Leighton Meester shares her secret to normal marriage

‘I was smitten instantly. And I was, you know, smitten for a long time,’ Adam Brody says of Meester on Popcrushed podcast

Leighton Meester is revealing her secret to enjoying a “normal” marriage with Adam Brody.

Speaking to E! News, the Gossip Girl lead candidly admitted how she and The OC star have spent the last nine years together since they tied the knot. The 37-year-old actress chalked her relationship down to a “normal” one “with all the good and the hard,” adding, “we just make it work”.

Meester went on to note how there’s a mutual respect between her and Brody, which they both recognise. “We’re super, super lucky, and I think we recognise how lucky we are with one another,” she remarked. “We give each other a lot of respect and time and attention and focus. Like, really put our time and energy into a relationship.”

What’s more, the Monte Carlo star believes being able to enjoy spending time with each other helps the most.

The on-screen duo was first acquainted during Meester’s Blair Waldorf days because the Gossip Girl producer, Josh Schwartz, was also the producer for The OC. Brody and Meester came face-to-face at Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles with the casts of both dramas in attendance as well.

However, it wasn’t until 2011 when the pair started to form an actual relationship on the set of The Oranges. By 2013, Meester and Brody were confirmed to be dating. Brody reflected on the start of their romance during a 2023 recording of Popcrushed podcast.

“I was smitten instantly. And I was, you know, smitten for a long time,” the Gilmore Girls actor proclaimed. “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.”

In 2014, they were rumoured to be married, hosting an intimate ceremony for their nuptials. The couple has since welcomed their eight-year-old daughter, Arlo, and a three-year-old son.

Meester and Brody sat down for their first official interview as a couple in 2017, discussing how pleased they were that their TV personas ended up together.

“Once a year, randomly, on our Seth and Blair day,” Meester quipped to Entertainment Tonight. “It’s good for a laugh. It doesn’t excite us, I think, because we’re just human beings … but it’s exciting to us that it’s exciting to you. It’s cool.”

Proving their strength not only as a pair, but as a family, Brody later confessed how “blissful” quarantine was for the four of them. “It’s been a pretty — despite the state of the world — it has been a pretty blissful experience. I know a lot of parents who feel that way,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2020.