#Adam Brody Says He Was “Smitten Instantly” With Wife Leighton Meester

Adam Brody knew he was interested in his now-wife Leighton Meester when he first saw her at a local deli in Los Angeles — though he wasn’t sure if she felt the same.

The Fleishman Is in Trouble star stopped by Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed where he talked about the first time he saw Meester. She was with CW producer Josh Schwartz and her Gossip Girl co-stars at Canters Deli.

“That’s when I saw her, and, yeah, I was smitten instantly,” he said on the podcast. “And I was, you know, smitten for a long time. I didn’t get to know her for many years after, even though we even worked together briefly. She’s so lovely, and she’s so sweet. She’s so nice. She’s so good.”

The Shazam! actor went on to explain that for some time before they began dating, he couldn’t get a read on her or what she wanted from him.

“This is to her credit, she remained elusive to me for so long and aloof,” he shared. “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 jokingly added that she was “perfectly willing to let that message in the bottle return to sea at several points.”

The O.C. alum also recalled that the excuse she gave him at the time was to keep him on his toes. “She says, ‘Oh, it’s because I knew if we did, it would be a thing,’ you know,” he said, “or like it’s too powerful.”

Brody and Meester have been married for nine years and were first romantically linked in 2013. They have two children together, a 7-year-old daughter Arlo Day and a 2-year-old son, whose name they haven’t announced yet.