A Complete Timeline of Adam Brody and Leighton Meester's Relationship

The O.C.-Gossip Girl crossover nobody saw coming.

Photo: Morgan Lieberman/FilmMagic

The Upper East Side met Orange County's sunny shores when Adam Brody and Leighton Meester became the celebrity couple nobody expected. The two made headlines back in 2011 and since then, they've managed to keep most of their relationship on the down-low, all while having a low-key wedding, two kids, and even starring in a few movies together.

2011

Meester and Brody co-starred in the indie comedy The Oranges.

"They were always close and friendly," a source told Us Weekly. Previously, the two were known for their roles in Josh Schwartz's teen series. Brody starred in The O.C. as Seth Cohen and fans will remember Meester as Queen B Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl. And both dated their co-stars before getting together. Meester was previously linked to Aaron Himelstein and her Gossip Girl co-star Sebastian Stan. Brody was dating his O.C. co-star Rachel Bilson until 2006.

February 2013

Us Weekly broke the news that the two were officially dating. The magazine reported that the two took a trip to Bangkok at the beginning of the year. Later, they were seen together at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on February 1.

June 2013

The duo's first official outing together was at the premiere of Brody's film Some Girl(s). At this point, neither had confirmed (or denied) the relationship.

November 2013

On November 20, E! News reported that the two got engaged after less than a year of dating. The two still hadn't publicly announced that they were together.

February 2014

The two get married in a super-secret ceremony in California.

"Leighton and Adam got married in Northern California by the ocean a couple of weeks ago," a source told E!. "It was a very small and intimate wedding with close family and friends. It was beautiful."

E! adds that a few weeks before the big day, Meester reportedly had a bachelorette party at Hamburger Mary's in West Hollywood.

June 2014

Meester made her Broadway debut in March 2014 alongside James Franco and Chris O'Dowd in Of Mice and Men. Meester and Brody walked their first red carpet together as a married couple a few months later at the Tony Awards.

August 2014

Brody acknowledged his relationship with Meester during an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. After a fan asked him, "How's Leighton?" he responded, "She's swell!"

Brody also talked about the prospect of having kids, saying: "I say 12. And I decide."

November 2014

The two reunite on the big screen in indie comedy Life Partners.

May 2015

Rumors begin to circulate that Meester is pregnant, though, in her usual M.O., she doesn't comment.

September 2015

Adam Brody in a button-down and blazer with Leighton Meester in a black lace top
Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Crackle/AP Images

Brody and Meester welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Arlo Day.

January 2017

The couple attends the 2017 InStyle Golden Globes after-party.

June 2017

The two have their first interview as a couple. Entertainment Tonight spoke to them while they were volunteering at Feeding America's Summer Hunger Awareness event. They even took a few minutes to address their respective roles in iconic teen shows.

"Once a year, randomly, on our Seth and Blair day," Brody said. "It's good for a laugh."

Meester added, "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."

September 2018

More than a year later, Meester would open up about the relationship.

"I wouldn't change anything [in the past] because I'm happy where I am now. And I think that's one of the many wonderful parts of not only having a child and meeting your soulmate," she told Porter. "But also, I feel really lucky career-wise, really in a place that I want to be."

March 2019

Meester accompanies Brody to the premiere of his flick Shazam!

She also opened up about motherhood and the balancing act of being a working mom and having a kid, which means that sometimes she'll have a bowl of cereal for dinner because she doesn't have the energy to cook.

"I just don't believe in balance," she told Shape magazine. "I think that's not possible if you're a working mother — and with single mothers, I cannot even imagine that. Some days my husband cooks dinner and some days I do. Other days, I'm too tired and I eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. It's just the thing we do to make it work."

May 2019

Brody guest-starred on Meester's show, Single Parents. He played her character's ex. He'd go on to appear on the show four more times.

"He's my best friend," Meester told The Hollywood Reporter. "I wanna work with him on everything, and I think he's the best in everything."

August 2019

After five years together, Meester and Brody are IG official after she posts a snapshot from the premiere of Brody's film Ready or Not.

"She's more inherently private than I am. I don't seek publicity but if I'm sitting next to you on the subway, I'll tell you everything about me," Brody told GQ of their choice to keep their marriage out of the tabloids. "We're homebodies. We don't go to a lot of things that perhaps we could and don't seek out promotion in that way. I'm not shitting on anyone who monetizes that aspect of their life because I get it. But we've found this great balance so far that really works for us. We're also not very active on social media."

March 2020

In a moment that sent the internet buzzing, Rachel Bilson commented on her ex after InStyle featured the two as part of its Breakups That Broke Us series.

April 2020

Reports that Meester and Brody are expecting their second child together appear.

September 2020

Brody announces that the baby arrived during an appearance on a Twitch show called The Fun Time Boys Game Night Spectacular. When a fellow gamer said, "Adam, you have a new baby," he confirmed the news. "I have a new — yeah, since last I played I have a new kid," he said. He also revealed the baby's gender. "I have a boy and he's a dream, he's a dream boy."

March 2021

Brody speaks candidly about their relationship on an episode of Anna Faris's podcast, Anna Faris Is Unqualified.

"Josh Schwartz produced both shows and literally the first time we met, that whole cast was eating at Canter's and I lived at Canter's for like my entire 20s," he told Faris. "And I was leaving, and he introduced all of us."

While they met several times after that, it wasn't until they filmed The Oranges that they were close. "We did this movie together. I was seeing someone at the time," Brody said. "So we met kind of through mutual work friends off and on. And then we didn't get together about a year after that movie when I was single."

He continued, "I was very attracted to her from the jump. She's a heavenly creature. I thought she was gorgeous. And even when we did the movie, there was chemistry there, but I was seeing someone."

Brody then went on to say that while he was attracted to her he wasn't sure if she was a good person. That is, of course, until they started hanging out. "And I was like, 'Oh, she's cool.' But I still didn't know, and that continued even to when we first started dating. And come to find out she's literally like Joan of Arc. She is the strongest, best person I know. She is my moral compass and North Star, and I just can't say enough good things about her character. It's crazy."

2022

Meester was busy in 2022 appearing on both the small screen and silver screen with a recurring role of Meredith in How I Met Your Father and starring in the thriller The Weekend Away. Meanwhile, Brody was at work playing Seth on the t.v. miniseries Fleishman Is in Trouble.

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