Celebrity Couples and How They First Met: Love Story Beginnings

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Celebrity Couples and How They First Met: Love Story Beginnings

Love at first sight … or not? Celebrity couples are just like Us when it comes to meeting their significant other — whether it’s through work, a mutual friend or a flirty DM. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s fairy tale romance began when they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in 2016. Despite Harry’s royal background, the Suits alum didn’t have any preconceived notions about the prince. "Because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family," she told the BBC in 2017. "I didn’t know much about him, so the only thing that I had asked [our mutual friend] when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, 'Well, is he nice?' Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didn’t seem like it would make sense.” The pair instantly felt a spark and immediately began planning their second date. “We met for a drink, and then I think very quickly into that we said, 'Well, what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again,’” Markle said. Harry and the former actress announced their engagement in November 2017 and tied the knot in May 2018. One year later, the couple welcomed their son, Archie. Other celebrity couples met while in relationships with other people. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds played love interests in the 2011 movie Green Lantern. At the time, the California native was dating her Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley. Reynolds, for his part, was married to Scarlett Johansson. After the Deadpool star and Lively were both single, they went on a double date — with other people. "We were buddies then," Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. "I remember it was funny because for about a year after Green Lantern had come and gone and we were both single. We went on a double date. She was on a date with another guy and I was on a date with another girl.” He added, "That was the most awkward date because we were just like fireworks coming across. It was weird at first but we were buddies for a long time. I think it's the best way to have a relationship is to start as friends." Reynolds and Lively married in September 2012 and are the parents of daughters James, Inez and Betty. Scroll down for more stories on how celebrity couples first met. [podcast_block]

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David Harbour and Lily Allen

“I was in London alone, doing Black Widow, on this app, going on dates and stuff. And yeah, I started texting with her, she was in Italy at the time — we got together, went on a date at the Wolseley, and it was, you know, she’s f–king unbelievable,” the Stranger Things star told British GQ of his introduction to Allen during a July 2022 interview.

Harbour also opened up about when he realized the “Smile” singer was The One. “It was our third date. I was just in this phase, where I was like, ‘I’m just going to be brutally honest about everything, because why lie?’ And I told her something about my life, about my beliefs,” he shared. “It would take a really extraordinary person to be accepting of the things that I said. And I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s somebody I want to be around.'”

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James Corden and Julia Carey

The actor and his wife were fed up with dating when they met.  "Jules and I never went on dates," Corden said on The Late Late Show in August 2021. "The night we met, we talked about how we were both bored of going out all the time and that we were going out too much, and we were drinking too much and having too good of a time."

He continued, "As a joke, [we] planned the rest of our lives together."

They got engaged in 2010, married in 2012 and are parents to three children, Max, Carey and Charlotte.

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Jenna Dewan and Steve Kazee

In July 2021, Dewan revealed that she was blown away by Kazee after seeing him in Once nine years before. They even waited by the stage door after the show.

"We cried our eyes out and fell in love with the show — in particular, the lead actor, Steve Kazee," Dewan told The Knot. "We thought he was just so talented. And funnily enough, my mom had the biggest crush — she couldn't stop saying, 'He's the cutest, so sensitive, so handsome.' She just kept going on and on."

She continued: "I was pushing her forward [at the stage door] to say hi, and Steve and I just had one of those eye-catching moments. It was very quick, but it struck us both. It was a moment. My mom and I told him what a great job he did and how it was such an amazing show, and that was it. We both went off into the night. But I never forgot the moment."

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Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen

The Saturday Night Live alum met the film producer through their mutual friend Drew Barrymore when the actress was hosting the NBC series. Fallon later reconnected with Juvonen on the set of the 2005 film Fever Pitch, which she produced alongside Barrymore. However, the California native didn’t develop a crush on the late-night talk show host until she saw him playing with coproducer Bradley Thomas’ kids.

I played with Lucy and Jimmy played with Charlie, really played — really into it — as if they’d come to visit us," she recalled on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in March 2020. "So, I think that’s when my heart just sort of melted even more." The couple tied the knot in 2007 and share daughters Winnie and Frances.

