Kate Winslet Met Her Husband Escaping a Fire, Plus More Celeb Meeting Stories
Kate Winslet Met Her Husband Escaping a Fire, Plus More Celeb Meeting Stories
Plenty of Hollywood couples meet on set or at exclusive A-list events. But some of them meet in much weirder and unexpected ways. From blind dates to escaping house fires to flirting in the DMs, here are some of the best ways your favorite celebrity couples have met.
Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford were pen pals.
What a literary love story! Mulligan and Mumford were involved in a pen pal program through their respective churches when they were teenagers. The couple was matched up as pen pals and exchanged letters. They eventually fell out of contact, but reconnected as adults when they learned of each others' successes.
Kate Winslet and Ned Rocknroll met while fleeing a house fire.
Kate Winslet met her husband when he helped guide her and her children to safety during a house fire on Necker Island. Winslet and her family were staying with Sir Richard Branson in his luxury villa when it was struck by lightning. Rocknroll helped guide them to safety using a head torch. "I met my husband in a house fire," the star told ET. "I took a bra and passports and my children ... So I married him! I was like, 'I'll go for the guy with a head torch!'"
Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth met when he rescued her from his drunk friend.
Witherspoon reportedly fell for Toth when he kindly stepped into an awkward situation at a bar. "This really drunk guy was hitting on me, making such an idiot of himself, yelling at me," she told Elle. "He was like, [slurring, scowling, pointing finger in her face] 'You don't know me.' And I was like, 'Yeah, I know. I don't know you!' Jim came over and said, 'Please excuse my friend. He's just broken up with someone.' Jim was a really good friend, pulling him out of that situation. That's just kind of who he is, a really good person." They've been married since 2011.
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian had a meet-cute in Rome.
The athlete met her husband in a very romantic city, talking about something not-at-all romantic: rats. Ohanian was at a conference in Rome, while Williams was playing a tournament there. They were at the same cafe when Williams’ assistant tried to tell Ohanian to move tables, because there was a rat near his. He replied “Thank you, but I'm from Brooklyn — I see rats all the time. It's really not a big deal.” Williams turned around and asked if he “really wasn’t freaked out by rats.” They struck up a conversation, and began dating shortly after.
Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith met after she fangirled on Instagram.
The This Is Us star met her rockstar husband through Instagram. She posted a picture of his band Dawes' album on the social media site. Goldsmith saw it and sent her a message. The two started emailing back and forth, and eventually began dating.
Matt Damon met Luciana Barroso while she was bartending.
“I was working as a bartender in South Beach (Miami) and he was shooting a movie there and the crew ended up in the bar one Saturday night … Matt’s story is that he saw me across the room and there was a light on me," Luciana told Vogue. She added that he came over behind the bar to talk to her, ostensibly because he was getting bothered by fans. “So I put him to work with me! I said: ‘you know, if you’re going to be back here, you can’t just be standing there!'" she recalled.
Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher were set up on a blind date.
Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher met when a mutual friend set them up on a blind date — even though they lived in different countries. Underwood had her reservations: "I mean, can I make dating more difficult?" she recalled on VH1's Behind the Music. "Let's get a hockey guy who lives in another country. Awesome." Luckily, it worked out and the couple got hitched and are now expecting their second child.
Amy Schumer and Chris Fischer met through Schumer's assistant.
The comedian met her husband through her personal assistant, Molly, who happens to be Chris's sister. Given that the couple recently tied the knot (and have a baby on the way!), we'd say that Molly definitely deserves a raise!
Maddie Poppe and Caleb Lee Hutchinson met when they were competing on "American Idol."
Hands down, the cutest part of American Idol's most recent season was the romance between the two final contestants. Maddie ultimately won the season, and she and Caleb later went on tour together, melting hearts all over the country.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also met on a blind date.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in July 2016. Prince Harry adorably said later that he knew Meghan was the one "the very first time we met." Now, if only we could get our mutual friends to set us up with a prince.
Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen met on a blind date, too!
The gorgeous couple met when they were set up by friends, but
Bündchen almost skipped it because she was tired of blind dates. “We actually had a blind date. It was a funny story — because for some reason everybody thought they needed to like find me a boyfriend, so it was my third blind date,” she recalled to People. “You know, when I saw those kind eyes, I literally fell in love, like, right away." How sweet!
Nick and Vanessa Lachey met when he was filming a video for his breakup song.
Well, that's interesting. Nick and Vanessa met when she starred in the music video for "What's Left of Me," a breakup song Nick wrote shortly after his divorce from Jessica Simpson. Thankfully, he didn't have much to be sad about once he and Vanessa started dating in 2006 because they've been together ever since!
Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd met when she had to fill in for her brother at a club.
