Nev Schulman on sliding into his wife's DMs: 'Some women tend to like when you're, like, direct'

Despite the fact that Nev Schulman’s job is to expose the dangers of online interactions, the Catfish host and executive producer still found love thanks to the internet.

“So the first time I saw Laura was on Instagram,” the 33-year-old tells Yahoo Lifestyle of his wife of one year, Laura Perlongo. “I had started following Laura in the hopes that maybe she would notice and follow me back.”

She did — but their first real interaction came much later. In June 2015, after Schulman posted a photo of his new dirt bike, he received a notification that Perlongo had commented on it. The small reach-out was a sign to the producer that it was time to make a move and slide into her DMs.

“I had just actually heard something or watched a video the day before about how some women tend to like when you’re, like, direct. I’m going to test this out,” Schulman admits. “I took a picture of my motorcycle helmet. I said, ‘Wanna go for a ride?’”

Perlongo’s short response was “ha duh,” followed up with, “But I wore a skirt today without panties.” And although she thought it was a flirty way to decline the invite, Schulman says, he knew it was a go. And when he pulled up to Perlongo’s place of work to take her out, he even brought a pair of underwear for her.

“We got on the bike. We rode to Brooklyn, got to this restaurant, and sat on a roof overlooking New York Harbor and New Jersey,” Schulman explains. “All of a sudden, for no reason — it’s June 11th; I don’t think there’s any holiday or anything — fireworks, like a full-on fireworks show.”

The sparks in the sky were no match for what Schulman immediately felt for Perlongo. However, she didn’t exactly feel the same.

“I fell in love with Laura hard and fast. It was so intense,” Schulman says, which ultimately led the couple to take a break when they weren’t sure they were ready for such a serious relationship. But the break lasted only two months, and was quickly followed by a pregnancy and engagement.

“Now we’ve been together almost three years. We have a wonderful one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Cleo. And we have a relationship talk show,” Schulman says of ATTN:’s Facebook Watch series, We Need to Talk, in which the pair chat about the nontraditional aspects of relationships, such as having a child before marriage.

“You’re supposed to date for three years, get married, be married for a couple years, then have a kid,” Perlongo says. “It’s not always perfect in the beginning, but that’s actually good. I feel like the more bumps and things that happen in the beginning, the better you can be later, because you’ve gone through so much stuff together already.”

As Schulman continues to find catfishes across the country, at least he knows he has the real deal when it comes to his love story with Perlongo.

Want more love? Watch all episodes of It’s Love here.

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