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Chrissy Teigen and John Legend

The model met the Grammy winner in 2007 when she starred as Legend’s love interest in the music video for his song “Stereo.” After the shoot, Teigen went back to his hotel room to eat In-N-Out burgers — and things got steamy. "I'm not going to lie. We hooked up,” Teigen admitted to Cosmo in 2014.

Legend later went on tour in Europe and the pair stayed in touch over the phone. Although their relationship started out casual, Legend said he began to develop feelings for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model. "I just started to fall in love with how engaging and witty and funny she is," he told Entertainment Tonight in 2016.

The couple got married in 2013 and are the parents of daughter Luna and son Miles.

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Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner

The couple connected in 2016 after the Jonas Brothers member sent the Game of Thrones actress a note on social media. Turner told Harper’z Bazaar U.K. for the May 2019 issue: “We were following each other on Instagram and he direct-messaged me one fine day, out of the blue.” The pair eventually started dating and the DNCE frontman popped the question in October 2017.

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Dylan Sprouse and Barbara Palvin

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody alum admitted that he took an interest in the model on Instagram. “She followed me, so I was like, ‘I guess I’ll give her something.’ And I slid into her DMs,” he told W magazine in a February 2019 profile. “I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you’re in New York for very long, but we should hang out if you want to. Here’s my number.’ And she didn’t message me for six months.” Then the couple hit it off. “With Dylan, everything seemed so easy,” Palvin said.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

A royal connection! Prince Harry and the Suits actress owe their pals some thanks for setting them up. They made their first public appearance together at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada, in September 2017, just two months before announcing their engagement. The two will wed at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in England on May 19, 2018.

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Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich

Forever indebted! The Dancing With the Stars alum and her NHL beau were set up by mutual friends — and are now in it for the long haul. After Laich popped the question in August 2015, they celebrated a weekend-long wedding with family and friends at a lakeside ceremony near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in July 2017.

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Kym Johnson and Robert Herjavec

The Shark Tank star and the former Dancing With the Stars pro first met while partnered on season 20 of the reality competition in 2015. They married in July 2016, and are expecting twins later this year.

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Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen

The moral of their story is trust your friends! The NFL hunk and supermodel were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in 2006. "This friend told me he knew a girl version of me," Brady said in Details magazine's July 2009 issue. Gisele, chimed in from the background: "And he said to me he'd found a boy version of me." Brady, who had just split from Bridget Moynahan, agreed to dinner with Bundchen in NYC. The couple now shares two kids, daughter Vivian and son Benjamin.

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Hollywood's ultimate power couple first met on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith back in 2004. At the time of their first encounter, Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston. Jolie, who shares six kids with Pitt, filed for divorce from the actor in 2016.

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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

Despite Daredevil's shortcomings, Affleck said there was one redemptive quality of the 2003 superhero flop. "That's where I found my wife," he told Playboy magazine in its December 2013 issue. "We met on Pearl Harbor, which people hate, but we fell in love on Daredevil." Though the two filed for divorce in 2017 after announcing their split in 2015, they continue to coparent their three children and are often spotted as a family.

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Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

"I met him when I was 19 at an audition for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," she told YourTango. "After we had known each other for many years, we went out for dinner one night and I saw that he had grown from this lanky kid to this really responsible man. We started courting each other and our friendship turned into romance."

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Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

The married couple first met on the 2007 set of Tropic Thunder. "I thought he was very sweet and he was always very nice," Aniston told PopSugar of Theroux, who cowrote the comedy. "But I remember thinking he was very dark." She added of the American Psycho actor, "At first you think he could be like a serial killer, but he is actually the nicest person in the world."

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Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani

The No Doubt singer and country crooner met on set of NBC’s The Voice, where they both serve as coaches. They began dating in November 2015 shortly after they both ended previous marriages. Shelton and Miranda Lambert divorced in July of that year, and the following month, Stefani and Gavin Rossdale ended their 13 year marriage.

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Giuliana Rancic and Bill Rancic

The Fashion Police co-host first laid eyes on her future husband at an NBC Upfront party and thought he was a "cutie pie." Giuliana, though, was with her boyfriend at the time. She eventually interviewed him on E! News, and after the segment, Bill asked her out in the parking lot. "And the rest is history," he later told Us.

