Adam Brody says he was ‘smitten instantly’ when he first saw Leighton Meester

‘I didn’t get to know her for many years after, even though we even worked together briefly,’ the actor said

Adam Brody gushed over wife Leighton Meester, revealing that he was “instantly smitten” by her when they first met.

The 43-year-old spoke about his partner, who he’s been married to since 2014, during Wednesday’s episode of Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari’s Podcrushed podcast. During the conversation, he recalled how he first noticed Meester.

“I think the first time I saw her is when I met her at Canters, the Deli in Los Angeles,” he said. He added that a CW producer, Josh Schwartz, had taken him to that deli, along with other Gossip Girl stars.

The O.C. star says he started to develop feelings for Meester after the first moment he saw her.

“That’s when I saw her, and, yeah I was smitten instantly. And I was, you know, smitten for a long time,” he said. “I didn’t get to know her for many years after, even though we even worked together briefly.”

After noting that Meester is “so lovely” and “sweet,” he said that she was “elusive” and “aloof” when they met so he couldn’t tell how she felt about him.

“I couldn’t get a total read because even though she professes to have been interested in me and all those things, not only did she not pursue that, I mean, she was perfectly willing to let that never happen,” he explained.

He then joked that there were “many false starts” to their relationship and that Meester was “perfectly willing to let that message in the bottle return to sea at several points”.

Badgley also poked fun at his former co-star’s behaviour, adding: “That means she already had faith in your love. She was already letting you go.”

Brody agreed with this point and detailed what The Weekend Away star had told him before officially starting their relationship.

“She says, ‘Oh, it’s because I knew if we did [date] it would be a thing.’ Or, like, ‘It’s too powerful,’” he explained.

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Meester and Brody got married in 2014 before welcoming their first child, Arlo, in 2015. They welcomed their second child, a baby boy, in 2020. However, they keep their family life very private and don’t post about their children on social media.

Brody’s comments on Podcrushed aren’t his first about his relationship. Speaking to The Independent last month, he gave some of his advice about marriage ahead of his 10th anniversary.

“If I’ve learnt anything, you have to really swallow your ego and pride,” he said. “You have to listen and accept the other’s perspective – and probably compromise.”

During an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, the Jennifer’s Body star noted that he was never “scared” of getting married or having children and that tying the knot with Meester was an “easy” decision.

“It always seemed, you know, like a route I would go eventually, and I was excited to when it, you know, when it came together, when I met the right person,” he said. “My wife and I actually got married very fast after we started dating. That’s how sort of, easy a decision it was for me and us.”