The Vanderpump Rules star met her husband when she had to fill in for her brother at a London nightclub. According to Bravo, the day she met Todd, she dropped her brother off for work, went to dinner, and came back to pick him up, but a manager was missing so she found herself helping out at the club. And then Ken walked in the door...
Sharon was Ozzy Osbourne's manager before they began dating.
Sharon and Ozzy first met in 1970, while Sharon worked for her father, Don Arden, who managed Black Sabbath. After Ozzy was kicked out of the band for his substance-abuse problems, Sharon became his manager and began overseeing his solo career. The two began dating around the same time, and while they've had their ups and downs, they're still together today.
Sarah Hyland and Wells Adams flirted on Twitter.
The Modern Family star and Bachelorette alum had been following (and admiring) each other from afar on Twitter. “I was following him,” Hyland said in an interview. “We had tweeted each other because I thought he was funny and he was a fan of the show." And the DM that started it all? Adams wrote: "Next time I’m in LA, I’m taking you out for drinks and tacos." Cute!
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez met when he was lost in a parking lot.
A-Rod told Ellen DeGeneres that he didn't recognize Jennifer Lopez at first, though they were aware of each other and often attended the same events. “I’m walking outside and I forget where I park my car. I have no idea ... Someone taps me on my shoulder, and I turn around and I do not recognize this person. And it’s Jennifer, but she’s dressed up as Harlee from Shades of Blue, and she's in her jeans and her big boots. And it took me about 4 or 5 seconds. And she says ‘Jennifer. It's Jennifer.’ And I said 'Oh my God, Jennifer, you look beautiful.' I was so embarrassed and then I got a little nervous.”
Tamera Mowry-Housley and Adam Housley were set up by an econ professor.
The Sister, Sister actress met her husband, Adam Housley, after their economics professor at Pepperdine University set them up. Adam asked Tamara out over email, and though she said she wasn't really looking for a relationship at the time, he won her over with his words.
Felicity Huffman was one of William H. Macy's students at the Atlantic Theater Company.
In the 1980s, Huffman enrolled in the Atlantic Theater Company, where Shameless star Macy was a co-founder and teacher. They began dating, but it took several years and multiple proposals from Macy before they officially tied the knot in 1997.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas were introduced by Danny DeVito.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones were introduced in 1998, by Danny DeVito, of all people. Douglas said that he knew the night he met Zeta-Jones that he wanted to marry her. "I found out that [we share the same birthday] the first night I met her and after she told me that and after she told me she loved golf, I told her, ‘I’m going to be the father of your children’ and then she said ‘Goodnight,’” he joked. “I thought it was the proper thing to say, but maybe I was a little presumptuous.” It seems to have worked out okay!
Julia Roberts and Danny Moder met when he was the cameraman on her film.
It's not too uncommon to hear about Hollywood couples meeting on set, but Moder and Roberts' story is unique. She was starring in the film The Mexican, while he was working as a cameraman. To make it even more dramatic, Moder was actually married when they first met, but got divorced in 2002. He and Julia got married shortly after, and the rest is history.
David Beckham knew he would marry Victoria when he saw her in a video.
Talk about love at first sight! David Beckham first saw Victoria Beckham in a Spice Girls music video before they officially met. "I turned around to Gary and said, 'That one there, that's the girl I'm going to marry.'" A few months later, they crossed paths at a charity soccer game and started flirting.
Justin Timberlake called Jessica Biel on the telephone.
The pair met briefly at the Golden Globes in 2007. Afterwards, Justin got her number from a mutual friend and got in contact the "old -fashioned way — by telephone," Timberlake said at a 2012 press conference, according to Us Weekly. "I had to be pretty persistent in order to get her to say yes ... That’s something I learned from both my stepdad and my grandfather — that there is a thing called chivalry and it doesn’t have to die with the birth of the internet. The way I see it, if you’re asking a girl out on a date, it’s only right to do it in a way that she can hear your voice."
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend met shooting a music video.
Chrissy and John met when the then-21-year-old model starred in the music video for Legend’s song “Stereo.” She recalled walking into his dressing room to find him ironing in his underwear. "I said, 'You do your own ironing!?' He said, 'Of course I do.'” After the video shoot, they went back to Legend’s hotel room for some, uh, private time. But they weren’t head-over-heels immediately. "I wasn't like, 'This is the woman I'm going to marry' from day one,’" Legend said. Luckily, the romance continued to grow and they’re now married and parents to two adorable children.
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis met when she was only 15.
The couple famously met on the set of That 70s Show, when Kunis was only 15 years old. She later admitted that he was her first kiss (cute!) and that she “had the biggest crush on him.” They both dated (and in Kutcher’s case, married) other people before reconnecting in 2012.
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have the best story ever.