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Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel

Thank those pals! "There was nothing starry about the way we got together," Timberlake said in a press conference for Trouble With the Curve back in 2012. "It was very un-Hollywood-esque, in fact," recalled Timberlake. "We met and got talking. Afterwards I asked my friend if I could call her and ask her out. My friend called Jessica and Jessica said yes, and so I called her. I did it the old fashioned way -- by telephone."

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Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling

Gosling and Mendes knew each other in passing, but fell in love on the set of the Place Beyond the Pines. The director of the movie, Derek Cianfrance, revealed that Gosling had actually recommended Mendes for the role. "He said, 'You should meet with Eva because she's great, I think she's got a lot to offer that maybe people haven't seen, which would be great,'" Cianfrance told Moviefone.com. "So I said 'okay.'"

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David Beckham and Victoria Beckham

He had his eye on her long before they even met! Though the two first met at a Manchester United charity match back in 1997, the soccer stud admitted to The Sun that he had the hots for his future wife after watching the Spice Girls' "Say You'll Be There" music video. Beckham recalled to the paper how he thought: "That's the girl for me and I'm going to get her! She's my idea of perfection. I knew that if she wanted me, we would be together forever."

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Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman

Another mutual connection! The couple first met through friends in late 2008, a few months after Hathaway had split from her ex-beau Raffaello Follieri. Their romance quickly blossomed with Hathaway inviting the jewelry designer to accompany her to red carpet events. In November 2011, Shulman popped the question, and the two married in September 2012.

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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

Costar couple alert! The Green Lantern costars met in Louisiana while filming the superhero movie back in March 2010. Reynolds, at the time, was still married to Scarlett Johansson, whom he divorced in December 2010. Lively and Reynolds went public in late 2011, and in September 2012, the two married in a top-secret South Carolina ceremony. The duo now share two daughters, Ines and James.

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Beyonce and Jay-Z

Music's power couple first met when Beyonce was still a member of Destiny's Child. "I was 18 when we first met, 19 when we started dating," she told Glamour magazine. There was speculation that the two were dating back in 2002, after they collaborated and starred in his "Bonnie & Clyde" music video. Beyonce and Jay-Z married in an April 2008 wedding, and welcomed their daughter, Blue Ivy, in January 2012. Their family grew in 2017 with the birth of their twins, Sir and Rumi.

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Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson

The couple first hooked up in May 2010. At the time, Johnson was estranged from his first wife, stylist Keri Johnson, to whom he was married for five years. The Yale grad even skipped getting his MBA at Wharton to start a life with Simpson. They tied the knot in a 2010 ceremony, and share two kids, Maxwell and Ace.

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Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi

Talk about immediate spark! DeGeneres and de Rossi met in a photo shoot back in 2004. "I instantly adored her," de Rossi told CBS Sunday Morning in an October 2011 interview. "But I was very closeted and very heavy," she said of her weight. "And I thought that no one would ever love me if they knew I was gay and especially if they saw I was fat." It didn't matter to DeGeneres. "The fact that she noticed me at that point and liked who I was, was kind of significant. Yeah, it was great."

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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West

Though Kimye briefly met years ago, Kim Kardashian revealed that she hit it off with her husband Kanye West thanks to Jimmy Kimmel! "I should thank you right now, right?" Kardashian said to Kimmel on his show back in 2012. "I did meet him years before, but we really got to get to know each other on a show that you guys produced together." The KUWTK star and the rapper married in 2014 and share three kids together — North West, Saint and Chicago.

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Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone

The Amazing Spider-Man actor said he immediately knew there was something special about Stone when they first connected during auditions for the superhero flick. "We got on really well as people, in between [takes]," the actor told MTV News in June 2012. "That was the fun stuff: In between, we'd just mess around and I felt, 'Ah, this is different.' I wasn't really aware of what was happening in the screen test. She keeps you on your toes and that wakes you up. That was the beginning." Garfield and Stone split in 2014 after more than four years together.

