An unlikely meeting turns to true love! Supermodel Christy Turlington and actor Ed Burns married in 2003 after three years of dating. However, only the Saving Private Ryan star actually remembers their very first meeting.
“I was a production assistant at a television show, and we interviewed Christy back when I was just a lowly PA [Personal Assistant]. I had to get her a cup of coffee,” Burns told the Huffington Post in August 2015. “She has no memory of it, but of course, as the PA who gets to meet Christy Turlington, I remember it very well.”
Luckily, the two met a second time at a charity event in 2000 and that was when sparks flew. Burns and Turlington got engaged six months later with their wedding date set for October 2001. In lieu of the September 11 terrorist attacks, they decided to postpone their wedding.
The couple briefly split in 2002, but they got back together a few months later and went on to marry in June 2003 in San Francisco. U2’s Bono walked Turlington down the aisle in place of her late dad, Dwain Turlington, who died after battling lung cancer at age 64 two years prior.
Later that year, the couple welcomed their daughter Grace (who they nicknamed Gracie) at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Turlington had serious complications during labor and suffered from postpartum hemorrhaging, a story she shared with DuJour in July 2012.
The pair welcomed their second child, son Finn, into the world in 2006.
Turlington’s experience with Gracie inspired her to direct No Woman, No Cry, a 2010 documentary that follows the birthing journey of four mothers across the world.
“I’m just like any of the other women in terms of giving birth,” Turlington told DuJour in July 2012. “You’re always vulnerable in that state, and you always need support.”
Turlington and the 15 Minutes actor make a great team when it comes to parenting. The California native shared insight into their parenting journey through her blog post with Today in June 2011.
“Eddie supported all of my maternal instincts in pursuing our birth options. He was as involved as I needed him to be and then when our children were infants, he took on as much of the burden as I was willing to relinquish,” the model wrote at the time.
Keep scrolling to see Turlington and Burns’ family photos:
