Is there anything more magical than when actors from two of the biggest teen shows of the early noughts get married in real life? Well that’s exactly what happened for Leighton Meester and Adam Brody. The pair, who starred in Gossip Girl (Meester) and The OC (Brody), have been together for a decade, and even have two children.
While the pair have stayed largely out of the public eye, Brody has burst back into the Millennial consciousness thanks to his new Netflix rom-com series Nobody Wants This where the OC actor plays opposite The Good Place star Kristen Bell – a podcaster who meets a rabbi (Brody) at a party.
In celebration of the feel-goods this new series has brought, we’re looking back at the sweet relationship between Adam Brody and Leighton Meester.
How Did Adam Brody And Leighton Meester Meet?
In the ultimate meet cute, the couple actually met while Meester was working on Gossip Girl. Brody shared details of their first encounter on Anna Faris’ podcast Unqualified, saying, “Josh Schwartz produced [Gossip Girl and The OC], and literally the first time we met, that whole cast was eating at Canter’s [Deli in Los Angeles] and I lived at Canter’s for like my entire 20s. And I was leaving, and he introduced all of us.”
He went on to say that they had a few more chance encounters before eventually working together in 2011 on a movie called The Oranges.
“I was seeing someone at the time [when we did the movie]. So, we met kind of through mutual work friends off and on. And then we didn’t get together until about a year after that movie when I was single,” he revealed. He also added that he “had no idea whether she was a good person or not.”
“In fact, I kind of assumed she probably wasn’t for like the first handful of years that I didn’t know her, just because… I don’t know, Gossip Girl. Not that I tagged all actresses with that or anything — I didn’t. And I like to date actors. I never believe that stigma.”
When Did Leighton Meester And Adam Brody Start Dating?
Although Brody’s timeline could have put their first date around 2012, the couple hard-launched their romance in 2013 at the premier of Brody’s film, Some Girl(s). To the delight of fans, the two held hands down the red carpet.
When Did Leighton Meester And Adam Brody Get Married?
Just a year after going public with their relationship, rumours swirled in 2014 that Meester and Brody had tied the knot in an intimate ceremony. Years later, in 2023, Brody addressed the top secret ceremony in an interview on Sirius XM’s The Jess Cagle Show.
“My wife and I actually got married very fast after we started dating,” he said. “That’s how easy a decision it was for me and us. I was never scared of the idea of marriage or kids. It always seemed like a route I would go [down] eventually, and I was excited when it came together when I met the right person.”
Leighton Meester & Adam Brody Kids
Adam Brody and Leighton Meester share two kids: a daughter and a son.
On 4 August, 2015, the couple welcomed their daughter, Arlo Day. Four years down the line, Brody gushed about his journey into fatherhood. Speaking to GQ, he said his daughter is “the thing I’m most proud of and gives me the most joy.”
“She’s just so dang awesome. It just gives you a new perspective in the best way—something to focus on that’s greater and more important than yourself.”
While Arlo, now aged nine, has lived her life mostly out of the spotlight, the couple recently opened up about their parenting style in an interview with E! News.
“We live in such a bubble,” Meester said. “And we obviously are really happy and grateful to give her everything that we never had growing up. But we also want her to understand that not everyone grows up like that.”
Revealing just how different her own upbringing was to her daughter’s now, Meester added that her family “relied on food stamps and welfare.”
“And especially towards the end of the month, but sometimes throughout the month, we either couldn’t go grocery shopping or put food back on the shelves before checkout. We really had to do what we could to make ends meet.”
The actress added that her own childhood had inspired her to teach her children to be thankful for all they have.
“When we sit around the table, we always talk about what we’re grateful for and what the best part of our day was and just give thanks to our food.”
“[Arlo] knows sort of in a child-friendly way, that there are different ways that people are growing up. So I hope that she can take that in, but mostly just to be grateful for everything that she has.”
In September 2020, Brody announced the birth of their second child, by declaring the family had grown by one on Twitch. “I have a new kid. Since last I played, I have a new kid,” he reportedly said on the gaming platform. “I have a boy, and he’s a dream. He’s a dream boy.”
So far, the couple have kept most other details about their son, including his name, under wraps.
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