Anya Taylor-Joy reveals husband Malcolm McRae’s accidental proposal was Forrest Gump-themed

Anya Taylor-Joy and her husband secretly tied the knot in April 2022

Anya-Taylor Joy reveals how husband Malcolm McRae’s accidental proposal was Forrest Gump themed (Getty Images)

Anya Taylor-Joy has revealed how her husband Malcolm McRae’s accidental proposal was linked to one of her favorite movies, Forrest Gump.

The 28-year-old actor recalled how McRae asked her to tie the knot during a recent interview with Letterboxd, while she and Chris Hemsworth were promoting their new movie, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Last month, Taylor-Joy first took to Instagram to confirm that she got married in April 2022 during a private ceremony in New Orleans, Louisiana.

While discussing her love for the 1994 film Forrest Gump, during her interview with Letterboxd, Taylor-Joy called the movie an epic saga “where you just feel every emotion under the sun, and there’s this beautiful poetry underneath it”.

However, Hemsworth then questioned if there was another reason why the movie was meaningful to her. “Did something special happen on the Forrest Gump bench?” he asked, referring to the iconic bench where Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, sits throughout most of the film.

In response, the Menu star confirmed that something big happened there. “Yes, my husband accidentally proposed to me on the Forrest Gump bench in Savannah. Complete accident and he’s a boy from Alabama,” she said, referring to how the protagonist from Forrest Gump is from Alabama.

“And I’m blonde,” she continued. “So just happened. I hear that music and I cry like a baby.”

Last month, Taylor-Joy first revealed to fans that she actually got married in April 2022, more than a year before she had her lavish nuptials in October 2023.

“Two years ago, on April Fools, I secretly married my best friend in New Orleans. The magic of that day is ingrained in every cell of my being, forever,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post, celebrating McRae. “Happy second (first) anniversary my love… you’re the coolest.”

In her post, she included intimate photos and videos of her elaborate 2023 wedding at the historic Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice, Italy. Her post featured images of some unique wedding cakes, which were in the shape of an anatomically correct heart. “NB yes, those are anatomically correct heart cakes,” she added. “Yes, I am the vampire Lestat.”

The Instagram carousel included the Peaky Blinders star donning her Dior wedding dress adorned with sweet flowers and birds and a gorgeous floor-length veil. “Beautifully embroidered with our love story by @dior,” she wrote of her bridal gown. In one clip, Taylor-Joy could be seen showing off her dress in the soft candlelight of the church.

McRae also shared his own Instagram post last month for his and his wife’s wedding anniversary, writing in the caption: “I love you now and somehow I always have and somehow it will never end. Happy two year anniversary (yesterday), beautiful.”

The Italy-based wedding was a star-studded event, as it included guests such as Cara Delevingne, Evan Ross, Miles Teller, Nicholas Hoult, and Julia Garner. The couple reportedly capped off the weekend with an extravagant brunch at the St Regis Hotel, which boasts views of the Grand Canal.

After revealing that she secretly got married in 2022, Taylor-Joy quipped about how she and her husband were able to pull the secret ceremony off.

“We did our research, we were like pretty spy-orientated”, she told Entertainment Tonight last month, adding that the intimate nature of their nuptials “made it all the more special because it just felt like a secret that we got to keep to ourselves”.

She concluded: “At the end of the day, it was about the two of us and so we ran away with our two best friends and had the most magical day possible.”