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Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden

Celebrities play matchmaker, too! The odd couple actually met through a mutual link: Nicole Richie. Diaz was good friends with the former reality star, while Madden's connection to Richie via his twin brother, Joel, who married the Simple Life alum back in 2010. The two wed in January 2015.

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Nicole Richie and Joel Madden

When in doubt, beg! The Good Charlotte rocker revealed in an Australian 60 Minutes segment back in April 2013, that though the two were previously friends, he had to be slightly more persistent to get Richie to date him. "I'm always like, 'Just give me a shot, just give me one date.' If I can get my foot in the door, that's how it's always been with girls. I've never been the obvious [choice]," he said. It worked -- Madden and Richie wed in 2010.

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LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian

Both Rimes and Cibrian were married when they first hooked up on the set of their 2009 Lifetime movie Northern Lights. Us Weekly broke the news that the two had engaged in a steamy affair, after they were filmed getting affectionate over dinner in March 2009. Eventually, both parties divorced and wed. "We were both married to other people," Cibrian recently said on his VH1 reality show promo. "Now who we really are is a couple and in love."

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Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green

Sparks fly! "I liked him right away," Fox told the New York Times of meeting Green on the set of sitcom, Hope & Faith. "Everyone was around the monitor watching a scene, and Brian accidentally touched my leg. I remember literal electricity shooting through me and out me from every direction," she recalled in the 2010 interview. "It was like magic." The two exchanged vows in Hawaii in 2010 and now share three kids together.

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Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey

Mixing business with pleasure! The happily-married couple first met on the 2006 set of Lachey's "What's Left of Me" music video. Eventually, the two started dating, split briefly in 2009, and married in 2011. The Lacheys are now proud parents to two sons — Camden and Phoenix — and a daughter, Brooklyn.

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Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick

Another mutual connection! Disick and Kardashian met through mutual pal Joe Francis at his home down in Punta Mita, Mexico. The two started dating in early 2007, right before Keeping Up With the Kardashians kicked off! The couple, who split in 2015, share three kids, daughter Penelope and sons Mason and Reign.

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Prince William and Duchess Kate

Duke meets Duchess! Royal biographer Katie Nicholl, author of Kate: The Future Queen, revealed that the Duke and Duchess crossed paths long before they had enrolled at St. Andrews University. "I was speaking to some of her friends at Marlborough School, which was where she went before St. Andrews, and they said, 'Uh uh, she didn't meet him at St. Andrews. She met him before she got there...through some of her friends. They knew Prince William and Prince Harry,'" Nicholl explained. The royal couple tied the knot in 2011 and share two kids together, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. They’re set to welcome their third child in April.

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George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin

He sure met his match! Shortly after splitting from girlfriend of two years Stacy Keibler, Clooney met Alamuddin at a charity event in 2013. It took some wooing, but Clooney ultimately won the London-based barrister's heart and proposed to her in April 2014. They tied the knot later that same year. They are now the proud parents of twins Alexander and Ella, whom they welcomed in June 2017.

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Vincent Kartheiser and Alexis Bledel

The Mad Men actor didn't know who the Gilmore Girls alum was when they first met on the AMC series' set. "We were completely professional," Kartheiser said of his beginnings with Bledel. Added his costar Jon Hamm: "I did know he liked her from a very early point… I was a supporter of that union." They wed in 2014, and welcomed their first child, a boy, in 2015.

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Eva Longoria and Jose Baston

The Desperate Housewives star and handsome businessman started dating in October 2013, a few months after Longoria had split from another entrepreneur, Ernesto Arguello. "They have been spending a lot of time together and like each other a lot," a source told Us. "He's super sweet to her and a complete gentlemen." The gorgeous couple, who wed in 2016, are set to welcome their first child together later this year.

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Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson

The Good American founder revealed that she met the NBA star on a blind date! “I was at the Bel-Air Hotel. He came to the dinner. I didn’t want to go on a blind date,” the reality star revealed during the Keeping Up With the Kardashians Ten Year Anniversary Special. “So [our mutual friend] kind of ambushed the blind date. So I had a bunch of people, and he brought him and we just connected.”