and celebration, the How I Met Your Mother alum, 41, admitted on The View on Sept. 17 that their marriage also has a practical purpose.
“I think when our kids got to the age when they were having reasonable conversations where they’re asking lots of ‘why’ questions, then it seemed [important] to be able to have a real clear-cut [identity] of who their daddy is — that he’s my husband, it was easier than partner or boyfriend,” he said.
The couple are dads to twins Gideon and Harper, who were born via a surrogate mother in 2010. Though their little ones were a big contributing factor, Harris was also happy to finally commit himself to Burtka after more than 10 years together.
“It was nice, very small and intimate. Only about 45 people were there,” the Broadway alum revealed. “We did it as a destination wedding, and it kept the numbers down. I just wanted to be able to say nice things about David to David in front of the people that mattered the most to us. It was less about a proclamation and more about a declaration that I was able to share in front of our kids.”
Harris tweeted a photo of the secret ceremony on Sept. 8, surprising fans with the special moment.
“Guess what?” he captioned a photo of the couple exchanging vows. “@DavidBurtka and I got married over the weekend. In Italy. Yup, we put the ’n’ and ‘d’ in ‘husband’.”
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